CIO OPINION
“
THE MOST
SURVIVABLE
SPECIES IS THE
ONE THAT IS MOST
ADAPTABLE.
extended, and trying to ensure that decision
makers both understand and have a global
view of the issues they are deciding is tough. Fortinet was a small firm comprising a few
dozen staff, communication was a breeze
among the team members.
Larger organisations may also need to
manage conflicting agendas from different
members of the team. These constraints
delay the entire decision making process, or
worse, lead to the wrong decisions. Things changed as we evolved to become a
5,000-staff company, and I expect further
changes as we head towards the 10,000 mark.
Related to this is communication, which
typically slows down or gets distorted to a
greater extent as a company grows. When
50
INTELLIGENTCIO
Figuring out how to get the entire 10,000
workforce to align behind the company’s
goals, letting each individual understand
what his role is, and securing his buy-in to
work together effectively as a team to deliver
on the bigger corporate goals, are some
hurdles I see us needing to cross.
On the R&D front that I primarily look
after, there is the challenge of maintaining
our pace of work as the company grows.
Researching, innovating, developing and
testing products quickly were a relative
cinch when we were small. Now, it requires
significant investment to maintain the
speed (or ‘Forti-Speed’ as we call it) of this
process, and that investment continues to
rise as we expand.
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