8 April 2008
NZDF’s 350 Communications and Information Systems (CIS Branch) staff look after all our communications and information systems, the 10,000 PCs on DIXS, our laptops, phones, and secret and secure networks such as SWAN. They deliver the corporate applications that support our organisation, including SAP, ATLAS, and KEA. They’re spread across the country at the various camps and bases, at the primary data centre in Porirua, and at a secondary data centre in Devonport. Here we talk to Chief Information Officer Peter Thomas about the future direction of our corporate and military network information and communication systems, and about what his staff will be doing.
NZDF’s Chief Information Officer Peter Thomas arrived in the job about the middle of last year. He’s passionate about his role as head of the Communication and Information Systems Branch.
After a 22 year corporate career working for Westpac, starting in branch banking when he joined as 16-year-old cadet, Peter says it’s a refreshing change to be working for a public service organisation doing good for New Zealand, in a work culture that is flexible and supportive.
“I consider myself a passionate New Zealander and when an opportunity came up in this environment, I was extremely excited about coming to work here,” he says. “It’s an extremely exciting and challenging job. Every day I find a new opportunity. “
When Peter took up the CIO role as head of Defence IT he brought long and varied corporate civilian experience managing change and improvement.
“I saw a huge opportunity to change and improve the CIS function within Defence. Through my interview process it was the passion I saw from the CDF and GMOS, about how they could really see how the power of IT could improve our outputs that inspired me. They were really keen to embrace change in this part of the organisation. I found them extremely inspirational, and I decided that I really wanted to work for people like them.
“The most important thing when searching for a new employer is that you get your values aligned. I feel my values are far more aligned to the culture of this organisation and to the strategies that NZDF has.”
Though now chief of the NZDF’s information technology functions, Peter says IT is not his speciality. “If I am honest, I’d have to say I am not an IT specialist,” he says. “I consider myself to be a people leader and change manager. My strengths have been in bringing teams together for outcomes for an organisation, change management, and strategy. So while I have had a fair bit to do with IT, I’m not an IT specialist,” he says. “I’m not a noughts and ones guy.”
“I may be the senior IT person in this organisation, I don’t get anything done by myself. I rely on the expertise in my team and in my customer base. If we can get the people pieces right we will get the right outcomes. It doesn’t matter if you’re in banking, in the public sector, or running the corner dairy, the principles of leadership are the same.
“My role as the CIO, and what I have been asked to do, is transform the CIS function so it is seen more as an enabler to our customer base, particularly to our front line, to the pointy end of our organisation.”
Peter says more effort is going into using IT to enable military outcomes and advantage. “The focus of IT has (previously) largely been in the corporate domain. We have achieved some really good outcomes in the operational domain as well, but as we move forward it’s the power IT can bring to our war fighting community that’s going to be the real transformational change that occurs. We are still just scratching the surface on what the power of IT can do for us in terms of enabling our business processes.”
But also, Peter strongly believes that business and military issues cannot be solved by information technology alone. “We can bring new capabilities to bear from an IT point of view relatively simply. But it’s actually how we change our business processes to use the new technology which is the real big challenge - the change management, the training required, the changing of mind sets, to think and act in a different way, and use that technology.
In my view the IT solution is easy. It’s actually how we integrate that into business process and into our culture that is the big challenge for us.”
Peter says that new IT will increasingly enable Defence effort, but is only a tool. “There is no such thing as an IT project,” he says. “All IT projects do is enable the business to achieve its outcomes. So we should think of all our projects as business-led projects. IT may be a component, but the focus needs to be on our people and our processes.
“Everything starts with our people. It doesn’t matter what our trade is or what our outcomes are, if we focus on our people and create the right working environment, the people will be successful. If we don’t get the people aspect right up front, we won’t get to achieve the levels of outcomes that we could achieve.”
As part of his efforts to really understand the IT needs of the NZDF, Peter already has spent time in various camps and bases, and expects this year to visit deployed forces in either East Timor or Afghanistan.
When not out and about, he works three days a week in Defence House, and two days a week at the Computer Centre in Porirua.
