CIO interview: Sebastiaan Kalshoven, ASN Financial institution
When ASN Financial institution chief expertise officer (CTO) Sebastiaan Kalshoven isn’t driving IT and enterprise change on the Dutch retail financial institution, he can usually be discovered on the native swimming pool coaching his daughter and different youngsters to develop into aggressive athletes.
His 10-year-old daughter desires of successful Olympic gold, so 3 times every week Kalshoven takes a bunch of younger swimmers who share the identical ambition. It’s a deep plunge away from the pressures of IT administration but it surely’s just like the day job in some ways. “What I do in my spare time can also be targeted on steady enchancment,” he says.
Even when there’s a connection between the swimming classes and work, the break from routine is welcome. Kalshoven has been deeply concerned within the strategic change processes at ASN Financial institution, the fourth largest retail financial institution within the Netherlands.
It has a 200-year historical past and was beforehand recognised by means of its 4 well-known manufacturers, together with RegioBank and SNS. Mum or dad model De Volksbank introduced that as of 1 July, it and all its manufacturers would proceed to function beneath the only identify of ASN Financial institution.
The selection for one retail model is a vital step within the simplification of the organisation as a part of a serious transformation. The method includes complete integration, revamping core infrastructure and bolstering cyber safety. As tech chief and programme director, Kalshoven is on the coronary heart of this.
Kalshoven isn’t any stranger to the challenges of the fast-changing, ultra-competitive banking sector. He spent nearly 10 years at ING earlier than leaving for De Volksbank in 2022. On this function, he has overseen key transformations: shifting IT operations from the financial institution’s personal servers to cloud infrastructure and implementing monetary operations (FinOps) and agile methodologies.
De Volksbank determined to construct their IT techniques utilizing Nutanix expertise mixed with Amazon’s cloud providers (AWS). The aim was to attain scalability, flexibility, automation and stability of techniques with flexibility and scale-up, whereas holding IT operations constant, no matter whether or not they run on the financial institution’s personal servers or within the cloud.
Kalshoven calls this “enterprise over tech enablement” – basically placing enterprise wants first whereas sustaining flexibility and minimising disruption. This shift proved well timed given the upheaval within the tech trade after Broadcom acquired VMware and introduced main modifications to merchandise and pricing that affected numerous companies.
Dangerous enterprise
Since December 2024, Kalshoven has been concerned in main the transformation programme alongside his common duties. The advantages for purchasers of working beneath a single model embody extra uniform merchandise, higher stakeholder relationships and clearer communication. From a expertise perspective, this implies making operations extra environment friendly, linking up varied IT techniques and making a streamlined however highly effective platform.
The initiative centres on bringing the whole lot beneath a unified ASN model which ought to ship higher worth for purchasers by means of standardised merchandise, stakeholder engagement and open communications. The IT facet is important, involving optimising operations, integrating expertise engines and creating a strong however slimline platform. The purpose is to construct a versatile basis that permits expertise to evolve with the financial institution’s altering wants.
Though there’s a sturdy want to mitigate threat, an opposing dynamic can also be at play: Kalshoven’s private urge for food for leaning into change and getting issues carried out. “Essentially the most rewarding facet is anticipating and fixing potential challenges,” he says. “You may foresee issues – each technical and organisational – and develop options earlier than they’ve a destructive affect.”
Change at this scale requires a daring outlook and clear plans for supply in accordance with milestones. “It’s like open-heart surgical procedure, as a result of we are going to solely learn how advanced the organisation has made the IT implementation once we begin touching the interfaces,” he says.
“We’ll first take away the precise merchandise from our present techniques that can make the implementation easier, after which we take out buyer administration and product administration. So, you retain the core system and see the affect on particular product traces and worth streams.”
Kalshoven’s expertise with an analogous initiative at ING took seven years. He believes issues will transfer quicker this time, including: “The problem is much less advanced as a result of we have now fewer merchandise to take care of. It’s nonetheless going to take some time, however we’re aiming to have the whole lot carried out in three years with our purpose to develop into easier and cut back complexity.”
‘Set phasers to stun’
Kalshoven says {that a} phased strategy retains choices open and manages uncertainty: “It’s planning for various situations, based mostly on which we resolve the best way to implement modifications and what to ask of our groups. As an example, all our functions ought to transfer to an lively/lively setup, which is totally completely different to what the financial institution was used to earlier.
