CIO Trends 9

E-guide
CIO Trends #9
IT leadership best practices for CIOs, CTOs and CDOs
CIO Trends #9
In this e-guide
In this e-guide:
Rise in business-led IT spend
In this e-guide, take a look at some of our most popular articles
increases risks and on issues faced by IT decision-makers, such as the rise in IT
opportunities buying decisions from outside the IT department, the
importance of ethics in technology, and a look at how the
Interview: How Defra is
getting its IT systems ready
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is
for Brexit preparing its IT for the challenges of Brexit.
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT

Bryan Glick, editor-in-chief
ethics and sustainability
challenge
CW500: How AI will transform

technology leadership
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new

CIO to avoid
How IT leaders can build

great relationships with
marketing leaders
Page 1 of 54
CIO Trends #9
In this e-guide
Rise in business-led IT spend increases
Rise in business-led IT spend risks and opportunities
increases risks and
opportunities Angelica Mari, associate editor

As more organisations move towards decentralising IT management, new
getting its IT systems ready threats and opportunities are arising that directly affect IT leaders, a new study
for Brexit has found.
The role of CIOs in decisions related to technology within organisations is a key

theme highlighted in the 2019 Harvey Nash and KPMG CIO survey, which
challenge polled 3,645 senior IT leaders across 108 countries and found that 63% of firms
are happy for IT to be managed outside the IT department.
CW500: How AI will transform At the same time, the survey suggests that budgets under the CIO’s control are
the highest for 15 years, with 55% of those surveyed reporting increases,
compared with 49% last year.
CIO to avoid With resources being ploughed into IT across the whole organisation,
partnerships between business departments and IT are more important than
How IT leaders can build ever.
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
The survey suggests that businesses whose CIO is formally involved in

In this e-guide technology decisions are seeing benefits such as a significant improvement in
time to market – cited by 52% of respondents.
increases risks and Companies that are very, or extremely, effective in their use of digital
opportunities technology – labelled as “digital leaders” in the study – are also more likely to
introduce major new changes to products (cited by 55% of respondents) and to
Interview: How Defra is focus on making money with tech projects (cited by 76% of chief executives in
getting its IT systems ready digital leader organisations).
for Brexit
Such companies also claimed to perform better than their peers in terms of
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT customer experience, cited by 65% of respondents, as well as revenue growth
ethics and sustainability (55%), profitability (50%) and employee experience (38%).
challenge
In a scenario where shadow IT is becoming even more prevalent, governance
becomes critical, said Steve Bates, global leader for KPMG International’s CIO
Advisory Centre of Excellence.
“The key is to create a more streamlined and cross-functional governance

Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new function that manages technology through products and portfolios directly linked
CIO to avoid
to business measures, not simply a list of projects,” said Bates.
How IT leaders can build “As organisations shift to become more agile, connected enterprises, full-stack
great relationships with teams comprised of business, functional and technology professionals will be
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
responsible for the continuous delivery and improvement of their respective

In this e-guide products and services.”
Rise in business-led IT spend Bates predicted that portfolio and product managers will replace traditional
increases risks and project managers in overseeing the delivery of initiatives.
opportunities
Achieving digital leadership is an aim for many organisations, which is reflected
in recruitment demands for senior leaders, according to Albert Ellis, chief
getting its IT systems ready executive at Harvey Nash Group.
for Brexit
“The main concern [of organisations] is around digital and disruption, as they try
to cope with the rise of competition from places they didn’t expect, such as
online platforms,” said Ellis.
challenge
“The concept of this traditional IT leader is really now history. They have to be
totally business-immersed and understand how their businesses are being
CW500: How AI will transform disrupted and how to respond to that, which includes supporting marketing,
enabling productivity of staff and driving automation.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new “Beyond the technology elements, a CIO is also required to have a complete
CIO to avoid understanding of the overall issues and the complexity surrounding their
industry sector. That is seen as essential to driving the digital transformation
How IT leaders can build that organisations need.”
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
Issues from the IT-business disconnect

In this e-guide
However, 43% of the CIOs polled said they are not being consulted in
Rise in business-led IT spend technology decisions led by the business. This throws up challenges, such as a
increases risks and limited ability to build consumer trust effectively, cited by 23% of respondents,
opportunities as well as increased security risks.
But despite commanding larger budgets for technology, CIOs also seem to be
getting its IT systems ready losing influence, with the percentage of CIOs sitting on the board falling from
for Brexit 71% to 58% in two years, according to the research.
However, Bates does not think fewer CIOs sitting on the board will have a
negative impact on business-led IT projects – or even IT projects in general.
challenge
“CIOs continue to exert a strong degree of influence and are being joined by a
new generation of technology-savvy executives like the chief technology officer,
CW500: How AI will transform chief digital officer and chief data officer,” he said. “As organisations mature into
this new paradigm of a coalition of technology leaders, there will be more
effective governance at all levels.
CIO to avoid “We are at a moment in time where the CIO is still best positioned to advise the
board and senior business leaders on technology and will increasingly have
How IT leaders can build deep subject matter expertise from fellow executives to inform decision-
great relationships with making.”
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
Beyond the disconnect between business and IT, another issue highlighted by
In this e-guide the study is the slow progress in diversity and inclusion, with 74% of IT leaders
polled saying related initiatives are, at most, “moderately successful”, with only
Rise in business-led IT spend minimal growth in women on tech teams – rising to 22% this year, compared
increases risks and with 21% last year.
opportunities
The study shows that over the past year, there has been no change in the
Interview: How Defra is percentage of female technology leaders at 12%.
for Brexit Lack of sufficiently skilled professionals to drive tech projects is still an ongoing
issue, with the skills gap reaching its highest level since 2008, according to the
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT survey.
challenge The areas of expertise that are hardest to find in the marketplace are big data
and analytics, cited by 44% of respondents, followed by cyber security (39%)
CW500: How AI will transform and artificial intelligence (39%).
According to Harvey Nash’s Ellis, there are early signs of a move towards
supporting technical apprenticeships as a way to address the skills issue. Citing
his company’s own initiative, he said one way to go could be to look for other
CIO to avoid
character traits in candidates and then provide training for additional
requirements.
“We look for characteristics of determination to succeed, ambition and ability to
marketing leaders
stick [to objectives], then train them for the technical skills that clients need,”
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CIO Trends #9
said Ellis. “What clients need is mostly people who will stay in their jobs and be
In this e-guide part of the future.
Rise in business-led IT spend “So we are looking for people who are unskilled and therefore have a much
increases risks and longer ramp up into their careers, so clients can get anything between three to
opportunities seven years out of them.”

