CWHK: How do you, as a CIO, align IT with business goals?

Kam: For an IT investment, we have to do a business case and justify the cost advantages in dollar terms. To justify these efforts we must have a [business] framework. We need to show that IT investment will increase the value of the service to the customers--to give them more reason to keep the Octopus card in their wallet and increase the use of our service. We must continually invest to improve our infrastructure and make ourselves more efficient. If we don't, sooner or later there will be new entrants, new competitors.

CWHK: Who are your competitors?

Kam: Number one? Cash. It's still the dominant form of payment and has been around for centuries. We need to continually improve and give more incentive to our customers to use our services. We need to offer tangible benefits.

CWHK: What have you learned in the last eight years of field operations?