Heathrow considers bringing digital back in house

Heathrow CIO Neil Clark says Europe’s busiest airport could consider moving away from its fully outsourced IT model and bring some of the “areas close to business agility in the digital space” back in house.

Clark was speaking to CIO UK in a recent profile interview where he discussed improving the passenger experience, launching a new-style check-in at the new Terminal 2 building, facilitating business-change innovation, and collaborative decision-making with multiple stakeholders.

He said: “Once you’ve got the infrastructure I think it’s great to have a dynamic in-house capability we can use and I think we’ll start to go there.

“We’re a fully outsourced model but I can see us thinking about those sorts of areas close to business agility we might bring back in.

“Particularly in the digital space. John Lewis is a really good example; we’re not quite there yet but I could really see us start to insource some of those apps development projects.

“That will be a journey over the next couple of years.”

Clark also said that organisations should be placing the CIO in their executive leadership teams.

“I report directly to our CEO John Holland-Kaye, who has a team of eight including myself,” Clark said.

“It’s a good place and the right place for a CIO to be at an organisation. Understanding technology is such an important part of our business operations and driving the business forwards.”

[Next – Heathrow CIONeil Clark profile interview]