Mainstream Renewable Poweris a major global renewable energy company specialising in the development, construction and operation of large-scale Windfarms across four continents. Founded in 2008, Mainstream aims is to build wind and solar plants and then sell the plants to utilities and energy intensive corporations, it has developed windfarms in Scotland, England and Germany. The company has operations in four continents, with its head office being located in Dublin. Mainstream Renewable Energy has 150 UK employees and around 450 IS partners which have access to there IS services. The company is part of the ‘Friends of the Super Grid group’ which aims to promote the European Super Gird initiative. This is the supply of wide area network transmission throughout Europe as a method for preserving energy independence. The current CIO of Mainstream Renewable Power is John Shaw who has previously held roles at Accenture and General Electric. He has been with the company from the start and has devised mainstream RP’s infrastructure and IT strategy. The company’s main IT project for the following year is to move towards Microsoft's cloud. IT leader: John Shaw, CIO. In role since:September 2008. Reporting line:Report into the Head of Technology at Mainstream. How often does the CIO meet with the CEO:Weekly. Board level seat: Yes, I sit on the Senior Management Team’ s weekly meeting since I joined the company. IT budget:Approximately 4% of Mainstream’s total Operational Expense. IT estate and or number of log on accounts under the control of the IT leader:Mainstream employs 150 people across 11 locations in nine countries, all of whom receive IT services in a standard way. This highly mobile workforce is expanding rapidly and an additional 450 external personnel utilise Mainstream’s IT services. IT staff currently employed:Five. Split between in-house/outsourced staff:50%. IT management team and reporting structure:I have four direct reports; IS Client Services Manager, IS Infrastructure Services Manager, IS Applications Services Manager and IS Operations Manager. Primary technology platforms at the organisation:Microsoft Enterprise Software from the core of Mainstream’s services; ERP is deliver via Microsoft Dynamics AX, CRM via Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Content Management via Microsoft SharePoint, Project Management via Microsoft Project Server. Primary technology suppliers:Mainstream utilises 33 products from Microsoft. HP, Cisco and Avaya provide the relevant hardware. Significant strategic technology deals struck in the last 12 months:A major CRM project was deployed using Microsoft Dynamics CRM technology. In addition a major Geospatial Management project was completed with ESRI using ESRI ArcView Server. Percentage of your applications/infrastructure run from the cloud: 100% of mainstream IT services are delivered from a secure private cloud. Major technology or transformation project recently completed and how did it transform operations, customer experience or the organisation: 40% time saving achieved via Geospatial Management project. This was delivered using ESRI ArcView Server integrated tightly with Microsoft SharePoint to provide the organisation with up to date Geospatial information on 67 projects in eight countries. Did the above project reach its cost, timing and transformation objective: Yes, 40% reduction in time to process information, project delivered on time and on budget. Business transformation programme – beyond technology – that the CIO owns or is a major contributor to:I am leading a major initiative in the Renewable Energy Sector to build an Integrated Sea Information System, ISIS, in collaboration with 18 external organisations from the public, private and academic sectors. The aim is to create a better risk management approach for managing offshore wind farms in European waters. Strategic aim of the CIO and IT operation for the next financial year: Enable business growth via IT; deliver stable IT services to all users; drive down costs of IT services. Strategy in the use by employees of their own technology, use of mobiles and how social networking is impacting operations, customer experiences or the organisation:Increasing trend. The use of personal devices is allowed, free access to social networking sites is allowed as is the extensive use of smartphones and tablets. The overall impact is positive as the nature of the mainstream business demands a high level of mobility and communication. Strategy for dealing with shadow IT and BYOD including influence and engagement with executives, to place the right controls around employee choice:We established a Mobility Forum and brought all of the key stakeholders into the forum to help drive a standard approach for our company. This included the selection of technology, the deployment approval process and the chargeback model. By getting the key opinion-formers involved we were able to prevent the creation of a shadow organisation. Technologies being considered to enable transformation:Greater use of Microsoft SharePoint for workflow, greater use of Windows Mobile for workforce on the move. Transformational inspiration sources: Martin Curley – 'Managing IT for Business Value' Richard Hunter – 'The real job of the CIO' Jim Collins – 'Good to Great'