How To Succeed In The Transformation Of An It Function: Lessons From Coles Myer Limited

Authors

Peter B. Seddon, Department of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne, AustraliaFollow
Peter J. Reynolds, Center for Information Systems Research, Sloan School of Managment, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USAFollow
Leslie P. Willcocks, Information Systems Group, Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, United KingdomFollow
Peter Mahler, Mahler & Associates, Kew, Victoria, Australia

Abstract

This paper documents lessons learnt by the IT-leadership team as they played their part in a billion-dollar IT-based transformation in a large Australian retail organization, Coles Myer Limited. The story begins when the new CIO arrived in October 2002, and ends five and a half years later when the CIO resigned, in March 2008. During that period, the IT-leadership team transformed a group of very ordinary divisional IT organizations into an extremely high-performance centralized IT organization—at one stage with IT staff numbers exceeding 2,000. The case concludes with a list of seventeen key success factors for the IT transformation at Coles Myer and a comparison of these with the recommendations from Kotter’s (1995) generic process model of organizational transformation. The case provides unique insights into the way a well-resourced high-energy IT team was built and managed as it attempted to support a broader business transformation.

Recommended Citation

Seddon, Peter B.; Reynolds, Peter J.; Willcocks, Leslie P.; and Mahler, Peter, "How To Succeed In The Transformation Of An It Function: Lessons From Coles Myer Limited" (2012). PACIS 2012 Proceedings. 84.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2012/84