Tiger Brands' Group CIO Darryl Thwaits retires in 2015. He's been at Tiger Brands for 20 years, and has served as Group CIO for five of those. This included supporting about 4 000 users at more than 120 sites across South Africa and parts of Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
In his final years at Tiger, he has bedded down the FMCG group's IT systems and established a committed team. He leaves the organisation in excellent running order, capable of scaling to the demands of a growing business. This didn't come easy.
Thwaits had to spearhead a recovery of Tiger's own network when its incumbent provider refused to carry out a handover to the new team. Their new contract with Business Connexion makes it very clear where the IP lies, and has strict management controls for passwords and asset ownership. He believes these governance learnings are one of the legacies he will leave at Tiger Brands, and shares them with the rest of the industry at public speaking and educational engagements.
Thwaits joined Tiger Brands in 1994 and has held a number of executive roles. Although he's a chartered accountant by qualification and has served as the group's chief financial officer, his passion has always been IT. Before taking on his current mantle, he spent some time revolutionising the supply systems in Tiger's diverse businesses. He says he loves being on the factory floor, understanding the business and solving problems.
Today, he insists that IT readiness must be two years ahead of business strategy, so that when the business asks for something, it can be delivered without delay.
He describes this as a very difficult endeavour because the business generally views IT as a grudge purchase to begin with. In a group that often expands its business through acquisition, Thwaits says he's grown adept at performing 'bolt-on' IT.
Thwaits has carefully selected the 41-strong IT team at Tiger. He's proud to say that he hasn't had a resignation in ten years. Of the team, seven are in management, and the remainder Oracle applications people.
He believes that as an organisation, Tiger isn't mature enough to outsource its applications development, but as the IT system approaches maturity, he's reluctant to go that route, because he's learnt to be possessive of IP.
He is also active on many boards and serves as a mentor to a number of young people establishing or growing their own business. He feels that this is very important work, and looks forward to doing more of this in his retirement.
This article was first published in Brainstorm magazine. Click here to read the complete article at the Brainstorm website.
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