Job titles can be a contentious issue. Some managers who practically run businesses, others have self-important, grandiose titles that give little away about what they really do.
When it comes to IT chiefs, their title can often play down their importance to the business. Thankfully there are signs that this is changing, as IT departments work hard to become part of the business, rather than just serving it, and IT chiefs take on additional responsibilities more formally.
Take Sainsbury’s IT director Angela Morrison. She was promoted to the operating board in June this year and given the title of IT and change director. The company explained that this move was designed to give greater representation to a significant business area as the company moves from recovery to growth.
Chief executive Justin King said that he looked forward to working more closely with Morrison, although her reporting line – into the chief financial officer Darren Shapland – has remained the same. Morrison had already held a variety of roles when she worked for Asda and Wal-Mart, including European strategy director, IT director and director of e-commerce, and is highly regarded, both within Sainsbury’s and among her peers.
Boyden partner Cathy Holley, a well-respected chief information officer headhunter, says that one reason the role of the IT chief is expanding is that the best people constantly need new challenges. She gives the example of Darrell Stein at Marks & Spencer, who has been given responsibility for logistics as well as IT because he has already proved himself in a chief information officer role within another company.
She explains: “There has to be some carrot other than ‘Would you like to do another chief information officer role?’.” She says that another big SAP implementation or transformation project is not seen as a big enough challenge to those who have successfully completed one already.
New Look IT director Adrian Thompson has an increasingly multifaceted role. As well as heading the IT department he is responsible for the retailer’s e-commerce activities and business change.
He says that IT directors must have a commercial focus, with IT as an enabler, rather than the other way around. Thompson adds that IT investment is a waste of money unless it allows for quicker and better decision making in the business.
Part of his job now involves managing change within the business. He says that it makes sense for IT directors to be given such responsibility if they have generic business change and project delivery skills. However, they must be trusted to understand business problems, rather than just IT opportunities.
Mosaic Fashions IT director John Bovill says that on the positive side IT departments are already familiar with almost constant change. He explains: “IT has become more critical to the business and the rate of change within the IT industry has become much more frequent. As a result, people in IT are brilliant at adapting to change. This gives them a unique skills set that can be applied to other areas of the business.”
Bovill says that factors such as supply chains becoming more complex and agile, multichannel strategies, brand extensions and franchises have all driven the importance of IT within retail organisations.
One could also argue that IT directors are being given more responsibility because they are willing to take it at a time when many retailers are slimming down senior management teams.
Bovill adds that while it is a positive step for IT directors to be given more responsibility, the reality is that retailers also want to control costs. So some IT directors may be taking on additional responsibilities because retailers want to rationalise their operations.
However, he argues that IT departments are ideally placed to be at the centre of business change. “There is probably no one better placed, they touch virtually every part of the business,” he explains.
Central to the system
Asos IT director Gary Mudie agrees: “The reality of today’s retail environment is that businesses can’t function without systems. As dependencies have increased, the role of IT director has become more commercial and there is more financial accountability.”
Mudie adds that IT directors have the broadest and most horizontal view of operations and processes, so are well placed to understand how change will impact a whole organisation. However, he says change programmes still require the support of a chief executive, as change can cause conflict within a business, which must be addressed. The human resources department must also play a part, complementing the IT department’s skills with its own.
There are other reasons why the importance of information management within retail is rising. Bovill explains: “The other factor which will be more critical is about moral standards and data protection. How retailers apply and use data will become much more challenging. We will have to become more strategic about how we manage information.”
Bovill also believes that while the IT department should be focused on solving business problems, actually it should try to mitigate risk and prevent problems from occurring in the first place. He suggests that the emergence of a lot of business problems is a sign that IT is not aligned with business strategy in the first place.
Holley says that IT chiefs are usually quite strategic in their thinking. She adds that programmes are normally run best by IT departments, so a head of programmes role can be a good addition to IT responsibilities. They can also make great business strategy directors and normally find that general business strategy is poorly documented and poorly communicated in comparison with IT strategy.
Bovill completed an MBA while working in a previous role, but he says that it has proved invaluable while working in IT and is a qualification that can be applied to any other sector.
However, a business brain, whether you have the certificates to prove it or not, can be enough. Mudie says: “Qualifications can provide experience, but in retail what everyone is looking for is a trading mindset – that is based on delivery at the end of the day.”
Further down within the IT department there is also an increasing demand for business-focused staff. But deep technical expertise is still valued. At a time when many are seeing IT spending plans put on hold, Bovill adds that IT departments can still add value through subtle changes to existing IT systems, which can make a tremendous difference to profitability.
One other issue arising from the additional responsibilities that IT directors are taking on is that they become consumers of IT services within their business, as well as the supplier.
Taking responsibility for e-commerce within New Look means that Thompson is having to “walk the talk”. With his own profit centre he is now a customer of New Look’s IT department too.
Cathy Holley says that IT directors should tread carefully with what else they take on, but that these additional responsibilities within the business can be a real career booster.
“You have to ask what you could shine at, and not just try and expand your role because you feel like a second-class citizen and want a more commercial role,” explains Holley. “Not many IT directors will become chief executives, but there are lots of ways to get profit and loss experience. For instance, the provision of IT as a service outside your own organisation – if you don’t think it will reduce competitive advantage – is one way. Another way is to sit on someone else’s board.”
Holley adds: “IT people are not good at being bold. They think that if they do a great job then some angel from above will say: ‘You can do this next’. But it is up to them to find the opportunities.”
It seems that this is a message that is really starting to resonate, whether it is because IT directors are actively seeking new challenges, or whether cost containment means that they are having more responsibility thrust upon them.
The proof that this is a move that is creating rounded, experienced and valued executives also comes from Holley. She says IT chiefs with retail experience continue to be highly sought after in other sectors.
Retailers that don’t want their IT director poached will do well to make sure that they are closely connected with the business and continue to be challenged; something that should be easily possible given current trading conditions.
No comments yet