Technology & Innovation

Taking the next step—beyond the CIO

November 28, 2014

Global

November 28, 2014

Global
Tania Howarth

Chief operating officer

Tania Howarth is Chief Operating Officer for Iglo Foods Group – a European frozen food company. Tania joined the company in April 2007, following Unilever’s divestment of the company, where her responsibilities included the carve out of the business from Unilever and the establishment of new and independent enterprise wide business processes and IT systems and infrastructure. Since completing the system and process separation from Unilever, Tania was appointed Chief Operating Officer at the beginning of 2010, responsible for Supply Chain, Procurement, Technical, HR and IT. During this time Tania has led significant cost restructuring as well as driving transformational change through culture and leadership capability.   

IT is a critical component of business strategy and business operations. Hence, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is a significant net value creator, argues Tania Howarth, Chief Operating Officer at Iglo Foods.

More than ever IT is a critical component of business strategy and business operations. In a collaborative, integrated, 24/7 world, IT enables an organisation’s most valuable asset—people—to work effectively; IT connects companies to customers and consumers, and it has the potential to enable disruptive strategies to change the long-term fortunes of the enterprise. Therefore, by association, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is a significant net value creator.

Is there career life expectancy beyond the CIO? There is significant expansion of career, influence and standing within your business just by being a great functional leader and business executive, without agonising about "the next step". Moving from being accountable for IT to creating business value is the key, and before you know it, your future takes care of itself.

 

Tania Howarth will be a speaker at The CIO Forum, a major upcoming one-day event for CIOs and senior IT professionals organised by The Economist Events.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (EIU) or any other member of The Economist Group. The Economist Group (including the EIU) cannot accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this article or any of the information, opinions or conclusions set out in the article.

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