Alliance & Leicester IT chief joins the board

Buchanan is elevated to A&L board

Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has appointed group IT head Ian Buchanan to its board of
directors.

Buchanan’s new job title is that of A&L’s group manufacturing director, which will see him retain responsibility for the bank’s technology agenda as well as customer service and back-office operations.

“My role as head of IT focused on delivering customer service and end-to-end processes. Clearly part of that is how to use technology appropriately, but this is only a small part of the process,” said Buchanan.

“The restructuring is a natural consequence of our overall strategy. We are looking at simplifying some of our processes and technology, and my new role takes that much further by looking at all aspects of customer service. You could argue that it starts by enabling IT-driven change,” he said.

During his two-year tenure as the group’s IT director, Buchanan has been in charge
of a technology overhaul, which included replacing core legacy systems and last year’s outsourcing of its voice and data network to BT.

“IT directors being appointed to the board has certainly not been the usual trend. I have been an IT director and continue to have technology accountability, but this role brings together customer services, operations and many other areas,” he said.
“Increasingly for many firms that sort of role was accountable for services operations, sometimes in manufacturing or operations but not that unusual for a board-type position,” he said.

Before he joined A&L, Buchanan spent nearly 20 years in technology and operations management roles in investment banking.