But these two tech executives — Paul Johnson, the CIO of BB&T Corp., and Lisa Welander, the CIO of Heritage Bank in Olympia, Wash. — say that when consumers are pulling in their spending, it can be an ideal time to invest in the right projects.
Neither company is involved in any transformative efforts this year, but both have smaller initiatives under way.
Heritage is revamping its online banking capabilities by acting as a test bank for Intuit Inc.'s FinanceWorks application. Ms. Welander said the test has given Heritage a head start in delivering services that could attract new customers.
BB&T, which has said it wants to pursue organic growth rather than mergers and acquisitions, is in the middle of a three-year effort to refocus its technology priorities on generating value. Mr. Johnson said this long-term plan requires him to look at the company's tech decisions with a strict business focus: How long will it take to generate a return, and how big will it be?
The executives have similar goals, but the size difference between their companies means they have very different jobs and very different approaches to achieving their goals.
The $900 million-asset Heritage cannot afford to have an in-house technology development team, so it will rarely be at the cutting edge of the banking industry. Instead, Ms. Welander said, some of her biggest decisions center on which vendors to use and what products will appeal to customers and bring in revenue.
At the $137 billion-asset BB&T, Mr. Johnson said he has the resources to pursue a wide variety of projects, though he wants to stay back from the very edge of innovation and focus on areas where other financial companies have pioneered and where customers have already shown an interest.
Both CIOs say they are very aware that any investment will be scrutinized, and that they will need to show how their choices can affect the bottom line by driving up revenue, cutting costs, or both.
