May 2008

Smart  Insights by Paula Klein

Catherine Doran has a long history as an IT executive in the United Kingdom, which clearly gives her a firsthand perspective on how the role has changed and evolved. As CIO at Network Rail, a private company that has owned and operated Britain's rail infrastructure since 2002, Doran is a key part of the executive team making long-term strategic decisions as well as running day-to-day IT operations. She also is involved in Network Rail's current efforts to update all of its facilities and operations — including IT — while pursuing an ambitious multiyear plan for growth and expansion.

Doran participated in a CEO-CIO Summit held in the U.K. in April. She shared her thoughts on the provocative subject, "What do CEOs really want from IT?" with Smart Enterprise Exchange editor Paula Klein.

Klein: Tell us about your background as a CIO before you came to Network Rail.

Doran: After graduating from University College Dublin, I trained as a computer programmer with a U.K. software company. I progressed through the IT development route — as programmer, designer, team leader, project/program manager — and then into senior and executive management as head of development in NatWest Bank's retail business. My first CIO role was European CIO at Capital One from 2000–2003. After that, I was CIO for the retail business at British Telecom (BT). I've been CIO for Network Rail for the past 18 months.

So I've worked in a variety of sectors — retail financial services for 10 years, telecoms for 13 years and various others. Network Rail (NR) is my first foray into transportation. And I've had both technology and business training, which is a big plus for a CIO.

Klein: What are your primary responsibilities at Network Rail?

Doran: I'm responsible for IT across the company. This includes all operations and development activities, technology strategy, application support and the help desk. I'm also responsible for management of the railway records and archives, which include technical drawings of rail infrastructure, stations, bridges, etc. Network Rail manages this on behalf of the railway industry as a whole.

On the business front, I'm a member of Network Rail's Executive Management Group (EMG), which is charged with running the company, defining and implementing policy, creating and delivering the business strategy, and so on. The EMG includes the corporate directors on our Executive Committee, as well as the directors of each department within the business, such as IT, human resources and engineering.

The railway industry, like all industries, has its own vocabulary and set of acronyms, which made the early weeks and months a particular challenge. Learning about the industry was pretty straightforward — a good proportion of the workforce has worked for the railway for a long time, and people were generous with their time and knowledge. But it's a complex world, which also made it very interesting.

Klein: Describe your reporting line relationship with the CEO.

Doran: I report directly to the CEO and have regular access to him on a one-to-one basis. In addition, the EMG meets a minimum of one full day every four weeks — a pretty standard approach at most businesses I've worked for. Obviously, I'm responsible for my part of the business, which I run to deliver the necessary business outcomes. But if I need input or help from other top executives or other parts of the business, it's always available to me; we collaborate cross-functionally.

Within NR there is a lot of engineering expertise, but less IT awareness. My role in such a situation is to be an effective translator — conveying technical concepts in business language and translating business goals into technology implications. This has been the case on a number of occasions at other companies as well. When I joined the executive team in NatWest Bank, for example, the level of IT awareness was very low. This was important because business leaders needed to understand enough of the opportunities and constraints of IT to ensure that sound business decisions were made. I made it a priority to provide that understanding, and my effort was very successful. As the overall level of IT understanding increased, it built trust in IT.

Klein: What are the CEO's expectations of the CIO, and are they in sync with your own?

Doran: In my experience, a CEO's expectations of and requirements for his or her CIO is that the CIO be able to operate effectively in a number of dimensions — CIOs need to be business people first, with a deep understanding of the dynamics of the business and the opportunities that technology can unlock to make the business successful. They need to be able to contribute to business and strategy issues as fully functioning members of the senior team, where their [IT] specialization is just one aspect of their contribution.

CIOs need to provide leadership and direction, ensuring reliable and cost-effective technology services. They have to develop and own the IT strategy so that technology enables, rather than slows the business.

Finally, technology helps a business to change and develop, so CIOs need to be involved in business transformation efforts in order to deliver the benefits of new technology.

Klein: What are your current initiatives and IT priorities?

Doran: The U.K. railway industry has suffered from underinvestment for a number of years. This is now being addressed, but it will take some years to recover fully. That has been the case with respect to technology adoption as well, so some of my priorities are to support the workforce more effectively by providing handheld devices, [instituting] programs to remove paper from the system, developing a new timetable system that supports "what-if" analysis, and so on. Some of it is very basic automation.

In particular, NR has a very complex IT infrastructure that was developed over many decades. At the heart of the [operations] are some legacy systems that monitor the daily operation of the railway. NR owns and manages these systems for our own use, but also for the industry as a whole (i.e., they are also used by the train operating companies/freight operating companies). These mainframe systems are now more than 40 years old. From a strategic perspective, they represent one of the keys areas I need to address; as the passenger and freight traffic grows, they are becoming a bottleneck for the business.

Beyond these systems we have a very large eBusiness suite. It's large both in terms of numbers of users (about 20,000) and in terms of reach — we use it for financials, HR, procurement and projects, and are currently building a supply-chain management solution. We also have a large number of midrange applications that are used by our internal user communities — the maintenance workforce, the signaling staff and such.

Klein: How do you encourage IT collaboration with other parts of the business?

Doran: It's key that time is spent with colleagues from other parts of the business. In the past, when technology wasn't yet a critical component of normal business operations and there was a mystique around what exactly the IT team actually did, a language and mindset developed that separated IT from the core business. To my mind this is bunk. In most industries, if the technology isn't available, then much (if not all) of the normal business operation fails. It's critical, therefore, for the CIO to understand the business priorities and pinch points so that all decisions are made in the context of business goals and how technology can support and drive those results.

The value-add of an engaged IT function is that it brings ideas to its business counterparts about how technology can help the total business gain advantage — either through cost reductions, revenue growth or new market opportunities. That is the correct engagement between a CIO and his or her peers, but it can only happen if [IT provides basic services] and the lights are always on.

This all means that being a CIO is a tough gig, but it's exciting and challenging in equal measure. Those of us in the business of IT are lucky to be in a role that is ever-changing, interesting and stretching, and ultimately, very rewarding.

Catherine Doran, CIO/IM Director at Network Rail
catherinedoran@smartenterpriseexchange.com

Catherine joined Network Rail, based in the United Kingdom, as Information Management Director in 2006. She is a member of the Executive Management Group, which devises and drives delivery of the strategy for the company. Her responsibilities encompass all aspects of IT systems infrastructure and applications. She also leads the group within Network Rail responsible for the maintenance and support of the National Records, which hold records of technical specifications and archives for the railway. Catherine has 30 years of experience, including CIO for BT's Retail Business, the European CIO for CapitalOne and manager of the development organization for NatWest's Retail Bank.