April- 20199GOVERNMENT CIO OUTLOOKhave used to aid the day to day operation, such as detecting anomalies like overloaded wagons and wheel flats, or to prevent track damage and/or safety issues. The IT involvement in these engineering tools has been minimal to non-existent. They were seen as purely operational tools that traditionally didn't require management or support of as an IT service. Cyber security is changing all of that. As our understanding of security requirements has grown, there is an appetite and acceptance in our operations teams for what has traditionally been an IT department function. Change management, software testing, systems governance ­ these are some of the IT controls that are now considered as critical as our usual engineering controls. Our existing tools are being upgraded with more "smarts" built in, collecting ever increasing amounts of data, and being connected to each other and to our network. We are seeing pockets of innovation and exploration into these IoT technologies within our business. KiwiRail assets can now start to generate high frequency data points across a broad range of conditions. With these opportunities, we are taking a partnership role with our engineering colleagues, helping to both question and answer - how do we best collect data from our operational assets across a diverse and ever-changing landscape? How do we keep our information secure? Where are the opportunities to leverage further value? How can we collect and share IoT data across our organisation, as efficiently and effectively as possible? What does this mean for the traditional ways we manage our assets, and how can we use information to reimagine our operations?Using a traditional "command and control" model­ layering governance on governance and imposing IT practices across the operation ­ would risk alienating ourselves from our business partners and being perceived asa hand brake or just too hard to engage with. Our focus must be on co-innovation, all the while helping a shift from "IT" being a department to all our business being "IT". Having digitally savvy engineers working hand in hand with engineering savvy digital teams is our aim. For this to be effective, we must stop thinking of ourselves as just a department or a team providing IT services, distinct from the other parts of the business. Our role now is to help embed "IT thinking" in an operational world. We can move our thinking about our role as a team, and the role of our people, and get deeper into the operational part of our business, partnering to experiment and realise value in a dynamic, digitally enabled world.As CIOs we need to continually reassess where the value lies for our organisation ­ and change shape accordingly. Penelope Rae
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