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CIO Profile: Jane Moran of Thomson Reuters on creating a merger culture
CIO Profile: Thomson Reuters' Jane Moran on application rationalisation
For Thomson Reuters CIO Jane Moran, there is a good enough corporate culture at senior levels for them to weather the recent upheavals the company has experienced. Central to this culture is an understanding of what IT can provide.
“There is a good understanding of complex technology in our company, especially [CEO] Tom Glocer. Thomson Reuters is terrific in IT as there is a close relationship between the senior business stakeholders and IT. Glocer and CFO Robert Daleo really support the idea of a close business partnership with IT services. That close partnership doesn’t happen in every organisation,” she says.
Glocer has since announced his retirement after personally taking over the running of the Eikon financial services information platform switchover, which has been beset with problems.
Glocer himself said the switchover was hurried and even he couldn’t iron out all the project problems.
Moran isn’t just enthusiastic about the positive communications that come down the line of command from Glocer and the top team, and she sees her own role as being about promoting greater communication across the company.
“Big ideas come from anywhere across the organisation, so I want to promote ways of working that enable people to talk. In big companies we rely too much on email. But if that communication goes out to a collaboration tool more people see it and act on it, and that eliminates the need for email.
“I’m tired of email and meetings. The free flow of conversation cannot be scheduled – it needs to be dynamic so that we can have creativity.
“I came to London in 2007 to assist with the merger; I was CIO for Thomson Financial at the time. I thought it would be for a year and I assumed I would be reporting to the CIO of Reuters,” she says of her move from the US.
As Global CIO Moran is responsible for all business systems and the back end of this massive corporation, while CTO James Powell is driving product development and takes responsibility for datacentres and networks.
“It’s a big enough job,” she smiles. “There is a bit of overlap, so there is great communication. The product development teams do work closely with my team. In a lot of companies they build the system and then add the billing at the last minute.”
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Global reach
Thomson Reuters bills in over 100 countries and has to be compliant in all. With the CTO on the executive board Moran relies on his input, but has a good communications line with the senior leaders without needing that seat herself.
“I wouldn’t want to implement without their support,” she says.
“It is an international role and I don’t think I have to be in New York,” she says of her move to London, adding that her husband and family have really taken to London and life in the UK.
Moran has been in London for four years now. She describes the flight to San Francisco to see the vendors as long, but adds that all her main suppliers are putting big footprints into the UK despite the market gloom.
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