Conversations With Leaders: Driving IT Transformation in Finance and Professional Services: Insights from a Senior Leader - Ray Bunton

Leadership. It’s one of those timeless qualities that shows up in every part of life. It’s a topic that has filled books, podcasts, and TV shows, and it’s something we all grapple with at some point.

In this newsletter, I’m sitting down with leaders who are truly walking the walk. My goal is simple: to uncover nuggets of wisdom from their experiences that you can apply to your own career and leadership journey.

Today, leadership especially within IT transformation demands those to bridge the gap between cutting-edge innovation and real-world business results. One of the leaders I spoke with has done just that—starting from an engineering background and spending over a decade in IT delivery within the banking sector. They’ve not only witnessed transformation first-hand but have actively shaped it.

In this interview, we dive into how they led technology transformations within highly regulated and cost-conscious industries, with a focus on stakeholder management, aligning IT with business goals, and building an adaptable culture. This leader also shares their insights on overcoming challenges and staying balanced in a fast-changing world.

From an early career in defence to the mobile banking revolution, cloud technologies, and AI, their journey provides a roadmap for managing the tricky balance between innovation, regulation, and stakeholder needs. The following Q&A will give you a glimpse into their approach to IT transformation, team leadership, and the future of technology in finance and professional services.

So, without further delay, let me introduce Ray Bunton.?

Here’s how our conversation went:

RJ: Can you share a bit about your career journey and what led you to where you are now??

RB:?I have a background in engineering starting with my master’s degree during which I took an interest in coding and technology in general. From here I commenced my career in defence and quickly found a desire to lead teams and support colleagues to achieve customer goals and a good return on investment. My career in delivery was born and haven’t looked back as I’ve grown to be a senior delivery leader.?

Eventually in 2010 I got into banking at the dawn of mobile apps and have remained in the industry for the past 14 years. Actually getting into financial services was not planned. At the time, Barclays wanted to onboard enthusiastic non-bankers with a love of cutting edge tech and as history shows, I fit the bill. It’s remained so as we are now getting more into Cloud-based tech and of course AI.

RJ: What are some of the toughest challenges you’ve faced in keeping IT transformation in line with regulations and changing business goals, and how did you handle them??

RB:?The biggest challenge is what I would call “runaway enthusiasm”. In other words, often senior business colleagues will believe that technology itself is the answer to solving their business problems. As such their true need is masked and when the technology doesn’t work / solve the issues, it’s then easy to point the finger at the IT delivery team. Misunderstanding results, morale suffers and delivery runs late. Of course poorly conceived tech implementations lead to higher costs and poor return on investment. In reality, IT must be seen as an enabler for business growth and we need to be clear on what the business need actually is (regulatory, etc.) and let the tech follow to solve for it. I spend a lot of my time supporting colleagues around a good change mindset - to being open to lock down and understand their true business issues and what they really need / want. I ensure clarity of business requirements and drive a well thought out transformation map centred around great tech.

RJ: How do you make sure the board, shareholders, and regulators stay on board with IT changes, especially when costs change??

RB:?It’s an obvious thing to say: ‘good communication’. But the terms ‘communication’' in delivery is a somewhat abused term. Most would say ‘just do it’, but for me it’s the art of bringing items of important interest for stakeholders to life in a language and way that makes sense to them. This is not instant or easy and I also spend a lot of time building strong relationships with my stakeholders to gain their trust and (mutual) respect. In this way, when things go off plan (like costs increasing) or I need decisions to be made, I know I can be open and honest with options to get us to the best result quicker. Equally I work to get them focused on the right goals that add the right value.

RJ:?What’s worked best for you in managing change and getting employees at all levels bought into the journey during an IT transformation??

RB:?I touched on this question above. It’s about two primary things for me: growth mindset (company values) and common purpose (what matters to the company and why). Firstly, I need to work to ensure as many key employees are up for the challenge, understand why we do IT transformation programmes and want to help develop themselves, their colleagues and the business. This is hard work with mixed success, but I don’t need everyone bought in. Just enough to get the right result. Secondly, these same people need to understand the value of the Change outcomes we are seeking. I spend time along with ExCo members in townhalls and other forums to continuously reinforce the value proposition, invite challenge and in many instances course correct as we go.

