09 Aug 2007
High street giants Boots and House of Fraser are phasing out the IT director role following major infrastructure overhauls.
Experts say the financial burden of catching up with past underinvestment in technology may be to blame.
Boots IT director Rob Fraser left last week following the completion of a £300m integration project including new pharmacy systems, upgraded in-store technology and the restructure of the companyís outsourcing contracts. His responsibilities will now be shared by colleagues within the IT department.
House of Fraser will not replace IT director Frank Berridge after he retires this summer.
The changes are a response to investment patterns in the retail industry, says Freeform Dynamics analyst Martin Atherton.
'The sector's refresh cycle has seen many firms catching up on 15 years of underinvestment and they do not want to spend more on technology,' said Atherton.
The response is to keep down costs by sticking with existing IT and giving responsibility to the chief financial officer, he says.
If IT becomes primarily about support, then fair enough, what do you need an IT director for?
The report mentions "IT Director" as opposed to "CTO" or "CIO". Presumably CIO's or CTO's are what you get in organisations where IT is about taking advantage of new technologies so these roles will be around a little longer.
I wouldn't be surprised if, on reflection, Boots and House of Fraser decide in a few years to create a CIO role.
Posted by: Alan Buxton 13 Aug 2007
David asked me to comment on this interesting development last week. Shortage of space ( I assume :-) ) meant that much of what I offered wasn't covered so I've taken the liberty of expanding on my thoughts here:
http://freeformcomment.blogspot.com/
Comments welcome.
Posted by: Martin Atherton 10 Aug 2007
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