James Kaplan

About James

James is a leader of McKinsey Technology, which helps enterprises get the most value from technology investments and allows investors and providers to make winning investments in enterprise-technology marks.

He focuses on technology operating models, cloud adoption, cybersecurity programs, and large-scale architecture. He works with companies in a range of industries, assisting financial institutions, health institutions, manufacturers, and technology companies on technology and execution.

He also helps private equity firms with investments in the enterprise technology domain.

James’s enterprise technology expertise is extensive, having founded and led McKinsey’s technology infrastructure and cybersecurity work. He currently chairs the knowledge committee for the firm’s North American technology practice.

Examples of James’ recent client projects include the following:

• guiding the cloud transformation for a leading wholesale financial institution, putting it on a path to move 80 percent of its technology environment into public cloud
• assisting the go-to-market acceleration for a global system integrator, resulting in over $250 million of incremental annual contract value
• helping the infrastructure transformation for a pharmaceutical company, including an agile operating model for a 30 percent efficiency improvement and a new sourcing model
• assisting the cybersecurity transformation for a business-to-business software company, including a revised operating model, secure development process, general data-protection regulation compliance approach, and a cultural-change program
• leading the cybersecurity transformation for a geospatial mapping company focused on increasing maturity, building capabilities, and integrating cybersecurity into development processes

In addition to his client work, James speaks and writes frequently on technology, and publishes in McKinsey Quarterly, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the MIT Sloan Management Review. He also presents at Davos, the Milken Institute Global Conference, Sibos, the RSA Conference, and the Global Association of Risk Professionals conference. He is the coauthor of the book Beyond Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Digital Business, (Wiley, April 2015).

James has led McKinsey’s participation in multiple industry and cross-industry initiatives, such as the creation of the Sheltered Harbor group, and convenes several of McKinsey’s roundtables with senior technology executives.