Power, Passion and Pride

Dealing with change could almost be called an art, because of its intangibility. It certainly commands admiration in the sector of telecommunication, where changes take place at multiple speed than in other areas. Eva Listi, former CIO of Ericsson, tells us about the importance of speed - strategy to execution - about the transformation of  the IT-function within this turbulent environment and about her passion for her work. “I truly can’t think of a place I would rather be than in Ericsson. The opportunities and new business models that can be supported by our business right now are limitless.”

Eva Listi worked for 21 years as an IT professional within pharmaceutical companies. Four years ago she joined Ericsson and in June 2009 she took over the role of CIO. She illustrates how fast things are happening is this very business-focused world of telecommunication. “Telecommunication develops very much like electricity did in the past. In the beginning electricity was mainly used for lighting, by now it is being used for virtually everything. Telecommunications started out as a way to transport voice, and now it is being used for any kind of data transportation. The pace of developments within our industry is amazing. The company of today is completely different from when I joined Ericsson in 2006. Back then very few anticipated that today there would be 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions, half a billion broadband subscribers and 1.7 billion people on the internet, of which 500 million are using Facebook. This will continue to grow substantially. 

Huge transformation

This rapidly changing business environment unmistakably makes its demands on the IT organisation. The urgency to transform IT from the reactive fire-fighter it was into a proactive business enabler is high. Listi explains that they’re in the middle of a huge IT transformation, which consists of many aspects...
The complete article is published in the book I love my IT department, reshaping the IT organisation. Would you like to read the interview with Eva Listi? Order the book here!