Mobile touches all The Economist's customer-facing products while social is a channel to drive customer engagement. For the company's CDO Jora Gill, that means pretty well everything must change, from the customer experience systems such as CRM, subscription and e-commerce right through to the web, mobile and content management. When did you start your current role?June 2014. What is your reporting line?CEO. Do you meet with and discuss business strategy with the CEO every week?Yes. Are you a member of the board of directors?Yes. What other executive boards do you sit on?Consultancy board. Does your organisation have a CDO?Yes. What different responsibilities does the CDO have?I am the CDO! We have a head of group IT who manages networks, mail, internal enterprise systems and desktops. What non-technology responsibilities do you have in the organisation?Most departments and customers touch digital, so there are numerous activities to ensure we are all successful and our customers feel valued and have a great experience with our world-class content. How many employees does your organisation have?1,500. Does your organisation carry out significant trade in the EU?Yes. How many users does your department supply services to?Marketing, advertising, editorial, customers. How do you ensure that you have a good understanding of your business and how your customers use your business's products?We meet internal partners and regularly set common objectives. We have a joint strategy. We use data and data analytics for customer understanding and carry out customer surveys. The Economist technology strategy and agenda Is your organisation being disrupted by the internet, mobility or technology-oriented start-ups?Yes. Are you empowered by your organisation to disrupt from the inside?Yes. Describe a disruptive measure you’ve led or played a major part inNew digital systems to communicate with customers that encompass workflows for the journeys with the organisation, and a social site for communication between the organisation and customers. What major transformation project has been recently completed or is under way at your organisation?Completely changing our customer experience systems (CRM, subscription, e-commerce). This was based on an analysis of customer journeys. We are also revamping web and mobile and content management. What impact will the above transformation have on your organisation?It will improve the experience the customer has with us digitally and improve our time to market. We will become more agile in responding to new technology disruptors. How has your leadership style contributed to the outcomes of the transformation project?It has allowed both my department and partner departments to focus on a joint digital vision. What key technologies do you consider enable transformation?Cloud, SaaS, integration systems. Are you increasing the number of cloud applications or infrastructure in use at your organisation?Yes. What is your information and data analytics vision for the organisation?Online data analytics of numbers of users and page views. BI back-end to analyse usage. How is mobile and social networking impacting operations and customer experience?We are a media company, so mobile touches all our customer-facing products and social is a channel to drive customer engagement. Describe your strategic vision towards shadow IT and BYOD. How do you influence and engage executives and employees around choice?Shadow IT is fine if controlled through consistent processes from our PMO and they work on our unified architecture. It is important that the business be successful and my group is an enabler for their success, not holding them back but also not allowing shadow IT to create a mess. What strategic technology deals have been struck and with whom?AWS, MPP (subscription management), Salesforce, e-commerce, Adobe Analytics. The Economist IT security and budget Has your organisation detected a cyber intrusion in the last 12 months?No. Has cyber-security risen up your management agenda?Yes. Does your organisation understand the potential cyber-security threats it faces?Yes. Has this led to an increase in your security budget?Yes. What is the strategic aim of the CIO and IT operations for the next financial year?To improve efficiencies to spend savings on revenue generating initiatives. Are you finding it difficult to recruit the talent you need to drive transformation?No. Has recruitment and retention risen up your agenda as a CIO?Yes. Are you looking for recruits in the EU to fill the skills shortage you have?Yes. Does your IT organisation operate an apprenticeship scheme?No. The Economist technology department How would you describe your leadership style?Open, goal-oriented toward a vision, experimental for the new digital age, persuasive. Explain how you’ve supported and developed your senior leadership team to support your overall objectives and vision• A single vision from which an operating plan for the next few years has been created.• Clear KPIs• Internal development by allowing people to fail and learn not command and control• External development by traditional learning as well as mixing with those outside of our sphere – eg gaming companies, start-ups and tech companies Does your team include key skilled workers from the EU?Yes.