July 2016: In Fintech, God Is in the Details

In recent times it was attributed to the German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the fathers of modernist architecture and creator of the effortlessly elegant and universally celebrated Barcelona Pavilion, designed for the International Exposition in Barcelona in 1929, which, if you’re lucky enough to have experienced it first-hand, you’ll swear was built yesterday. And, if for some reason the Pavilion doesn’t quite float your boat, there is the Barcelona chair to marvel at, a design icon if ever there was one, which, due to its sleek, clean lines, now adorns corporate offices (and large numbers of private residences) in pretty much every major city on the planet. 

Some sources, however, argue that the phrase can be traced back to 19th century French novelist Gustave Flaubert. Regardless of its origin, the phrase is especially pertinent to capital markets CIOs. Why? Because, as “Mies” fervently believed, attention to detail transforms mediocrity into magnificence and the prosaic into something approaching perfection. In short, details are important. 

When it comes to successful implementations, CIOs universally acknowledge that 90 percent is pretty much straightforward, while the final 10 percent—that which elevates a project from good to great—is all about sweating the small stuff, the details. In his user experience (UX) feature, Dan DeFrancesco touches on this notion, although not explicitly. He argues that great UX comes about from a technology team that understands exactly what they are looking to achieve through their development and delivery, and it does so from the end-users’ perspective. It is not about providing an adequate, acceptable UX based on what the tech team assumes users want, but rather about working collaboratively and delivering outstanding functionality fronted by an interface that is simultaneously intuitive, simple to use, and elegant. And that requires a meticulous focus on the details. 

In this month’s cover story, Paula Walter, CIO of London-based Newton Asset Management, sums up the challenge succinctly when it comes to partnering with the firm’s business users. “If you ask them to tell you what they need, often they aren’t able to articulate exactly what that is because it’s not their day job to know about tech solutions—they should be able to articulate the business problem they’re trying to solve, and we should be there partnering with them and looking at a number of ways we can solve it.”

They say that the devil’s in the details. But if you look closely, you’ll find God there, too. 

They say that the devil’s in the details. But if you look closely, you’ll find God there, too.