Telstra's CIO hangs up

Ted Pretty, group managing director for Telstra technology innovation and products (TTIP), told staff in an e-mail Smith had decided to step down "following completion of his assignment to bring together Telstra's IT groups, transform our IT delivery model and develop new partnerships.

"Through this work, Jeff has made an important contribution to Telstra's business. He has led the IT Services team during a period of significant change and has achieved many IT milestones for Telstra, delivering on four key fronts - improved cycle times, greater productivity, improved quality and deeper skills".

Pretty said specific achievements which Smith and his team could be particularly proud of included:

• successfully bringing together Telstra's seven disparate IT organisations into one strong unit;
• re-focussing the company on bringing IT skills back into the organisation with the appointment of an additional 200 staff in the 2003/2004 financial year with the deep technical capability required for keeping the intellectual property in-house;
• introducing innovative, new technologies to produce better business outcomes; and
• raising the bar significantly in relation to our suppliers' deliverables and performances.

Pretty said he would review the IT leadership structure "as we have reached the tail end of the IT Transformation project and are about to embark on a more operational phase.

"I have every confidence that the IT team can deliver real innovation and further productivity gains to Telstra and I will make further announcements shortly," he added.