Since joining engineering and infrastructure management services company, Downer EDI, in 2009 as group IT strategy general manager, Joseph Amoia has steadily risen to the role of CIO. He has wasted no time overhauling the company’s IT infrastructure and recently embarked on an outsourcing deal with HP in order to reduce Downer EDI’s eight data centres and 36 operating systems down to a single data centre and one operating system. What does an average work day involve for you at Downer EDI? SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe It’s quite hectic and has been for the last few years as we’ve got a very aggressive transformation agenda. This ranges from updating our telco environment to consolidating our infrastructure. I go from talking to a user to get feedback on services all the way to talking to the chief executive about an application roadmap. It’s quite varied but I enjoy that as it keeps me on the pulse in terms of what the user community needs. What are some of the major challenges you face in the role of CIO? Trying to drive a big picture transformation agenda whilst addressing the day-to-day user needs. Doing things cost effectively and funding change through savings. What are some of the major projects you have been working on? The renewal and consolidation of our telecommunications which involves fixed data, mobile data and voice. We’re also developing an application roadmap. Given we were a siloed company, the business had their own business applications so we’re coming together with a proposal of how we get the right balance of enterprise applications. What are the three biggest issues facing CIOs today? We have a user community whose personal technology experience is growing at a much faster rate than their experience in the workplace. If you look back five years ago, it was the opposite. We have to adapt to the concept of bring your own devices [BYOD] to keep up with the pace. One of the challenges that brings is you need to have a robust and secure infrastructure. We don’t have a BYOD policy in place so I am planning to develop one. Another challenge is cost and making sure you are delivering projects that offer value to the business. What is your favourite gadget? The iPad because it’s a good secondary work device. It’s great for when I’m travelling and need to review emails or documents, but I still want my HP laptop when I’m at my desk. Follow Hamish Barwick on Twitter: @HamishBarwick Follow CIO Australia on Twitter: @CIO_Australia Related content news CIO Announces the CIO 100 UK and shares Industry Recognition Awards in flagship evening celebrations By Romy Tuin Sep 28, 2023 4 mins CIO 100 IDG Events Events feature 12 ‘best practices’ IT should avoid at all costs From telling everyone they’re your customer to establishing SLAs, to stamping out ‘shadow IT,’ these ‘industry best practices’ are sure to sink your chances of IT success. By Bob Lewis Sep 28, 2023 9 mins CIO IT Strategy Careers interview Qualcomm’s Cisco Sanchez on structuring IT for business growth The SVP and CIO takes a business model first approach to establishing an IT strategy capable of fueling Qualcomm’s ambitious growth agenda. By Dan Roberts Sep 28, 2023 13 mins IT Strategy IT Leadership feature Gen AI success starts with an effective pilot strategy To harness the promise of generative AI, IT leaders must develop processes for identifying use cases, educate employees, and get the tech (safely) into their hands. By Bob Violino Sep 27, 2023 10 mins Generative AI Innovation Emerging Technology Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe