A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives: a curated forum reserved for leaders nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the Construction Tech Review Advisory Board.
Tricor Group
Technological Trends Driving Operational Efficiency
Tim Leung is the Group CTO at Tricor Group, a global company that offers integrated business, corporate, and investor services. As Group CTO, Tim leads Tricor's technology strategy and is responsible for developing and implementing innovative solutions to improve the company's services and operations. Before joining Tricor, Tim held senior technology leadership roles at leading companies, including CLSA, UBS, and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. He has extensive experience in technology transformations, team-building, and digital innovation.
What are some of the trends around Microsoft products in the market today?
Currently, there is a noticeable trend toward the adoption of Azure cloud products from Microsoft. We rely heavily on Microsoft's cloud services and infrastructure, such as CRM and Azure cloud hosting, to support our business applications. When we procure third-party software and move it to the cloud, we typically use Azure as an app or VM hosting. For Facebook applications designed specifically for Azure, we utilize a cloud-native application with a microservice design. We are also investing in more in-house capabilities, including software architects trained in designing containerized applications with a focus on pasture landing zone and security design.
What are some of the challenges impacting the IT industry?
As a company operating in multiple jurisdictions, we often have business and compliance requirements that necessitate data residency. This means that our data must be hosted in the country where we operate. However, sometimes we operate in countries where our cloud hosting provider, such as Microsoft, does not offer local hosting. This is also true for other hosting providers. In such cases, we are forced to seek different solutions and possibly switch to different vendors depending on the countries we are operating in. This creates complexity and requires additional effort to ensure that the different solutions operate in the same way. Furthermore, cloud providers still need to improve their alerting and availability systems, as disruptions in service can still occur.
In the financial and professional service industry, it's important for the CTO or technology department to focus on both the infrastructure and understanding of the business, as well as a methodical approach to change management and technology
What would be your piece of advice for budding professionals in the field?
In the financial and professional service industry, it's important for the CTO or technology department to focus on both the infrastructure and understanding of the business, as well as a methodical approach to change management and technology. Often, there are unrealistic expectations placed on technology that can lead to frustration among workers. This isn't necessarily due to poor technology or infrastructure, but rather a lack of communication and understanding between business users, strategies, and technology development. To address this, technology companies should have product managers who can define what to build and invest in.
