John Lewis CIO Paul Coby promoted to uber-CIO of John Lewis Partnership

Paul Coby to oversee IT of both John Lewis and Waitrose

John Lewis CIO Paul Coby has been promoted to CIO of the entire John Lewis Partnership, a role that will put him in overall charge of the IT at supermarket chain Waitrose, as well as the John Lewis department stores.

Coby's elevated role will put him in charge of delivering the IT not just to John Lewis's 47 department stores in the UK, but also Waitrose's 349 supermarket branches. He will also be in overall charge of the IT behind the company's logistics and supply-chain systems, as well as the technology in the company's warehouses, including the company's growing home delivery businesses.

The structure of the organisation will not immediately change, however, with John Lewis and Waitrose IT directors continuing to report to divisional managing directors, while the department stores group will recruit a new IT director in succession to promoted Coby.

Coby joined John Lewis from British Airways in 2011, and talked to Computing about his strategy shortly after joining in an in-depth CIO interview. In 2013, the company revealed that it had passed the £1bn mark in annual web sales following a 40 per cent increase in sales generated via the JohnLewis.com website over the previous financial year.

Those sales were supported by a new logistics system, based on Oracle ATG and implemented before Christmas, that enables customers to order items up until 7pm for collection in-store after 2pm the next day. That signalled a more wide-ranging shift to Oracle at John Lewis.

In 2014, Coby embarked on an ambitious plan to replace some 50 legacy IT systems with Oracle E-Business Suite. The shift was intended to make John Lewis more responsive and flexible, as well as enabling it to more easily get a complete view of customers across all channels.

The company is currently mid-way through the rollout, which is slated for completion by the end of 2018.

The John Lewis Partnership also includes Broadband, Insurance, Opticians and Foreign Currency, as well as the core supermarket chain and department stores group.