IT Week: Why is your job title managing director for business improvement and technology rather than just IT director?

Benoit Laclau:When you look at IT there are two components: one is day-to-day operations, making sure everything runs when people arrive in the morning, and their apps and data are safe; the other is all the business projects that IT has to contribute to. These two components have a lot of different requirements and we wanted to reflect that.

How did the change come about?

When I started at EDF in 2004 the focus was on integrating the three IT departments we had following the acquisitions of Seeboard and SWEB, but once we had completed that task in mid-2005 we realised that, with the company still growing and attracting new customers, we were going to have to step up the number of projects and programmes we could run at any one time. Faced with that scenario, we decided to centralise our capability to deliver projects and programmes [into one new department]. In 2006 we created a delivery arm for projects, which became the business improvement part of the department. Consequently, in March 2006, we changed from being just “IT” to being “business improvement and technology”.

What advantages does this approach give you?

One advantage is clarity between op-ex and cap-ex. The organisation is broken down into two arms: IT operations, which deals with day-to-day maintenance and operates solely as an op-ex; and business improvement, which represents a cap-ex. It also means there is no conflict between project and day-to-day priorities. The IT operations manager has two clear objectives: to improve service and reduce cost. Meanwhile, in the business improvement arm, we have a unified governance approach to projects.

Once you had divided the two arms, how did you go about improving project management?

We undertook an extensive review of our project management methodologies, whi ch delivered three big recommendations. First, the governance of projects had to improve, both in terms of control, and the sponsorship and approval side of governance. Second, we developed a methodology work stream that avoided reinventing the wheel for each project and applied consistent templates for projects. And finally, and most importantly, we addressed our skills capability. We started to recruit and train people as project managers and began to treat it as a career rather than a temporary job.

How did you go about improving project management skills?

We had a big focus on taking business people and training them with IT project management disciplines. The reason was that on large projects the issue is often not an IT issue, so we have found it easier to take business people and train them in project management and some IT skills.

Was there resistance to these changes?

Absolutely. Originally, the IT people did not understand why we wanted to change our name, and there was reluctance from business people to join what they regarded as an IT department in disguise.

How did you convince people this was the right path?

All the media coverage and industry research showed that IT was transforming and there needed to be a focus on business transformation, so that helped us make the case that we were positioning the department for the future. In terms of recruitment, we also pointed to the shortages of IT people who are business conversant and business people who are IT conversant. So creating an organisation that mixes the two is very positive. A year on, we are finding it far easier to attract people to the organisation – every time we advertise a job now we see a lot of interest.

What evidence is there that these changes have been effective?

There are three big indicators we’ve tracked to show it is working. The first is employee satisfaction, which has steadily increased from 53 percent in 2004 t o 77 percent last year. The second is user satisfaction – satisfaction among senior managers involved in both projects and day-to-day IT has risen from 55 percent to 63 percent. The third is total IT cost, which has fallen by between 25 and 35 percent. We have also introduced a new metric covering project success [see box out], which is heading in the right direction as well.

What do you need to successfully transform an IT organisation?

You need the confidence of the business to be able to do it. You need a forward-thinking board willing to trust the IT chief and give them support – our chief executive has been lead sponsor for the change in our project management methodologies. One of the biggest challenges is that you need the trust of the business, and to do that you have to get the basics of IT right – service delivery and cost. You also need someone to lead the IT organisation who has the right business acumen. That doesn’t mean it can’t be someone from IT, but they need that business understanding as well. IT alone is not enough.