The problem with making initiatives such as apprenticeships a way to alleviate
getting its IT systems ready the skills gap is the short-term mindset usually seen in companies, said Ellis,
for Brexit and this lack of long-term vision has been compounded in the UK by Brexit.
“We are seeing a lot of eastern Europeans go home now, even though Brexit
has not even happened,” he said. “So that [Brexit-related] uncertainty is putting
challenge talented IT professionals off [coming to or staying in the UK], so there could be
even greater skills shortages. Apprenticeships are a way of addressing that and
thinking longer-term, as this [issue] is not going to go away.”
AI adoption and quantum interest
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new As regards technology trends, the survey noted that the adoption of artificial
CIO to avoid intelligence (AI) is having a significant impact on business leaders, with many
being tasked to use it to improve efficiency (up 17% as a board priority).
The overall expectation of leaders surveyed is that one in five jobs will be
marketing leaders replaced by tech within five years, but new roles will make up for job cuts
caused by AI and automation (cited by 69% of those polled).
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CIO Trends #9
Organisations leading in the adoption of automation technologies such as AI,

In this e-guide advanced analytics and robotic process automation (RPA) can obtain real
financial benefits, but Bates said the pace of scaling is not fast enough for many
Rise in business-led IT spend organisations to see the gains they had hoped for.
increases risks and
opportunities “There are going to be major jumps in capabilities as organisations mature their
data management capabilities and enhance their abilities to teach machines
Interview: How Defra is more complicated tasks,” he said.
for Brexit The rise in AI adoption is also adding more responsibilities to CIOs’ remit as
they will need to understand how AI will displace jobs in their organisations, said
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT Harvey Nash’s Ellis.
challenge “It is likely that jobs will be displaced by systems that the CIO has presented to
the company,” he said. “So the CIO has to understand elements of human
resources [HR] to handle that and work with HR departments to prepare the
workforce and think about preparation, transition and communication around
how that is going to happen.”
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new Another trend highlighted in the report is quantum computing, which, despite its
CIO to avoid
early stages of development, has been adopted by 107 global organisations
(4% of respondents), including large pharmaceuticals, energy and financial
How IT leaders can build services firms.
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
While quantum technology is a potential game-changer – particularly for

In this e-guide financial services, pharmaceuticals and biotech businesses, because they
require highly complex processes with large quantities of data input and results
Rise in business-led IT spend in seconds – KPMG says organisations are still several years away from broad
increases risks and commercial application of the technology.
opportunities
“There are significant risks when considering quantum computing,” said Bates.
Interview: How Defra is “There are researchers that believe that quantum could make all current cyber
getting its IT systems ready and encryption technologies obsolete in the next five years.”
for Brexit
One-fifth (22%) of organisations polled by Harvey Nash and KPMG that
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT reported investment in quantum computing are UK-based, with 19% in the US,
ethics and sustainability followed by 7% for both Australia and the Republic of Ireland.
challenge
Next Article

CIO to avoid

marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
In this e-guide
Interview: How Defra is getting its IT
Rise in business-led IT spend systems ready for Brexit
increases risks and

The largest IT organisation in UK government focused on Brexit is currently
getting its IT systems ready based at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and it
for Brexit is also the department most affected by the country’s departure from the
European Union (EU).
Director for EU Exit Delivery in Defra’s digital data and technology services
challenge team, Jo Broomfield, speaks exclusively to Computer Weekly about the work for
the programme.
CW500: How AI will transform “We’ve built 11 new IT services to support EU exit within 18 months, which is
incredible,” says Broomfield.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new Assessment around requirements started on 1 April 2017. In the autumn of that
CIO to avoid same year, teams were assembled and building work started.
Alongside chief digital information officer (CDIO) John Seglias, Broomfield

great relationships with assessed Defra’s IT landscape across all of the different EU Exit projects.
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
The executives then talked to the Defra bodies using those systems, looking at
In this e-guide expected volume increases. For around 15 to 20 of those projects, “very serious
consideration” had to be given around whether new IT was required, or whether
Rise in business-led IT spend legacy systems could do the job.
increases risks and
opportunities The EU Exit projects
The idea from the outset was to limit the amount of new systems, as the
getting its IT systems ready department knew it had taken on “a huge task”, according to Broomfield.
for Brexit
“Wherever we could, if we identified that an existing system could be tuned and
hardened to cope with increased transaction volumes around trade, we would
do so” he says.
challenge
“For example, in Plant Health Portal, that was the route we chose, with safe and
lower-risk approaches to test and determine how the system would perform
CW500: How AI will transform under the expected loads and if we needed to harden it,” he adds.
More data-related services were introduced under the programme, including a
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new new warehouse and business intelligence (BI) applications set up to report data
CIO to avoid from some Brexit services.
“A reference data service, which aligned with Defra’s strategy, has also been
introduced and is about getting our reference data held in one place and
marketing leaders maintained effectively,” says Broomfield.
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CIO Trends #9
Out of all the new systems based on Microsoft cloud capability introduced as a
In this e-guide result of Brexit, there are six core platforms: Imports of products, animals, food
and feed system (IPAFFS); export health certificates; registration, evaluation,
Rise in business-led IT spend authorisation and restriction of chemicals (Reach) IT; catch certificates; UK F
increases risks and gas system; and veterinary medicines digital service (VMDS).
opportunities
These systems focus on trade, specifically relating to the UK borders, and are
Interview: How Defra is among the most crucial for the department.
for Brexit “We’re currently using EU systems for some of those border functions and we
had to assume we would no longer have access to those systems,” says
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT Broomfield.
challenge “We built a new system for the controlled imports of products that Defra has an
interest in, including live animals, products of animal origin, food and feed,” he
says, adding that this required building a new system, which was ready to be
used on 29 March 2019 if required.
On the other end of the telescope, there are systems relating to exports.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new According to the IT executive, Defra had to assume that the UK would be
CIO to avoid
treated as a “third country” by the European Union after Brexit.
How IT leaders can build “This could mean if you’re not in the EU and you are exporting into the EU, you
great relationships with have to produce export health certificates on a number of products such as
marketing leaders animals and food,” he says.
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CIO Trends #9
This also means a very rapid increase in the number of export health certificates
In this e-guide that Defra would have to authorise and support production of, so the team also
had to build an export health certificate system.
increases risks and Registration is another area of focus for the new core systems, covering
opportunities chemicals and veterinary medicines. At present, Helsinki-based European
Chemicals Agency handles chemicals registration, while the European
Interview: How Defra is Medicines Agency deals with the registration of veterinary medicine.
for Brexit This meant the IT team needed to understand what would be required under a
UK-based regime to register and control those products and the two new IT
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT digital services required to support them.
challenge In addition, there is work related to the control in the trading of quotas around
fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting substances, which is also currently
managed through interactions with the EU.
The last major core IT system Defra had to build supports fishing exports. To
export to Europe, non-EU suppliers have to be compliant with a number of
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new regulations around sustainability, so a new digital service needed to be built to
CIO to avoid
issue official catch certificates, which enables fishing businesses to provide
authorities with information such as where the fish has been caught and if it has
How IT leaders can build been caught within quotas
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
“We tried to identify if we could manage with an interim service that was lower-
In this e-guide risk to deliver, then do that first – we did that for our export health certificates,
for example,” says Broomfield.
increases risks and Readiness and risk
opportunities
Concerns have often been raised in the past couple of years over Defra’s ability
to deliver the IT required for Brexit in time. Broomfield does not try to play that
getting its IT systems ready down, adding that there were good reasons to be anxious.
for Brexit
“Whenever you’ve got a time-critical project such as EU Exit and you’ve got new
IT services being built, of course you’re right to be concerned. Those of us who
work in this space know that major IT deliveries have a lot of variables and risks
that can manifest themselves,” he says.
challenge
“So it was right that people were worried about it. Colleagues in Defra were also
CW500: How AI will transform concerned.
“One of the things we did to address that risk was – and our ministers were very
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new clear on this as well – having contingency measures in place if those IT services
CIO to avoid weren’t going to be ready. That was a very positive measure to de-risk day-one
readiness.”
In practice, having contingency in place means that if a system such as the one
marketing leaders handling imports not been ready, imports from third countries such as the UK
would no longer be able to use the EU system.
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That required Defra to think about what contingency would look like and how
In this e-guide import agents would tell the department about animal origin products coming
into a particular port.
increases risks and The exercise involved looking at what that manual or semi-manual process
opportunities would be, generating forms that would be available on Gov.uk and setting up
email addresses to major points of contacts, so that importers could email the
Interview: How Defra is forms in.
for Brexit For agricultural controls on the Irish border, the same principles apply in terms
of how Defra would deal with EU imports coming into the UK on day one, as any
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT inspections required would take place away from the border.
challenge According to Broomfield, the overall volume of transactions is going to be to
some extent based on modelling because not all of these transactions are
recorded at the moment.
“If export health certificates are taken as an example, we predicted it would be
between 100% and 300% increase, and we obviously tested to the 300% worst-
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new case level,” the says.
CIO to avoid
“On the import side, that was not as significant because we already understand
How IT leaders can build the number of notifications from third countries outside the EU.”
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
The cloud advantage

