| | March 20168CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONThe Force of Mobile and Wireless Technology: Driving Business Innovation, Increasing Productivity & Exceeding Customer ExpectationsBy John Mason, CIO, Bottomline TechnologiesIT departments are historically known for being the early adopters of technology in any organization, and my team is no exception. Tablets, smartphones, any kind of wearable technology--we all have it the minute it hits the market, as excited as little kids on Christmas morning. This fascination with the latest and greatest goes well beyond just the fun of having a new `toy' to play with however. It is important for CIOs to actively encourage the adoption of the best and most innovative new technologies throughout the organization because doing so leads to several very important benefits for the company. For one thing, exposure to the best emerging technologies sets the bar for product teams and challenges them to make sure product roadmaps are as innovative as they need to be to meet the growing demands of customers. Empowering the workforce with the newest technology also significantly increases their productivity and enables them to be responsive to customers no matter where they are.Think Like the Best: Embracing New Technology Trends to Meet Customer NeedsWhen the first iPad was released in 2010, we gave one to Senior Management and Product Managers with a simple challenge: Make our products as easy to use and powerful as these new devices. From that moment on, iPads were our benchmark, an exceptional example of how user experience can change the game. It marked a turning point for Bottomline. We hadn't needed to think like that before. Many of our customers, especially those in the banking and insurance spaces, were happy working with legacy systems, blinking green cursors and all. That was fine for the time, but if we had allowed ourselves to continue to design for the lowest common denominator, we would have been left in the dust as the market matured and customers began demanding business technology that worked more like what they were used to in their personal lives. It was only by
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