CIO Corner Featuring Yogaraj (Yogs) Jayaprakasam, CIO At Deluxe

Fueling Innovation Through Curiosity, Architecture, and Outcomes. In this month’s edition of The CIO Corner, Tino Mantella is proud to feature Yogaraj (“Yogs”) Jayaprakasam, Chief Information Officer at Deluxe, a trusted payments and business technology company with more than a century of impact. Yoga is no stranger to transformation. With a calm, strategic demeanor and a sharp eye on what’s next, he’s helping Deluxe harness the full power of technology to serve its customers better and future-proof its operations. 

At the core of his leadership philosophy is a simple yet powerful idea: 

“Technology people must have an appetite to learn new tech, solution architecture, and be outcome-focused on their solutions.” 

This is more than a hiring preference, it’s a blueprint for building modern, agile IT organizations. 

 

Curiosity as a Catalyst

When Yogs evaluates potential team members, he’s not just scanning for resumes stacked with buzzwords or certifications, he’s looking for a hunger to learn. In a world where technological change is constant, he sees curiosity as a non-negotiable. 

This emphasis on intellectual curiosity reflects a shift in what defines high-performance in IT. It’s no longer just about what you know, but how fast you can adopt and apply.

 

The Architecture Mindset

The second trait Yogs highlights, solution architecture, might sound technical, but for him, it’s about much more than designing systems. It’s about thinking holistically, asking the right questions, and connecting the dots between technology, people, and purpose. 

Architecture is where innovation becomes tangible and where ideas start to take shape. People who understand architecture aren’t just coders, they’re builders, planners, and translators between business needs and engineering realities.

By embedding architectural thinking into all levels of his team, not just senior engineers, Yogs promotes scalable, sustainable tech development that avoids short-term fixes and leans into long-term vision. 

 

Outcome Over Output 

It’s easy for technology teams to fall into the trap of delivering features for the sake of velocity. But Yogs sets a different tone: one of intentionality and impact. 

His outcome-first mentality transforms how his team defines success. It also drives a greater sense of ownership, encouraging developers, architects, and analysts alike to stay close to the “why” behind their work. 

What makes Yogs stand out is not just his technical expertise or business insight; it’s his clarity of purpose. He’s building teams that don’t just execute tasks, but reimagine solutions.  Teams that don’t settle for “how things are,” but ask “how things could be.”

By centering hiring and development on curiosity, architecture, and outcomes, Yogs is future-proofing more than just technology; he is cultivating a culture of innovation from the ground up.