Staff Interview
What were you doing immediately before joining us?
CIO for UK construction firms
Previous experience? 30 years in IT, with preference for Change and Integration / Transformation roles.
Plans for the merged business in outline? Merge and build on the Groups combined IT expertise.
How will your plans improve our business? One joined-up IT platform that provides modern and cyber-resilient productivity capabilities. Focus on providing best-in-class Operational systems for our Maintenance business.
Any challenges you would like to share? Managing the balance of change across pace and communications; moving quickly and being transparent whilst following the correct processes that ensure equity of opportunity.
Immediate priorities – what does your day look like? Getting the right people into the right roles for both them and the business. Organising our teams and providing ‘end state’ principles so we can drive change activity forwards whilst knowing what our Integrated end state looks like.
Goals for the business? Enabling growth in top line revenue and retained profit. Getting and then staying cyber secure.
Name Phil White
Job title Group Chief Information Officer
Department/Division Group IT
Date of joining Axis CLC November 2024
Based
Stratford / Home / Oldbury / Southampton
What do you need from the business/us to achieve these goals? Continued engagement from all business leaders, who have all been very helpful so far. Some blue-sky thinking / challenges on how we might use AI to differentiate our offering, increase safety or further improve client engagement.
Any thoughts on the integration process that you would like to share? So far, this integration is quite recognisable. It can be challenging when growing a company from family-led into a broader corporate structure, but there are some recognisable business strengths and traits that I’ve seen in prior Integrations.
Who’s on your immediate team? I have Neil Betton as my senior deputy, with three other main ‘Portfolio’ leaders in Russell Measor, Peter Burden and Barry King. I’d like to shout out to all the IT staff who have been patient with me whilst I’ve advertised all our roles internally and run a transparent interview process.
Finally... Any hobbies, clubs, beliefs, activities you would like to share? My wife and I enjoy walking our dog. When I get time, I enjoy motorbike riding and building lego! In my younger days, I taught martial arts at University, sang in the church choir and played badminton and squash.
Anything else you would like to add? Given the choice between chocolate and cheese... I’d have a Nuttella and brie sandwich!