RJ: How do you balance long-term IT goals with the need to show quick wins and ROI, especially in cost-conscious industries like professional services??

RB:?Achieving this requires great collaboration between business owners and enterprise architects in the development of a technology transformation roadmap. I usually get right in the middle of these groups to help drive that collaboration. Along the route we identify the ‘low hanging fruit’ in order to drive continuous improvement in pursuit of a longer term strategic technology end point. Interesting thing here is that the end point is never reached because tech innovation doesn’t stand still. The goal posts and always changing, and so when it comes down to it, achieving the “quicker wins” along the way really is the best way to get that ROI and keep people invested. That’s how I sell it. An example is Cloud migration. Many companies (think they) want everything on Cloud, but really along the way only a few key systems really need that treatment. I tackle those as the technology landscape evolves.

RJ: Hiring is key to any transformation. How do you attract and keep the right talent??

RB:?A lot of senior delivery leadership is about reading people and what I look for are two primary things: attitude (behaviours) and appetite. The former is how a potential hire conducts themselves to me. Do they comes across as decent, professional and polite? Some would say ‘do they fit with company culture?’, but honestly I think I have good values and if they are aligned to mine I think they are fit for any good company culture. Mutual respect is so important. The latter is whether they have the right drive to want to make a difference. Whilst its fine some people just want to do a good job and go home on time, this doesn’t work in (pressured) delivery. I need talented people that want a great outcome for the business and will push hard in the right way to get it. My challenge then is to ensure they stay safe and don’t over stretch themselves doing so. If these factors are considered, I think any new hire would naturally want to be part of my team. And if they subsequently move on because I have helped them develop, this is great too.

RJ: What key numbers or metrics do you look at to track the success of IT transformation projects??

RB:?At a high level, the classic project management triangle looks at balance between cost, time, quality. Looking at a spend sheet won’t automatically tell me if we are at risk of going off track. Plans are only as good as the people feeding them from the ground upwards (and are usually wrong if predominantly top down). And transformation goals are only credible if the right people buy into them and are ‘brave enough’ to say “let’s do something different because things have changed”.

With this in mind, I like to proactively determine:

a) Do key stakeholders trust / are bought into documented, well thought out and sufficiently detailed business requirements that are aligned to strategic goals and IT architecture? If not, we are likely to end up off track when the solution being developed is incomplete or undesired.

b) Do I have credible risk and issues logs that actually make sense and that people care about and own / actively mitigate without being ‘told’ to do so? If not we are likely just ticking governance boxes and will miss the important “gotchas” down the line

c) Do I have empowered teams that own and deeply care about their own delivery objectives? If not it is likely mistakes will be made and plans will be wrong. These are subjective metrics, but mean that when I look at spend or plans and things look “off” I can be more confident in the figures meaning action is needed to stay on track.

RJ: With AI, cloud technologies, and digital banking growing fast, how do you control costs and manage risks??

RB:?It’s about controlling the ‘runaway enthusiasm’ for new technology. I work hard with senior business and technology stakeholders to focus on real need rather than “want”. Generative AI is a classic example of this. I believe at present most organisations have limited use for it. But many execs (whether they admit or not) are afraid of being left behind. Actually they will look more credible in front of their peers when they deliver great customer outcomes with IT transformation solutions that are simple, effective and value for money. This type of focus then mitigates concerns around costs for new tech getting out of control. It’s not easy though and this is where the mutual trust and respect element between me and my key stakeholders comes into play so we can have these debates in an open and honest way – way before we even start to deliver anything.

RJ: Cybersecurity is a big deal. How do you balance driving innovation with the need to protect the business from cyber threats??

RB:?As an example: I need to replace end user devices with a ‘sexy’ new upgraded operating system. But part of that need is to ensure the solution is also well protected from external cyber attack. The issue here is achieving balance between ‘high protection’ but then allowing the tech to serve business users and customers in a useful way.

Else it will be wasted money / effort. My approach is around pragmatism and experimentation. So firstly, as noted above, I readily get in the middle of business and tech stakeholders to broker a number of sensible (but limited) options for the solution that tick most boxes without serious compromise. This can take time! I will then work with these same teams to experiment with the solutions to see which works best in practice (e.g. proof of concept). Of course in terms of the end goals, this can slow things down in the eyes of stakeholders and I have to be very clear on the ‘why’ and how it will help us deliver the right outcomes faster.

