‘There will be a time when the CIO is no longer needed’ says Three’s digital chief

Three UK’s Belinda Finch shares her principles for a successful digital transformation – and explains why the no-code movement could make the CIO’s role as we know it redundant
Belinda Finch CIO of Three

When she joined Three UK to lead its IT transformation programme, Belinda Finch was acutely aware of the scale of the challenge awaiting her. Work on the project had started before her appointment as CIO in September 2021, but members of the 130-strong IT function she was taking on were still scattered across the business and working in silos.

“The digital team would be in one location and data reporting would be somewhere else,” Finch recalls. “The programme was split and we had IT delivery and IT operations working independently, so my main focus when I started was to create a proper end-to-end team.” 

There are some elements of the role that will always require a data science degree to really understand it