In this e-guide
The potentially substantial increase in transactions post Brexit means that
Rise in business-led IT spend building systems for the cloud was an obvious choice.
increases risks and
opportunities “You have to architect systems in a way that will allow you to benefit from that,
which is why we had an architecture program and worked very closely with
Microsoft to ensure we were built for elasticity,” Broomfield said.
In addition, an early realisation when planning for Brexit was that all projects
for Brexit
would have common requirements such as identity management, customer
record management, integration services and a cloud computing service centre.
ethics and sustainability Defra then took advantage of its investment under its ongoing digital
challenge
transformation strategy UnITy around Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint and
cloud, which has enabled the department to quickly build platforms that would
CW500: How AI will transform suffice for day one of Brexit, and in parallel, build sustainable, new services for
the long-run.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new “What I did was accelerate the development of those common services. Looking
CIO to avoid back, it’s the right thing to do in terms of where we’re trying to get to in Defra,”
says Broomfield.
“But, of course, it did introduce a dependency for multiple projects that are all
marketing leaders reliant on a new service coming in – if that service is disrupted or delayed, it
affects other projects.
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CIO Trends #9
“So we had to put a lot of attention into driving forward delivery of those
In this e-guide common platforms to make sure that they were ready and tested in time to
integrate them with new services.”
increases risks and Based on some of his past experiences, things that Broomfield recognised as
opportunities potential sources of trouble in such a project are around the space of cloud
management, environment management and deployment management. He
Interview: How Defra is sought to prevent such issues with a digital delivery pipeline.
for Brexit “We built the infrastructure, setting up those cloud environments that we were
going to have in our pipeline, and then looked to automate as much as we
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT could. We built for automated deployment and then built in the quality
ethics and sustainability assurance and testing to get as much automation in place from the start,” he
challenge says.
“As we brought our partner supplies on, we had a set of templates or patterns
we asked them to use, so we could get assurance that we weren’t going to get
caught at the end of the process, which often happens with testing.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new “Our philosophy was to get automation of our testing and our quality
CIO to avoid
assessments embedded as early as we possibly could. That evolved over time,
but it’s one of the key things that’s enabled us to deliver, prioritising [the creation
How IT leaders can build of that framework] as one of our first tasks.”
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
Present and future work

In this e-guide
When Defra started the Brexit IT programme, it had to manage its ambitions
Rise in business-led IT spend and accept that it wasn’t going to be able to build capability beyond the bare
increases risks and minimum needed to operate once the UK left the EU.
opportunities
The department focused on building minimum viable products (MVPs) under an
agile approach.
“It was very much about keeping our scope controlled onto those minimum
for Brexit
viable products for day one,” says Broomfield.
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT “But we had things in our development backlogs beyond the MVPs. Since the
ethics and sustainability end of March, our focus has been to continue to tune and harden the systems –
challenge
it’s just that the deadlines have moved again.”
CW500: How AI will transform Even if the UK was not exiting the EU, what Defra is doing now would have
technology leadership continued anyway, says Broomfield, because it improves user experience and
adds functionality.
CIO to avoid
“Improving the service wrapper, some of the data analytics and reporting, for
example, were things we knew we could improve afterwards,” he says.
How IT leaders can build As for the future of the function, despite the current ambiguity around EU exit
plans and scenarios, Defra’s IT leadership is clear that it has to be ready again
marketing leaders
for 31 October, if necessary.
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CIO Trends #9
“There will be a lot of focus into [getting ready for the next deadline], with some
In this e-guide of the projects we knew were going to take longer than that initial period to build
anyway,” says Broomfield.
increases risks and Projects that are currently ongoing and benefited from the prolonged delays
opportunities around Brexit include the chemical system, where the day-one requirement for
was to allow registration applications and registrations in.
getting its IT systems ready However, back-office functions that would be processing people’s applications
for Brexit and specific scientific review wasn’t part of that initial requirement, but
something that would have to happen in the period following the exit.
Another challenge the department faces is that some of the trade systems it
challenge decided to use and harden for day one are quite old.
“We’re looking at all the options for bringing [the functionality of] those services
CW500: How AI will transform into the new trade system,” says Broomfield.
“We will do that so we can get the benefit of modernisation and transformation
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new of those services, some of which will lead to more efficient processing, in areas
CIO to avoid such as endangered species coming through the border.
“This work doesn’t come to a cliff-edge stop. We expect activity to carry on at a

great relationships with lower level through to the end of this financial year. And then as part of the
marketing leaders planning process that Defra will undertake, we’ll be looking at whether there’s
more activity that needs to go on beyond that.”
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CIO Trends #9
Structuring resources
In this e-guide
At its peak, the EU Exit delivery team team had just over 500 people, including
Rise in business-led IT spend civil servants, contractors and supplier staff, and is currently down to around
increases risks and 300 people.
opportunities
The team includes WebOps staff, people supporting the cloud service centre, as
well as staff focused on security, data architecture, data warehousing and
getting its IT systems ready artificial intelligence (AI).
for Brexit
According to Broomfield, the set-up isn’t in place just to deliver the IT systems
needed for Brexit.
ethics and sustainability “It’s also about the service wrapper and all the other things we wanted to do
challenge
around it, such as integrating our service management with the new
arrangements being put in place with the UnITy contract,” he says.
technology leadership Defra had to find a location for all the extra hundreds of new staff. Alongside
CDIO John Seglias, Broomfield scanned the estate to find an office.
CIO to avoid
“John and I initially thought we were going to need at least a couple of hundred
people, and the only free space we could identify was an office in Crewe, which
we then refurbished to make it suitable for an agile team,” he says.
Despite concerns over whether Crewe was the ideal location to set up a new
marketing leaders
high-tech IT operation and if it was going to hinder recruitment, the department
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CIO Trends #9
found staff could get there easily from Carlisle, where one the key Defra
In this e-guide locations is based, as well as London and Bristol.
Rise in business-led IT spend In addition, staff were recruited from Liverpool and Manchester – areas Defra
increases risks and traditionally did not pull people from.
opportunities
However, Broomfield and Seglias soon discovered that the 200-space office
accommodation wasn’t big enough, so the next issue was how to expand.
“Very quickly, we had to expand the estate across the UK to support the work
for Brexit
we were doing,” Broomfield said.
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT The department then sought to co-locate some delivery teams with its internal
customers, with catch certificates teams working at the Marine Management
challenge
Organisation in Newcastle, and animal medicine teams co-located in
Weybridge. A Defra location in Bristol was used for the common platforms.
technology leadership Suppliers’ offices were also used as Defra could not find enough spaces for the
people working on IT supporting Brexit. An office in Birmingham was set up with
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new Kainos, while Capgemini offered an office location near Manchester.
CIO to avoid
When it comes to suppliers, Broomfield says that adopting a novel approach to
resourcing, as well as ensuring the department was catered for in terms of its
great relationships with many requirements, was key.
marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
“We anticipated that our IT partners and suppliers would be getting quite a lot of
In this e-guide demand from other parts of government as well, so it was important to have a
flexible approach to how we resourced capability in,” he says.
increases risks and “The partners we have engaged have absolutely committed to the same goals
opportunities that Defra has in terms of readiness. Conversations took place at CEO level
with some of our key suppliers to make sure that was the case.”
getting its IT systems ready Having a mix of suppliers was also helpful, according to Broomfield. This
for Brexit included incumbent suppliers as well as going to market through Cabinet Office
frameworks for niche specialist areas, from smaller suppliers such as KITS and
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT Automation Logic.
challenge
Leadership lessons
Lessons learned at a leadership level from work carried out under the EU Exit
CW500: How AI will transform unit so far are around how to suddenly put together a capability of that size in a
short period.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new “Creating an environment of collaboration and not allowing defensive posturing
CIO to avoid between different players was key,” says Broomfield.
He adds that bringing some supplier leadership into Defra’s senior teams was
also crucial to ensure delivery against timescales – this became even more
marketing leaders evident as the deadline approached.
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CIO Trends #9
“When we got into the intense six months before the go-live date, having the
In this e-guide suppliers on those operation centre daily calls, we learned to challenge each
other constructively to get risks on the table, but also to collaborate really well,”
Rise in business-led IT spend the says.
increases risks and
opportunities While Defra was keen to get a clear view of the risks involved, it was also
conscious of the impact the intense schedule could have on teams’ mental and
Interview: How Defra is physical health.
for Brexit “People’s wellbeing was a very important point for Defra in that process, so
knowing that they were going through a really difficult period, that was always
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT on the agenda,” says Broomfield.
challenge “We were always asking ourselves the question, ‘Can we give people a break
this weekend?’. There is a tension there because if you don’t work that
weekend, it’s lost because you don’t get the time back.
“It was about trying to judge to what extent we needed the foot to the floor. In
any case, we managed through that process because we just had tremendous
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new commitment from people.”
CIO to avoid
How IT leaders can build Next Article