“Earlier than, the strategy was, ‘If one thing goes incorrect, we’ll change from A to B, and it’ll take us something from eight to 10 hours to get providers up and working once more for our prospects.’ However the extra functions which can be active-active, the much less buyer affect there’s, and the extra snug you might be you could cater for any eventuality, so you may slim down the quantity of IT platforms and have a restricted set of functions.”
Finally, Kalshoven and ASN Financial institution are looking for to jettison legacy wherever potential and transfer to fashionable IT structure. This shift additionally displays Kalshoven’s view of the function of tech chiefs.
“Our predominant problem as IT leaders is consistently to see what’s on the market after which step in on the proper second”
Sebastiaan Kalshovend, ASN Financial institution
“Our predominant problem as IT leaders is consistently to see what’s on the market after which step in on the proper second,” he says. “That’s what you see in AI – we’re nearly by means of the hype cycle and now there’s a have to ship actual worth.
“Even containers – a expertise that’s been round for practically a decade – is now solely lastly reaching maturity. The expertise just isn’t the issue; it’s mastering new ideas and approaches. That you must perceive the best way to implement the expertise in apply and determine the way it provides worth to what you are promoting.”
Change might be difficult, however Kalshoven says that explaining the mission and allocating clear duty can calm nerves. “I give attention to what I name constructing an engineering tradition,” he says. “Engineers who perceive particular applied sciences and now have the chance to begin studying one thing else.
“That’s good for them because it retains them related of their subject: modifications usually are not a risk however a possibility to make their day by day work extra attention-grabbing. It’s like coaching to win the gold medal; it’s essential make constant enhancements to get there.
When specialists share their data, it bolsters their very own engagement whereas enhancing implementation, Kalshoven provides. “We contain the engineers from the unique options, they usually affect how we implement that new resolution as a result of they create 30 or 35 years of expertise. They’ll ask questions like, ‘What went incorrect earlier than? And the way can we overcome it in a brand new system?’”
Deal with teamwork
Once I recommend that Kalshoven would possibly have to clone himself to take care of the whole lot, he replies: “It takes an actual crew effort to maintain day by day IT operations working whereas implementing the transformation. Everyone seems to be concerned, even individuals within the wider organisation. I arrange my crew for achievement to allow them to deal with issues independently, however they know I’m right here in the event that they hit any snags.
“My crew takes care of the day-to-day enterprise, however I step in at any time when they want steerage. It makes it attention-grabbing, as a result of it means juggling two completely different challenges on completely different timescales. That’s what drives me: consistently pushing limits whereas studying. I prefer to anticipate the problems that can come up, to experiment, but additionally to ensure that it occurs in a protected setting. Freedom to innovate is finally solely potential from a secure foundation.”
Kalshoven works carefully with the CIO and different members of senior administration. He baulks on the widespread notion of the CTO, including: “CTOs are thought to be being fully targeted on infrastructure plumbing, however in addition they have to have a broader sense of what occurs in enterprise. That’s why final 12 months I additionally accomplished my govt MBA. The programme coated loads of subjects like technique, authorized, advertising and marketing, buyer expertise and so forth.
“My predominant aim now could be to get nearer to prospects by being chargeable for ASN’s expertise spine. The nearer you might be to the shoppers, the extra attention-grabbing the work turns into, since you actually contact individuals’s lives and the way they do their banking.”
When requested if extra expertise leaders may have the chance to develop into CEOs, he responds: ”I anticipate extra boards will realise they want digital experience, particularly with incoming DORA laws requiring board members to be extra tech-savvy. There’ll be no selection however to supply seats on the board to individuals like CIOs and CTOs. However it’s additionally about making certain this information is disseminated.
“In that respect it’s my duty to help and practice my colleagues to verify they begin understanding all this. I can’t be the one one who understands the nuts and bolts of expertise, as a result of choices in space A at all times have an effect on what occurs in space B and C, proper? I want to see extra tech experience usually.”
This includes a certain quantity of diplomacy.
“It’s a must to actually showcase the worth of the expertise. Take the transfer to Nutanix – that’s broadly thought of as a cost-cutting or threat mitigation exercise, and other people perceive that fully. The query is, the place is the true added worth? So, if I can speak about faster time to market, or fewer incidents or a shorter time wanted to resolve them, then it actually turns into extra tangible for them. FinOps helps as a result of the whole lot is then translated into value or financial worth.”
We’re dwelling in a world the place enterprise and expertise choices are interconnected and mainly the identical factor now – which makes it tougher than ever for leaders to remain in their very own swimming lanes.
