Merging Business and Tech – Bridgewater’s Guide to Drive Agility
A conversation with Igor Tsyganskiy, President & Chief Technology Officer at Bridgewater Associates
Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund and an early adopter of cloud technology, experienced zero trading downtime in 2020, despite high market volatility. This allowed the company, which manages over $150 billion, to continue providing unique insights to its most sophisticated global institutional clients, including pension funds, central banks, and governments. Igor Tsyganskiy, President & CTO at Bridgewater, spoke with AWS Enterprise Strategist Miriam McLemore about how Bridgewater has leveraged its partnerships and scaled its infrastructure to become agile and deliver for clients during tumultuous times.
By the time COVID hit, we were already native on AWS in full swing. That gave us huge agility and the ability to stay live for all 365 days.”
Miriam McLemore: How did Bridgewater pivot so quickly to serve clients despite the disruptions of 2020?
Igor Tsyganskiy: We invested quite a lot into being agile over many years and rebuilding our infrastructure. So, by the time COVID hit, we were already native on AWS in full swing. That gave us huge agility and the ability to stay live for all 365 days. We had to move our whole office, within one week, to work from home. That’s when our partnerships came in to help us. Whether when COVID hit in February or the huge market volatility from elections and events around the country, our partners always had the resources to adjust for customers like us who require mission-critical availability. Because we were using mostly cloud infrastructure end-to-end, we could collaborate, work, run our investment processes, and pretty much everything else without interruption. When we talk about the cloud, it’s not in the sky; there’s a bunch of folks working there for us. They are available to speak with us and help us provision the capabilities we need. That’s what partnership is all about.
Adopt technologies that maximize your ROI
Miriam McLemore: How do you decide when to adopt a new technology or vendor?
Igor Tsyganskiy: We adopt technology when it helps us maximize our returns by making better investment decisions. Not all technologies will increase your ROI. We don’t look at the folks we work with as vendors but as partners. I care about two things: who are the people we’re going to be dealing with, and what is the underlying architecture—whether it’s sound, whether it’s expandable, and whether it can carry us forward.
Miriam McLemore: How do you make sure your tech decisions are right?
Igor Tsyganskiy: We essentially have no separation between business and technology at Bridgewater. I’ve built a technology advisory board, which includes a mix of leaders from Bridgewater and other companies. This board helps me make any strategic decision about technology, where Bridgewater will go, and how we can take advantage of the technology in the best possible way.
You need a deep partnership with the technology teams you’re going to rely on; everyone needs to be empowered and on the same journey.”
Igor’s Top Tips for Embarking on Digital Transformation
- Work with people you view as partners, not just vendors, in your transformation journey.
- Talk to other leaders who have done the same things you want to achieve.
- Recruit skilled talent to make sure your organization is ready for the future.
Don’t be afraid to fail
Miriam McLemore: Do you have any advice for executives hesitant to embark on cloud migration or digital transformation?
Igor Tsyganskiy: First, you need a deep partnership with the technology teams you’re going to rely on; everyone needs to be empowered and on the same journey. Second, don’t be afraid to fail. For example, ten years ago, you could have found a billion reasons not to use cloud computing. The technology wasn’t proven, wasn’t available, wasn’t entirely secure; the list goes on and on. But if you understand the trend and how technology evolves, you know those things will be solved. If you are going to wait until everything has been solved, your competition will move ahead of you. Very few companies can afford to let that happen. Don’t worry about what is not available; worry about finding the right partners that will help you enable those things that are not available. Also, make sure you have appropriate talent. And if you don’t, again, either partner with someone or hire someone that can handle these projects for you. Partnerships are essential when aligning your business with technology.
Don’t worry about what is not available; worry about finding the right partners who will help you enable those things that are not available.”
About our guest
Igor Tsyganskiy
President & Chief Technology Officer at Bridgewater Associates
Igor Tsyganskiy joined Bridgewater in 2016 and is currently President and Chief Technology Officer with executive company-wide responsibility over all architecture, technology, infrastructure, and data centers. He runs development and operation of all investment and client-facing systems, corporate systems — such as HR, finance, payroll, and travel — and leads overall security architecture and design. He is a Partner and a member of the firm's Executive Committee and Operating Committee.Previously, Igor led Database.com, a division of Salesforce.com, and was the Principal Inventor and Co-Founder of Tealeaf Technologies, which was sold to IBM. He also ran an advanced technology group at SAP, holds more than 20 patents in the areas of enterprise software, process automation, security, and is a Computerworld Smithsonian Award Laureate.
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