marketing leaders
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CIO Trends #9
In this e-guide
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT ethics and
Rise in business-led IT spend sustainability challenge
increases risks and

As the adoption of new devices, software and data increases to support the
getting its IT systems ready everyday functioning of business and government and promises ever-increasing
for Brexit social change, IT leaders bear a great responsibility to become agents for the
ethical and sustainable use of technology at their organisations.
At the latest CW500 Club – Computer Weekly's regular networking event for IT
challenge leaders, in partnership with Mortimer Spinks – experts shared their tips, advice
and real-life experience on what ethics and sustainability mean to IT chiefs, who
are being urged to provide direction for organisations and society to navigate
the digital revolution.
Commenting on her experience in the intersection between ethics and

Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new technology, Nadine Thompson, former chief technology officer at Conde Nast
CIO to avoid
International and current consultant at News UK, touched on various situations
she has witnessed that had ethics elements to consider – across adtech,
How IT leaders can build personalisation and employee-facing technology tools.
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On adtech, in which digital advertisers generate revenue by targeting different

In this e-guide segments of the demographic groups most likely to buy their product or service,
focus is narrowed with targeting by gender, age, behaviour, location and even
Rise in business-led IT spend time of day.
increases risks and
opportunities This approach brings several ethical considerations to the fore, said Thompson.
She mentioned the lawsuit brought against Facebook by the US Department of
Interview: How Defra is Housing and Urban Development alleging that the social networking site’s
getting its IT systems ready targeted ads have violated the Fair Housing Act by “encouraging, enabling, and
for Brexit causing” unlawful discrimination by restricting the users who can view housing
ads.
ethics and sustainability “In doing that, Facebook is cutting off access to vast parts of the population in
challenge the US and their ability to access products and services,” said Thompson.
Personalisation is another area where ethics are relevant, she said. “Customers
love a personalised product. They love a brand that gives them something that’s
unique to them.” Thompson gave one of the News UK brands, The Times, as an
example.
CIO to avoid
“If you subscribe to The Times, if you look at certain articles, it will suggest other
articles in a similar vein using machine learning or artificial intelligence to show
How IT leaders can build you what might be of interest to you,” she said.
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“While that’s fantastic and it’s a really good service, we’re also seeing a
In this e-guide challenge with that where [readers] end up in a bubble.” Thompson added that
this is an industry-wide problem that players are looking to address.
increases risks and “What I’m starting to see in the industry is the addition of random algorithms,
opportunities whereby pieces of content are inserted into the different news feeds people are
looking at – that gives them something different than perhaps what they are
Interview: How Defra is already experiencing to help expand the pieces of content that they’re
getting its IT systems ready consuming,” she said.
for Brexit
Defining just how personal personalisation gets is another ethical issue that
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT organisations need to give more attention to, said Thompson.
challenge “There is a really fine line here between knowing the customer and customising
a service for the customer and overstepping that line based on the information
you have about them,” she said, adding that this was epitomised by Target in
2011 when predictive analytics prompted the retailer to send coupons to a
teenager for baby products, and her family finding out she was pregnant before
she’d actually told them.
CIO to avoid
“That’s the line that brands are crossing when something comes from personal
to a little bit creepy,” she said. “So that’s a real ethical challenge with some
How IT leaders can build technologies.”
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The ethics of employee tech

In this e-guide
On employee and technology tools, Thompson noted the emergence of a new
Rise in business-led IT spend approach around expectations from employers as they provide the tools and
increases risks and devices for staff to work remotely.
opportunities
“I’m starting to see conversations in companies now about whether they should
set an expectation that employees have to be checking email or answering
getting its IT systems ready phone calls,” she said.
for Brexit
“That is really an acknowledgment of work-life balance. And I see companies
positively starting to enter into those conversations.”
ethics and sustainability On a related issue, Thompson commented on the new ethical considerations
challenge
around employees bringing their own devices to work.
CW500: How AI will transform “I’ve seen different attitudes and different thinking on how much data the
technology leadership company should be able to access on that employee’s device, whether they are
able to wipe information from it and how much control [organisations] should
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new have over that device,” she said.
CIO to avoid
“Similarly, there are ethical concerns around collaboration tools. Although they
are great for communication, they can also be misused, with staff having their
communications monitored or remote workers being looked at to see how much
marketing leaders time they spend on their computer.”
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The various implications around technology use and provision in the enterprise
In this e-guide means added responsibility for CIOs, who can no longer remain passive when it
comes to ethics, said Thompson.
increases risks and “We can’t continue to be technology providers of platforms and products that
opportunities have little say or responsibility to what content goes on those platforms or
products, or what communities use those platforms or products,” she said. “I
Interview: How Defra is think that’s where we’re becoming real technology leaders as we take
getting its IT systems ready responsibility for that conversation.”
for Brexit
According to Thompson, CIOs must be working with their teams to help with this
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT conversation, and having a diverse workforce is key to such efforts. “Diversity is
ethics and sustainability incredibly important when working to address ethics, not just because it builds
challenge better products, but because it helps you to see your blind spots,” she said.
The sustainability issue

Quoting Robert Swan, author of Antarctica 2041, who said: “The greatest threat
to our planet is the belief that it is somebody else’s job to save it”, Mattie Yeta,
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new sustainability lead at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
CIO to avoid (Defra), commented on the importance of taking responsibility for issues related
to sustainability.
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Sustainable procurement is a major area of focus for Defra, which has

