Business Chief APAC+ANZ Magazine April 2020 | Page 105

“ It ’ s at the core of what we ’ re trying to do here : rebuilding our baseline infrastructure and foundation . Once you have that , it becomes something you can leverage to drive future transformation ”

— Piers Shore , Chief Information Officer , Fonterra
with your own team of global , highlyskilled IT professionals , but with stakeholders across the business . You can have an elegant , highly technical strategy but if people anywhere in the business , at any level , can ’ t articulate simply what your plan is , I would question the possibility of success .” Shore takes a “ cascade approach ”, regularly interacting with Fonterra ’ s executive management to ensure teams across the company are informed on the state of IT strategy and are able to seek assistance in areas pertinent to them . “ It ’ s important to communicate on the basis of the value IT adds to your stakeholders . It will vary based on their area and their drives ,” he continues . “ Just talking tech may not resonate with everyone , but application to business areas will .”
It is important to Shore that he is visible across the company as the CIO . This includes visiting manufacturing and R & D sites to understand how technology is used on a day-to-day basis and hearing directly from people how IT could be leveraged further . He also visited the company IT helpdesk and listened into calls to understand what people struggle with . Additionally , Shore runs regular CIO dialogue sessions , both virtual and face-to-face , with the global IT team . The feedback and suggestions that come from these interactions directly impact Fonterra ’ s IT strategy . “ It ’ s important that you have the integrity to reach out to employees in a transparent fashion and ask them to benchmark your performance ,” says Shore . “ At the end of the day , we ’ re all one company and want what ’ s best . It ’ s vitally important we work as a team .” Shore ’ s focus on visibility extends to how Fonterra presents to the world ; he maintains positive relationships
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