RJ:?What new technologies do you think will have the biggest impact on IT transformation in finance and professional services in the next 3–5 years, and how are you getting your teams ready for them??

RB:?The key for me here is how new tech can optimise the time of my team, help them to avoid mistakes and focus on the right things. I think generative AI is going to be great for taking some of the more ‘standardised’ admin away from my delivery teams, thus freeing them up to devote more effort to focus on the issues and achieve their key objectives. Augmented reality is a bit ‘faddy’ but exciting. Imagine being able to see lots of real-time “delivery stats” in front of your eyes in an exec meeting (assuming I trust the data!).

Another interesting technology is handwriting to text devices. It’s definitely not new but is steadily maturing. I use it all the time as it means I quickly have typed notes to distribute that originate from my own (messy) hand.

I do also think the tech exists today for a lot of what we do in IT transformation. But we need to do it better. For example: I want less ‘PowerPoint’ and more discussion.

Excel too is sometimes seen as ‘hideous’, but keeping it simple allows powerful tooling capability for number crunching. So I’m encouraging my teams to be open minded about these things but also to think ruthlessly about where things can improve. The challenge is finding the time to do it.

RJ:?Keeping a healthy balance between work & personal life is incredibly important. How do you manage this, and how do you ensure your teams do too??

RB:?The Covid lockdown blurred this considerably. My wife is great at (for example) coming into the study and telling me to ‘stop’ and sit down to eat with her or go for a walk with the dog. She’s my trusted anchor to ensure work doesn’t overtake my life. My kids try to do the same, although less likely to tell me to stop ??. I also really value physical health to balance work stresses and keep my mind calm. I do running, weight training and other things. It doesn’t have to be that much, but it makes a huge difference. Not everyone has a ‘life partner’ to help them and that’s ok. Hopefully in most cases though another trusted person is around to fill the role. And not everyone can be so physically active. But most in an office setting can move away from screens, go outside and breathe fresh air, etc. I encourage this all the time. Work socials are great too as long as work is left at the door and focus is on the social part.

RJ: Finally, how would you add value to the next organisation you work for??

RB: I hope my thoughts above speak for themselves in terms of the value I can bring. In summary, I am very flexible and pragmatic and focused on how tech can serve human-kind (and not the other way around). I don’t accept poor behaviours, unnecessary indecision or general negativity in delivery. I always strive for a ‘can do’ attitude. I work hard to build trust with my stakeholders and encourage all to feel proud and empowered about what we are doing and why. The ‘why’ is really important. If I think something isn’t of value, I speak out to chase the right outcomes.

Of course I can do successful delivery management and lead / nurture teams to do so. But for me it boils down to people making or breaking transformation regardless of it being done ‘agile’ or something else. And most important – my key measure of success is leaving a ‘place’ better than when I found it.

RJ: Thanks Ray!

The Debrief:

Firstly, thank you, Ray—there are some fascinating insights here.

These are the key takeaways from our conversation for me. Firstly understanding the true business needs is essential for any successful IT transformation. Technology should support business goals, not drive them. Managing "runaway enthusiasm" for the latest tech by aligning stakeholder expectations is crucial, and building strong, trust-based relationships is key to that alignment.

Lastly, focusing on "quick wins" and continuous improvement is vital for keeping momentum in long-term transformations, while striking a balance between innovation and managing costs along the way.

About Ray:

Ray is a highly experienced senior leader with over 20 years of expertise in driving complex, multimillion-pound business and tech initiatives across the financial services sector, including major UK banks. Ray is passionate about people development and servant leadership, building high-performing teams to achieve meaningful outcomes. Notable achievements include leading Metro Bank’s mobile banking upgrade, and delivering major IT transformations for Barclays and revverbank.

How to contact Ray: (1) Ray Bunton | LinkedIn

Work with Ray: Ray is currently available for his next engagement. If you feel Ray could add value to your organisation please reach out directly to him, or I would be happy to facilitate an introduction.

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Richard Jenkins - Director at Jenkins Recruitment Group in conversation with Ray Bunton.

Jenkins Recruitment Group - Exclusive Technology & Digital Recruitment