BT has appointed its first Chief Information Officer (CIO). Simon Haston joins the company from Aberdeen City Council, where he was head of IT and transformation.

Simon will liaise directly with the CIO’s of BT’s corporate and public sector customers, to help create long-term shared plans to enable strategy, objectives and improvements in operations through technology and innovation.

Simon’s role is to be the ‘voice of the customer’ within BT, working with its business development, commercial and technology teams to make sure BT’s propositions and solutions are meeting current and future digital needs of customers.

A graduate of the University of London, Simon has more than 15 years of experience in change and transformation programmes, particularly in digital and IT solutions. Previous roles with Scotland Excel, The Improvement Service and the City of Edinburgh Council have seen him lead complex, multi-agency digital change programmes across the public sector.

Devolved Approach

The appointment of BT Scotland’s first CIO is part of the company’s more devolved approach to the Scottish market. It follows last year’s appointment of David Wallace as director of BT’s public service business in Scotland and the more recent appointment of seven new sales account managers.

Simon Haston told DIGIT: “This new role provides an opportunity to use BT’s immense capabilities, experience and skills to drive transformation throughout the Scottish public sector.

“To me it’s very much about getting a deep insight into what the Scottish public sector needs to meet its considerable challenges and then shaping how BT can help organisations on this exciting journey.”

Changing Customer Needs

David Wallace said: “Over the last 12 months we’ve been transforming our structure and building a new team with the expertise to meet the changing needs of our corporate and public sector customers in Scotland.

“Bringing an industry heavyweight like Simon into our business is a feather in our cap. He knows the market inside-out, and in particular the political, economic and technological challenges faced by our colleagues in the public sector.

“He brings an incisive, visionary and creative approach to how we can help the public sector deal with digital change and use technology most effectively.”

Shared Vision

Simon will report to Phil Brunkard, BT Business and Public Sector’s CIO for the UK and Ireland. He will also work closely with David and his expanded team to develop a shared technology vision in conjunction with customers.

Phil concluded: “We’re very pleased Simon is joining us to further strengthen our CIO level engagement with our customers. As CIOs we focus on mapping how technology and innovations can meet our customers’ requirements and transformational needs, to make sure BT develops the right solutions to achieve this.