New technology enhancements
CIS Branch staff will introduce some basic technology capability enhancements this year that will improve the IT experience and work outputs of everyone in the NZDF. These will include:
- Internet to your DIXS desktop
- Additional satellite communications channels via new land-earth stations
- Significant improvements to the “reach back” communications for deployed troops to the Defence networks and to family at home
- Improvements to the corporate e-systems allowing them to operate in deployed environments, for example, SAP and KEA
- A new telecommunications backbone across all our camps and bases to speed up the flow of information, also allowing us to build new services and capabilities across the country
- Work to start on getting a more effective information management tool, so we can find the information we need, when we need it.
More “horsepower” for communication and information
Putting more “horsepower” into the NZDF’s Communications and Information Systems (CIS) is something Chief Information Officer Peter Thomas is looking forward to doing this year.
More resource and leadership will go into improving CIS services; a governance structure has been established to prioritise and oversee CIS activity; and effort will go into upgrading the basic “bread and butter” CIS customer services and responses, Peter says.
The CIS Strategic Plan 2008-2011, which underpins both the NZDF Strategic Plan and the Network Enabled Capability (NEC) Strategy, will be published as a public document, probably in June. The operational aspects and business planning for that strategy, affecting all NZDF future communications and information activities, will be developed, with everyone in Defence having the opportunity to contribute.
“The CIS Strategic Plan will impact on every single person who works for NZDF.”
Customer expectations will be met
Peter says he is looking at restructuring CIS Branch so “we have the right people in the right place at the right time - at putting some horsepower back in there, so we can meet the expectations of our customers.”
The new governance framework for the CIS Branch he says will give other parts of the Defence business the opportunity to direct and prioritise the activities of IT, rather than it being the opposite way around. “I think in the past the priority and capability direction has been set by CIS Branch rather than it being pulled from the business,” he says.
Other people in Defence will be expected to contribute direction to the CIS work programme through the governance structure.
“As much as we in IT have to change the way we do things, people in the business also have to realise the role they have to play at the table in helping prioritise and direct our activities, because we need to be a business-led organisation, not an IT-centric organisation.”
Basic services a focus for fix
Another key focus is improving our “bread and butter”, Peter says. “Ninety-nine percent of NZDF see us through our Service Desk - through our support in camps and bases and HQ; our support provided for your PCs, printers, mobile phones. That’s the bit where we are not meeting customer expectations at the moment. Improving this will allow us be seen as a more trusted partner for the value-add capabilities that we can bring to bear, and which this organisation is crying out for.”
Customer focus important
Peter wants CIS Branch to become more customer-focused and he’ll be talking to people, regional commanders and others to find out more about their expectations and needs, while also running regular customer surveys to track CIS Branch performance as rated by you, the customers.
“Our customers are everybody who works for NZDF, whether they’re sitting in corporate headquarters or in the field in Afghanistan. We want to understand what it is that our customers expect from us,” he says.
In other areas Peter suggests people need to become better at articulating their own business requirements and work in tandem with IT to get the best solutions. “In terms of the various logistics and supply systems, we’ve got to have a partnership between CIS and the business customer base, who don’t have a lot of experience with leading technologies emerging in the market place. We can use our technical skills and knowledge of IT and show them the business capabilities, and they can use their knowledge of their own environment to see how that technology can improve their processes. “
Peter sees improvements to our communication and information systems as being part of the Defence Transformation Programme, but not all about saving money. “It’s far more than that. NZDF is at the cross roads. We have a lot of challenges and a lot of opportunities to make a huge difference.”
NEC vision realised through CIS
The Networked Enabled Capability (NEC) vision to enable our mission capability, situational awareness and agility through technology networks and various associated components will be realised from the CIS Strategic Plan, with guidance from the NEC Board and communities of interest, Peter says. “The CIS Strategy is developed in response to the NZDF’s NEC Strategy,” he says. “The CIS strategy is our strategy for delivering NEC. The challenge for my team will be to prioritise and deliver.”