In this e-guide embedded that requirement in all its contracts to suppliers in all areas, including
IT, said Yeta.
increases risks and “Governments and public sector organisations are becoming really serious
opportunities about ethics and sustainability, and we are making sure that they have been
embedded into the contracts and in other ways,” she said.
getting its IT systems ready “Companies that would like to do business with us are held to the highest of
for Brexit standards across the environmental, social and economic pillars.”
On supply chain management and transparency, a number of big brands faced

issues because of their failure to identify risks and register supply chain
challenge transactions, as well as their inability to track and trace materials and
components across their supply chains, said Yeta.
CW500: How AI will transform Suppliers to Defra – including Microsoft, HPE and Amazon Web Services – are
helping the department to push the sustainability agenda forward and “lead by
example”, she said.
CIO to avoid Defra has also launched an investigation to find out the energy footprint of the
cloud services it uses, as part of the research around the next Greening
How IT leaders can build government ICT annual report, to be published in October.
marketing leaders Key matters are ensuring sustainability through specific clauses in IT contracts,
and taking the topic into consideration in procurement processes, said Yeta.
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“Ensure that you hold those that you do business with to the highest of
In this e-guide standards when it comes to sustainability,” she said. “There is a lot more that
we can do in the tech sector in terms of extracting minerals and components in
Rise in business-led IT spend giving assets a second life.
increases risks and
opportunities “The tech sector is growing at a very fast pace, and with that growth comes
great responsibility.”
getting its IT systems ready Leadership support is also crucial when driving such initiatives, said Yeta. “If
for Brexit your leaders are not on board with sustainability and ethics, it becomes very
difficult to implement initiatives in your organisation. It needs to be embedded in
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT your ways of working, in your culture, in your values – otherwise it just won’t
ethics and sustainability work.”
challenge
Getting direction
CW500: How AI will transform Often, IT leaders may want to steer their organisations towards becoming more
ethical and sustainable, but struggle to define a clear vision. With that in mind,
the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) was set up earlier this year as
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new an independent government advisory body to help organisations benefit from
CIO to avoid innovation in an ethical way
How IT leaders can build CDEI chairman Roger Taylor said: “One of the reasons for creating an
great relationships with independent advisory body is that public confidence in the use of these
marketing leaders technologies is absolutely essential – and for the public to have confidence in
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them, they actually have to be trustworthy, so managed and governed in a way

In this e-guide that it would be sensible to trust in them.”
Rise in business-led IT spend Mindful of the need to drive trust in innovative tools, the centre has been
increases risks and working with a number of public and private sector organisations around ethics
opportunities principles and governance.

As algorithmic decision systems become generally pervasive, it is often unclear
getting its IT systems ready where the data comes from, which is something that needs to be considered,
for Brexit said Taylor.
“In any situation in which large amounts of data are effectively driving decisions,
it’s not at all obvious how this system is working,” he said. “And there is
challenge constantly a concern about the degree to which we have any more control over
this.”
CW500: How AI will transform While there is worry about regulatory gaps on the one hand, Taylor noted that
there are also concerns that organisations are not making the most of
“incredibly powerful and beneficial” tech innovations.
CIO to avoid IT leaders need to be aware of the impact of the technologies they deliver to
society, said Taylor, adding that organisations that are trying to walk away from
How IT leaders can build that will probably run into difficulties.
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“We do need the great power of these systems because they do allow
In this e-guide organisations to understand how they operate and the impact they have,” he
said. “But they have to take responsibility for that understanding.”
increases risks and Points to consider for IT leaders looking to delve into the ethical issues related
opportunities to the portfolios they manage include allowing independent access to data to
assess the ethical impact of systems, as well as understanding algorithmic bias,
Interview: How Defra is said Taylor.
for Brexit “Whether you’re using AI for HR to sift through candidates, if you’re using AI
systems to do advertising content, you must consider to what extent is there a
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT risk that you are enabling or actively promoting biased algorithms,” he said.
challenge Autonomy versus manipulation was another point raised by Taylor that needs to
be discussed by organisations looking into the ethical impact of their systems.
“You need to consider to what extent might it be said that your system is not
persuading people, but it is manipulating them by using information in a way
that they might not have imagined, to try to get them to do something that they
might not have wanted to happen if they had been able to fully appreciate how
CIO to avoid
the system was operating,” he said.
How IT leaders can build Product safety is another key ethics-related issue, said Taylor. “We’re seeing
this particularly arise in relation to mental health and social media, so to what
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extent companies are enabling criminal activities or [dissemination of] harmful

In this e-guide material,” he added.
Rise in business-led IT spend The industry is coming to a point where getting a clear handle on the ethical
increases risks and aspects of technology innovation strategies will become a competitive
opportunities advantage, said Taylor.

“I think it’s smart thinking to try and be ahead and set the highest possible
getting its IT systems ready standards, show that you are behaving ethically and that the impact of your
for Brexit innovation use is not harmful and leads to a system with public values and a
better society.”
challenge
Next Article


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In this e-guide
CW500: How AI will transform technology
Rise in business-led IT spend leadership
increases risks and

Improving talent attraction and retention and adopting better approaches to data
getting its IT systems ready are core aspects of making artificial intelligence (AI) strategies work, delegates
for Brexit at a Computer Weekly leadership roundtable heard.
Jonathan Midgley, director of engineering at Trainline, and Daniel Hulme, chief

executive at artificial intelligence consultancy firm Satalia and director of the
challenge business analytics master’s degree at University College London (UCL),
discussed the impact of AI in technology decision-making and shared practical
advice at the CW500 Club, Computer Weekly’s regular networking event for IT
leaders, held in partnership with Mortimer Spinks in London.
Discussing how AI will transform technology leadership, Hulme kicked off with
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new his views on the “weak” and “strong” definitions of the concept. The most
CIO to avoid
popular way to describe the technology is “weak AI”, he says, whereby
computers can emulate narrow human tasks – but the most interesting definition
How IT leaders can build is related to the emulation of increasingly more human cognitive functions.
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“Humans are very good at finding patterns in about four dimensions and solving
In this e-guide problems up to about seven, while computers can find patterns in thousands of
dimensions and solve problems with thousands of different things moving apart,
Rise in business-led IT spend so benchmarking machine intelligence against human intelligence is the wrong
increases risks and thing to do,” he says.
opportunities
“A better definition of AI is around goal directed adaptive behaviour, where you
Interview: How Defra is try to achieve an objective, such as selling as many ice creams as possible, and
getting its IT systems ready move in a quick and frictionless way towards that goal – when you have those
for Brexit two things, you have automation, which can provide a lot of value,” says Hulme.
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT He says the word decision-makers need to pay attention to when it comes to AI
ethics and sustainability is “adaptive” – whereby a system learns whether a decision is good or bad,
challenge adapts its own internal model, then makes a better decision next time. However,
the expert notes that such systems are still hard to find.
“I haven’t seen a single successful enterprise system in production that does
that yet,” says Hulme. “No IT manager ever wants to hear that a system will
behave one way and tomorrow in a different way. I would argue the true
paradigm of AI systems [lies in their ability to] learn and adapt in production. But
CIO to avoid
these systems are very hard to build.”

