Claudette Jones, City of Edinburgh Council CIO

Claudette Jones (@cio_edincouncil)

Job Title/Organisation: Chief Information Officer, City of Edinburgh Council

What does your role involve?

It is my job to ensure ICT transforms the way that the council works, by delivering the outcomes that all of our customers need.

What do you consider to be the most imminent challenge in your line of work?

For me personally, we are migrating away from our 15-year ICT contract with BT to a new all-encompassing, flexible contract with CGI, which other organisations can sign up to in line with the McClelland Report. This means migrating every single system and network connection over a period of a few months.

What has been the most rewarding piece of work you've undertaken?

My team and I transformed the ICT service in City of Edinburgh, delivering true end-to-end channel shift, which has now become one of the council’s key transformation programmes, and we are regularly asked to advise others on this.

How can Scotland bridge the digital skills gap?

We need to look at ways of encouraging particular groups of young people into the rewarding work that we do. For example, focus on the digitally excluded and show young girls how exciting technology jobs can be.

Which new technology excites you the most?

Business Intelligence. For most organisations this opportunity remains untapped and it has the potential to transform how we make decisions.

What's your favourite app and why?

My central heating app that lets me heat up an old house when I'm on my way home.

What, for you, will 2016 be the year of from a technology/digital standpoint?

I'm hoping it will be a year when IT leadership gets to focus on customer needs and business value rather than IT operations.