CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 56
You can scarcely open the business
took up five floors of a seven-floor
pages today without reading another
building in Southampton. Now we're
article about the lack of women in the
based in three high-rise buildings
executive ranks of the Fortune 500
in Southampton and the Isle of Man
and the FTSE 100 or the challenges
and have a number of regional offices
of being a woman working in
around the world. Technology has
technology. While I worry that some
been fundamental to the company's
of the negative press only fuels the
growth, and that has provided
problem, there is no doubt that both
countless opportunities for those of
situations must be addressed.
us in IT to develop and advance.
Indeed, within the financial
services industry, in which I've spent
my career, it is no secret that women
A Paradigm Shift and
Leadership Opportunity
are greatly under-represented in
senior roles across the board. Here,
The biggest growth opportunity for
in the IT function at Old Mutual
me came when Old Mutual purchased
Wealth, we can lay claim to be one of
Skandia. The IT organization
the exceptions to that rule. One-third
moved from an entirely in-house IT
of the members of our IT leadership
organization to a largely outsourced
team are women. That wasn't
IT model. In a matter of months, I
necessarily by design; we didn't have
had to evolve from actually "doing" IT
a quota we were trying to meet. But
to managing a service provided by an
we do give talented professionals the
entirely different company.
opportunity to experience everything
I was managing our insourced
they can and to grow with the
support team at the time, and it was
organization.
quite a change for the employees
I'm a prime example of that. Twenty
who moved from my team to the
years ago, I joined the graduate
outsourcing provider. I had to learn
program for programmers at Skandia
to work with them in a different way.
(which was purchased by Old Mutual
No one in our organization had any
Group in 2006 for $6.5 billion). I had
experience managing outsourcing
no technology background, having
partners. Most of us had only seen
studied business at university. Of the
how IT happened within Skandia.
six who joined the program, four were
Certainly one of my biggest
women and three of us are still here
challenges is that I've been with one
today. And I've been in IT ever since.
company for my entire career, so I
One of the biggest factors in
have taken advantage of external
my success is that I had a lot of
contacts that my fellow IT leaders
opportunities to learn. I moved
have shared with me. In particular,
back and forth between the project
I recently benefited from a mentor
development and support world, I
outside Old Mutual Wealth who has
did programming, I ran operations,
30 years of experience with IT service
I led teams. And as I grew, so did the
management. We met monthly as I
company. When I joined Skandia, we
moved into the IT Exec team, and he
CIO Straight Talk | 56
My father said,
'Provided you match
65 or 70 percent of a
job's requirements, just
try it and have a go.'
And that's what I've
done. The worst that
happens is you get
some feedback
that can help you
moving forward.
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6
Contents
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - Cover1
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - Contents
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 3
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 4
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 5
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 6
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 7
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 8
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 9
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 10
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 11
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 12
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 13
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 14
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 15
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 16
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 17
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 18
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 19
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 20
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 21
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 22
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 23
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 24
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 25
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 26
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 27
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 28
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 29
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 30
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 31
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 32
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 33
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 34
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 35
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 36
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 37
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 38
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 39
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 40
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 41
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 42
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 43
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 44
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 45
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 46
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 47
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 48
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 49
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 50
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 51
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 52
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 53
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 54
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 55
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 56
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 57
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 58
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 59
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 60
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 61
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 62
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 63
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 64
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 65
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 66
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - InsertA
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 67
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - InsertB
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 68
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 69
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 70
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 71
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 72
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 73
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - 74
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - Cover3
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 6 - Cover4
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/hi_tech
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue12
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/assetheavy2020
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/lifesciencesandhealthcare2019
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/womenintech2
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/financialservices2019/
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue11
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue10
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue9
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/womeninit
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/financialservices
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue8
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue7
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue6
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue5
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue4
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue3
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue2
https://magazine.straighttalkonline.com/issue1
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com