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Solving optimisation problems

In this e-guide
AI subsets such as machine learning can drive a lot of value in organisations,
Rise in business-led IT spend but companies need to know what they want to use it for. Hulme says that while
increases risks and machine learning is useful to find patterns in data, it is not ideal for solving
opportunities optimisation problems that involve a decision element.
“I would argue that companies don’t have machine learning problems, they have
getting its IT systems ready optimisation problems, so they need to ensure they are harmonising machine
for Brexit learning with optimisation, which is about making decisions using the insights
that machine learning provides,” he says.
Attracting talent with interesting AI plans
challenge
There are a number of considerations around systems architecture and ethics
associated with building systems able to adapt and make decisions. However,
CW500: How AI will transform with increasing commoditisation, the technology will not be the main point to
technology leadership worry about.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new “Over the next decade, [AI] technologies will become commoditised,” he says.
CIO to avoid “Someone will do the optimisation, someone else will do the self-learning
aspect, and we will have free access to computing power. We already have a lot
How IT leaders can build of tools required to find patterns, which are all open source.”
marketing leaders The big battle ground and the future for IT leaders is not technology, but how
they attract, motivate, retain talent to innovate – if an organisation is not
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innovating and adapting to the world quicker than its competitors, the
In this e-guide competition will win.
Rise in business-led IT spend Hulme says the companies often try to hire his students at UCL but invariably
increases risks and fail to do so as the problems they want to solve with AI are “not sexy enough”.
opportunities He says that having a clear plan with motivating projects is key to attracting
talent and “making it stick”, as is adopting some key organisational principles.
getting its IT systems ready “Lots of investment is going into using machine learning and AI to sell more
for Brexit products and services, as well as optimisation to reduce costs. If you’re not
making effective use of these technologies to change how your organisation
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT operates, you are losing talent and won’t be able to recruit – you are probably
ethics and sustainability dying from the inside,” he says.
challenge
“Once you’ve figured out how to attract talent, whether it’s by building your own
AI teams or working with third-party suppliers, you then need to motivate that
talent,” says Hulme.
Autonomy, mastery and purpose

CIO to avoid Autonomy, mastery and purpose are the three core elements to effective
motivation and successful AI projects, the expert notes – so giving people the
How IT leaders can build freedom to do what they want, the ability to become really good at what they
great relationships with want to do, as well as providing a goal they can align themselves with.
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Considering the impact of AI on jobs is another point that leaders will need to
In this e-guide unpack further – both in terms of what happens to their IT functions and in the
entire organisation – if they are to use the technology to their advantage, says
Rise in business-led IT spend Hulme.
increases risks and
opportunities “We are freeing people up from tasks, but at some point, we will be freeing
people from their whole jobs as we’re driven to reduce costs and provide
Interview: How Defra is shareholder returns, so one way of doing that is by removing labour,” he says.
for Brexit “But companies won’t be able to retrain fast enough for the new jobs. The
economy is not ready for job loss at this scale and IT leaders need to be
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT thinking about addressing some of these challenges.”
challenge Drawing on the technological singularity point of super-intelligence, Hulme
expects that in 30 or 40 years, an artificial brain that is “smarter than humans in
every single possible way” is likely to be a reality – and the technology
profession needs to get ready for it.
“[Super-intelligence] will be the last invention that humanity creates – and some
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new people think it’s the most glorious thing that will happen to us, while others think
CIO to avoid
it’s our biggest existential threat,” he says. “If we are not cooperating as a
species over the next three decades, this thing will most likely see us as a threat
How IT leaders can build and remove us from the equation.
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“As technologists, we have to be quite diligent in terms of the types of

In this e-guide technologies we build when it comes to artificial intelligence. And we have a
huge responsibility, too.”
increases risks and How Trainline is applying AI to the business
opportunities
Jonathan Midgley has been adopting a diligent approach to artificial intelligence
at Trainline as the business pushes ahead with plans to become a global
getting its IT systems ready business, and “ultimately to do for trains what Uber has done for taxis”.
for Brexit
Though it may come across as a startup, the firm was created 20 years ago as
a spin-off of Virgin Trains. During that time, it has collected vast amounts of data
from a variety of sources, including SQL Server and Oracle databases, and all
manner of data repositories. That challenge had to be handled so the business
challenge
could evolve around AI.
CW500: How AI will transform “Two decades worth of disparate data is a real problem, especially considering
that historically, we have captured that in a very dirty, disparate way,” he says.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new Trainline currently captures 3TB (terabytes) data every day, which corresponds
CIO to avoid to two billion records, and has been focusing on how to better utilise that
resource.
“We have realised there is a lot of value in the huge amounts of data we capture
marketing leaders and have been on a journey to leverage that asset – and AI is at the heart of
that,” says Midgley.
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“We have spent a lot of time focusing on how we can make that data clean and
In this e-guide usable, and ultimately put it into a place where it is accessible and agnostic. We
have also brought data into the heart of all our conversations and everything we
Rise in business-led IT spend do.”
increases risks and
opportunities From a technology perspective, he sought to bring data oversight under
engineering as a first step to enable the evolution into AI – and has seen
Interview: How Defra is instances where data is owned by finance, or even marketing – and that is far
getting its IT systems ready from ideal.
for Brexit
“At Trainline, bringing data into my organisation means I can then wrap it in
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT great engineering practices and processes,” he says. “I can build my data into
ethics and sustainability microservices, I can make it agnostic, and then I can generate really magic
challenge outputs from it.”
The company started by building a data lake on Amazon Web Services’ Simple
Storage Service (S3) cloud, which, according to Midgley, has made all the
difference in making effective use of data.

“[Having the data in the cloud and appropriate tooling] means I can focus on
CIO to avoid
solving my customers’ problems,” he says.
How IT leaders can build “AI is genuinely unintelligent, without high-quality data. You can build all the
models you want – that is the easy bit. Having usable data is the hardest part.
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We now have a large supply of clean, meaningful data that our teams started to
In this e-guide leverage on very quickly.”
Rise in business-led IT spend The chief technology officer notes that “AI is like sex talk in a secondary school
increases risks and playground: everybody’s talking about it, but nobody’s doing it”. But Trainline
opportunities claims to be walking the AI talk, through offerings powered by the technology
such as a price prediction tool that, according to the executive, has delivered
Interview: How Defra is savings to consumers that exceed £9m since January 2019.
for Brexit Additional Trainline products that are underpinned by AI capability, such as
Busybot, which helps customers get a seat on the train and personalised travel
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT disruption alerts. All of the company’s per-click advertising spend is also driven
ethics and sustainability by AI capability, which Midgley says will continue to evolve, though it can
challenge already deliver some “super nuanced” insights.
“When you arrive on my website, I know what you want to search for with scary
predictability and that’s based on a large volume of very clean data,” he says.
“I’m very proud of that, because we’re solving real customer problems and the
ultimate customer problem is saving money.”
CIO to avoid
Building an innovative IT organisation
How IT leaders can build Alluding to Hulme’s points on culture, Midgley stresses that at the heart of
great relationships with Trainline’s AI success so far is building an innovative IT organisation. Some of
marketing leaders that has involved building small, agile teams that work independently.
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“We’ve given teams autonomy to focus on customer goals and needs, using
In this e-guide data and pretty much whatever tooling they decide to use to generate value,” he
says, emphasising another point made by Hulme that a very early lesson
Rise in business-led IT spend learned is that technology is the simplest part of making effective use of AI.
increases risks and
opportunities “As a technologist, I’m really motivated to play with the latest JavaScript
framework or the latest AI tool and my teams are the same,” he says. “But
Interview: How Defra is having been on the journey, the goal should be solving a customer problem – if
getting its IT systems ready the goal is playing around with technology, then you’re not going to win.”
for Brexit

Next Article
challenge


CIO to avoid

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In this e-guide
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new CIO to avoid
Kelly Calhoun Williams, guest contributor
increases risks and
opportunities
Whether this is your first CIO role or you’re already well-versed in the nuances
of the job requirements, the first days can pose challenges, present surprises
Interview: How Defra is and produce a healthy amount of paperwork to wade through.
for Brexit These early days are also a crucial period during which newly incumbent CIOs
should learn from commonly made mistakes, avoid pitfalls and thrive in a new
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT role.
challenge Incoming CIOs have around 100 days to set themselves up with a smooth
runway to success. The good news is that countless CIOs have already gone
CW500: How AI will transform through the rigmarole and made the mistakes so that you don’t have to.
There are five common mistakes a new CIO should try to avoid.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new The first one concerns ego. So far, you’ve proven your CIO credentials to
CIO to avoid
interviewers and HR – but to the rest of your new team, stakeholders, peers and
suppliers, you remain an unknown entity. While it’s tempting, resist the urge to
How IT leaders can build establish credibility by sharing anecdotes of success from previous roles.
Arrogance will not curry favour.
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Instead, immerse yourself in the familiarisation process with quiet confidence, a

