Stories about: Australian Financial Review

If CIO magazine named a "Person of the Year" in the tradition of Time magazine I had my dead-cert 2007 winner picked in early June. And you'd probably be surprised that he's not a CIO

The relationship is much more sophisticated these days, throughout the corporate world. In Coles, technology requirements are defined by the business and IT working together, based on the business's strategic objectives.

By the time the board of retailing giant Coles Group recommended Wesfarmers' $21.9 billion takeover bid this week, the company had been in play for over a year. During that time its executives had to steer a steady course; maintaining shareholder value and positioning the business for future growth - setting to one side the knowledge that everything being done today could be unravelled tomorrow by a new owner.

In June, Coles Chief Executive John Fletcher went to bat for his CIO and the company's IT team via a letter to the editor after a comment piece appeared in The Australian Financial Review, which mooted that due diligence briefings had revealed "allegations of IT cost overruns and implementation delays which are said to be threatening the transformation of Coles' supply chain . . ." In a timely interview, Fletcher talks with CIO magazine's Beverley Head about the company's IT and his take on the controversy that arose during the takeover.

CIO magazine's Beverly Head asked Coles CEO John Fletcher and CIO Peter Mahler about the company's IT and the controversy that arose during the takeover. Here are their answers:

As the Government talks up its plans for the privatisation of Telstra on the eve of what will undoubtedly be fierce behind-the-scene negotiations, one independent telco analyst has never been more confident the sale will never happen.

There's a common thread that runs through the 1984 Bhopal chemical factory disaster, the rogue trading of Nick Leeson a year later, the collapses of Ansett in 2001 and HIH in 2002, and the mass recall that recently engulfed Pan Pharmaceuticals.

I’ll preface this with YES, YOU’VE HEARD (OR READ) IT ALL BEFORE. But please read on because I believe the time is ripe for action.

The Commonwealth’s whole-of-government IT outsourcing strategy ended up a ‘whole lotta trouble’.

If Telstra CIO Jeff Smith can live up to his promises, within 18 months Telstra's IT operations will be as well-oiled and efficient as Toyota's production line, which Smith calls "the best in the world"

The Commonwealth’s whole-of-government IT outsourcing strategy ended up a ‘whole lotta trouble’.