In this e-guide contained ego and minimal bravado. Even if you boast a flawless track record
thus far, consider re-establishing your brand and value proposition from scratch
Rise in business-led IT spend with a view to becoming a trusted leader.
increases risks and
opportunities Take comfort in the knowledge that if you are good at what you do, employees
will see that in the results you’ll ultimately produce.
getting its IT systems ready The next issue that needs to be addressed is the fact that several members of
for Brexit your new team, direct reports, peers or stakeholders may well have applied for
your CIO position.
ethics and sustainability These applicants will naturally disappoint – and some might even be resentful of
challenge you, believing you aren’t deserving of the role. This is, unfortunately, an
unavoidable pitfall not of your making. See it as a chance to demonstrate
CW500: How AI will transform effective leadership and genuine empathy.
Anticipate potentially frosty relations and pay extra attention to thwarted
applicants. Channel energy into converting them or helping them search for a
role elsewhere – in reality, unsuccessful applicants will often move on of their
CIO to avoid
own accord anyway.
How IT leaders can build Poor decisions made early on in your new role are a common way to set
yourself up for failure, so look before you leap.
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It’s worth bearing in mind that, unless a serious crisis is unfolding, waiting a
In this e-guide couple of weeks to implement significant changes won’t make a huge
difference. Acting too soon, however, might cause lasting damage which then
Rise in business-led IT spend requires rework, redesign or repair.
increases risks and
opportunities And while new CIOs are often tempted to criticise the legacy of the previous
CIO, they should refrain from being too condemning. Existing employees, such
Interview: How Defra is as the IT team, might feel targeted by such criticisms.
for Brexit While you have been hired for your beginner’s mind and critical faculties,
temper criticisms early on, and wait to deploy them until you’re certain you can
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT improve on what you’re criticising.
challenge
Find wise counsel
Before you begin your new role, assemble a small, strategic team of trusted
CW500: How AI will transform counsellors to advise you on matters of company politics.
Draw a variety of people who know you well, from industry experts to powerful
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new figures in your new organisation who are invested in your success. Their advice
CIO to avoid can help you avoid making glaring missteps, or acting counter to your new
organisation’s culture, norms and policies.
CIOs transitioning into a new role find themselves in a high-risk situation. The
marketing leaders tactics you try out during this transition period will ultimately enrich your
leadership toolkit and help you thrive in a new CIO role from the outset.
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In this e-guide
How IT leaders can build great
Rise in business-led IT spend relationships with marketing leaders
increases risks and
opportunities Mark Samuels, guest contributor

In a digital age, a close relationship between the executives who run the
getting its IT systems ready technology and marketing functions can have a profound impact on business
for Brexit success. Research from recruiter Harvey Nash and consultancy KPMG shows
that customer-centric organisations are 38% more likely to report greater
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT profitability than those that are not.
challenge CIOs, with their knowledge of technology, and chief marketing officers (CMOs),
with their awareness of customer requirements, must work closely together to
ensure their organisations create a business strategy that delivers high-quality
customer experiences. Five experts give their best-practice tips on how can
CIOs build great partnerships with their marketing peers.
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new Define strategic common goals

CIO to avoid
Experienced digital leader Sarah Flannigan has run both marketing and digital
How IT leaders can build departments in major organisations. She was CIO of EDF Energy until late
great relationships with 2018, and was formerly CIO at the National Trust and marketing chief at David
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Salisbury Joinery Limited. Flannigan’s knowledge leads her to suggest that

In this e-guide jointly agreed targets are essential to success.
Rise in business-led IT spend “If you get two individuals to focus collectively on what they want to achieve,
increases risks and and then they work with joint goals, objectives and teams, the rest will follow,”
opportunities she says. “If you allow decision-making to become a turf war – where the fight is
usually over innovation and things like data, analytics and insight – then there
Interview: How Defra is will be problems.”
for Brexit Ground rules are crucial to success. Flannigan says a smart boss will ensure
close collaboration between both departments. “The chief executive has to
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT create the conditions that says they’ll be holding the CIO and the CMO jointly
ethics and sustainability accountable for delivering strategic goals,” she says. “Those executives should
challenge then be charged with coming back and defining how they will make those goals
a reality.”
Flannigan says the end result should be that all senior managers can see the
benefits of technology. While it has traditionally been the preserve of the IT
department, technology is now a tool that can be wielded to great effect by all
lines of business. CIOs must work with C-suite peers, like the CMO, to ensure
CIO to avoid
confidence in technology is high.
How IT leaders can build “You want to ensure that other executives don’t see technology as an ever-
hungry beast that’s difficult and complicated. Instead, you want them to feel that
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technology is their business and something they can feel confident about,” she
In this e-guide says.
Rise in business-led IT spend Recognise and move beyond your domain expertise
increases risks and
opportunities Ian Cohen, CIO at transport specialist Addison Lee, says it’s important to
recognise that digital leadership is a two-way street. Executives in all
departments need to converse about the power of emerging technology. And as
getting its IT systems ready this expertise rises, high-quality leaders will move into new business domains.
for Brexit
“There’ll be other executives transitioning into digital leadership, too – including
marketing people moving into technology,” says Cohen. However, he also
recognises that the movement of non-IT leaders into digital leadership doesn’t
mean a death knell is sounding for the position of CIO.
challenge
“This belief that everything technology-related will go through the marketing

CW500: How AI will transform executive because they will outspend the CIO is complete nonsense,” he says.
“There’s always a finite amount of money to spend – you don’t magically get two
or three times the amount just because you badge it as a marketing project. It’s
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new just the same cake cut different ways.”
CIO to avoid
In the end, what matters most is great leadership – and Cohen says the best
How IT leaders can build executives ensure business colleagues work closely together to exploit
great relationships with technology and information. “Too many CIOs still talk about being
marketing leaders
Page 48 of 54
CIO Trends #9
misunderstood, misrepresented and not being taken seriously – people are still
In this e-guide using the term ‘alignment’,” he says.
Rise in business-led IT spend “When you talk about alignment, you are – by definition – reinforcing separation.
increases risks and The phrase is nonsense. I’ve also started saying ‘colleague’ a lot – we’re
opportunities working to take Addison Lee to the next level in its journey. I get to do it with an
awesome CEO and board colleagues who respect each other’s value in
Interview: How Defra is directing the business. We recognise our domain expertise, but that’s not the
getting its IT systems ready only thing we talk about.”
for Brexit
Care deeply about the customer
Alex von Schirmeister, chief digital, technology and innovation officer at RS
Components, is another digital leader who believes the strength of the bond
challenge
between the CIO and CMO is crucial to the success of modern businesses. “It’s
a fundamental relationship,” he says.
Before joining RS Components, Von Schirmeister worked for online auction
giant eBay in a range of executive positions, including the role of European
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new CMO. His experience leaves him in a strong position to understand the value
CIO to avoid that close collaboration between the two departments can bring to the rest of
the business.
marketing leaders
Page 49 of 54
CIO Trends #9
“The reality is having been a CMO before makes me a better CIO now,” says
In this e-guide von Schirmeister. “If I were to become a CMO again tomorrow, I’d be a better
one because of being a CIO.”
increases risks and He believes the common denominator between marketing and technology
opportunities functions is their focus on the customer. Marketing teams must care deeply
about the customer – and that’s also true of the role of the modern CIO, says
Interview: How Defra is Von Schirmeister. “When you’re thinking of building a new feature or
getting its IT systems ready functionality to help improve customer experience, the CMO and CIO should
for Brexit work hand in hand to do that,” he says.
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT The responsibility to build relationships and identify digital opportunities isn’t just
ethics and sustainability the responsibility of the CIO. Cross-business collaboration is a two-way street.
challenge Having sat in an executive seat in both departments, Von Schirmeister says
marketing chiefs must work with technology peers to build brands that matter to
CW500: How AI will transform customers.
“Good CMOs shouldn’t forget that there’s still the art of storytelling. How do you
come up with customer benefits and then turn that into a communication
platform that can be executed with a great story? Not everything can be just
CIO to avoid
about form and function,” says Von Schirmeister.
How IT leaders can build “Many CMOs are focused on performance marketing, but they sometimes forget
the art of storytelling. Buying keywords might be great in terms of driving traffic
marketing leaders
Page 50 of 54
CIO Trends #9
to your website, but it doesn’t tell me why I should love your product or
In this e-guide company.”
Rise in business-led IT spend Share great ideas with your clients

increases risks and
opportunities Chris Ashworth, CIO at parcel delivery specialist Hermes, is one IT leader who
already understands the importance of customer experience and marketing.
Hermes’ development efforts are focused on its Digital Futures programme,
getting its IT systems ready which aims to create great parcel diversion and tracking processes for the firm’s
for Brexit retail clients and their customers.
Hermes has a network of 4,500 parcel shops, which are usually supplied
through existing outlets, such as newsagents or garages. These outlets include
print and pay in-store, which allow customers to show a QR code and receive a
challenge
return label from the shop assistant. The Digital Futures programme also
stretches to work in the contact centre.
“Once we’ve got all this customer experience-focused technology, we then
have the opportunity to tune those systems and offer them to our clients,” he
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new says. “It might, for example, cost them more for us to handle a parcel, but we’ll
CIO to avoid handle the journey, including the contact centre.”
How IT leaders can build Ashworth says Hermes is planning to launch a service that allow customers to
great relationships with use their car boots as a safe drop-off point. Several vehicle manufacturers are
marketing leaders involved in creating the secure service. It will mean customers can receive
Page 51 of 54
CIO Trends #9
parcels safely from Hermes to their car boot, regardless of their own personal
In this e-guide location.
Rise in business-led IT spend “We don’t know how popular that service will be, but I have to accommodate it,”
increases risks and says Ashworth. “Moving to the cloud and application programming interfaces
opportunities allows us to plug services in as we believe they’re appropriate. We’re looking at
the future, sharing ideas with our clients and, if there’s any appetite for new
Interview: How Defra is services, we can take it further.”
for Brexit Start with the business issue first
KPMG director Peter Ironside says modern CIOs must maintain a careful
balancing act. His firm’s research, alongside recruiter Harvey Nash, says
technology chiefs should focus their attention on three priority areas: developing
challenge
innovative products; running stable IT; and improving customer experience.
CW500: How AI will transform “IT leaders can deal with this balancing act in different ways,” says Ironside. “To
be an effective digital leader, there’s still a licence to operate – you need to
show you can maintain operational performance. You need to put the controls in
Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new place, to keep costs down, and you need effective security. But you also need
CIO to avoid to embrace a non-traditional mindset to enable a digital transformation, which is
around the business being customer-led.”
great relationships with Ironside recognises that ever-increasing decentralisation of IT creates issues in
marketing leaders terms of the traditional remit of the CIO. Rather than being solely responsible for
Page 52 of 54
CIO Trends #9
technology implementation, his firm’s research highlights year-on-year rises in

In this e-guide the amount of spending taking place beyond the bounds of the IT department,
including marketing teams.
increases risks and “To be an effective digital leader, you need to come to terms with that and to
opportunities work effectively with the rest of the business. That trend is not going to go away
– technology is the lifeblood of all organisations now,” says Ironside, who
Interview: How Defra is suggests that – while the relationship with the CMO is central to success – it is
getting its IT systems ready not the only C-suite partnership that matters when it comes to decentralised
for Brexit technology spending.
CW500 Club: Rising to the IT “It’s not just marketing now, it’s all functions. The term shadow IT has fallen out
ethics and sustainability of favour, and that’s because it’s almost seen as normal now. CIOs need to
challenge come to terms with that transition. They need to change the way they behave
and account for that shift accordingly,” he says.
“If you do something with technology to a process that’s bad today, it will still be
bad tomorrow. As well as bringing the right technical solution, you need to
consider the business issues as well – and that’s a different mind-set for CIOs. I
think IT leaders have traditionally come from a technical solution first approach
CIO to avoid
– and in the modern organisation, you must start with the business issue
instead.”
marketing leaders
Page 53 of 54
CIO Trends #9
In this e-guide

increases risks and
opportunities Getting more CW+ exclusive content
Interview: How Defra is As a CW+ member, you have access to TechTarget’s entire portfolio of 140+
getting its IT systems ready websites. CW+ access directs you to previously unavailable “platinum members-
for Brexit only resources” that are guaranteed to save you the time and effort of having to
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marketing leaders
Page 54 of 54

CIO Trends 9

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E-guide

CW500 Club: Rising to the IT

CW500: How AI will transform

Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new

How IT leaders can build

Interview: How Defra is

The role of CIOs in decisions related to technology within organisations is a key

The survey suggests that businesses whose CIO is formally involved in

“The key is to create a more streamlined and cross-functional governance

responsible for the continuous delivery and improvement of their respective

Issues from the IT-business disconnect

Interview: How Defra is

Organisations leading in the adoption of automation technologies such as AI,

While quantum technology is a potential game-changer – particularly for

Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new

How IT leaders can build

Interview: How Defra is

Alongside chief digital information officer (CDIO) John Seglias, Broomfield

The cloud advantage

Present and future work

“This work doesn’t come to a cliff-edge stop. We expect activity to carry on at a

How IT leaders can build Next Article

Interview: How Defra is

Commenting on her experience in the intersection between ethics and

On adtech, in which digital advertisers generate revenue by targeting different

The ethics of employee tech

The sustainability issue

Sustainable procurement is a major area of focus for Defra, which has

On supply chain management and transparency, a number of big brands faced

them, they actually have to be trustworthy, so managed and governed in a way

Interview: How Defra is

extent companies are enabling criminal activities or [dissemination of] harmful

Interview: How Defra is

CW500: How AI will transform

Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new

How IT leaders can build

Interview: How Defra is

Jonathan Midgley, director of engineering at Trainline, and Daniel Hulme, chief

How IT leaders can build

Solving optimisation problems

Autonomy, mastery and purpose

“As technologists, we have to be quite diligent in terms of the types of

Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new

CW500 Club: Rising to the IT

CW500: How AI will transform

Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new

How IT leaders can build

Instead, immerse yourself in the familiarisation process with quiet confidence, a

Interview: How Defra is

Gartner: Five pitfalls for a new Define strategic common goals

Salisbury Joinery Limited. Flannigan’s knowledge leads her to suggest that

“This belief that everything technology-related will go through the marketing

Rise in business-led IT spend Share great ideas with your clients

technology implementation, his firm’s research highlights year-on-year rises in

Rise in business-led IT spend

Take full advantage of your membership by visiting

How IT leaders can build

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