Imogen WallaceChief Information Officer · Essays & perspective

Modernisation3 min read

Modernisation begins with a business capability

An application replacement is easier to describe than the business change it is meant to enable.

I start by identifying the capability that needs to improve, the people who own it and the dependencies that constrain it.

Continue the essay

The enduring idea

Enterprise technology must support change while keeping essential work dependable. I begin with business capabilities, make dependencies visible and agree ownership of the transition with operating leaders. Resilience and adoption belong in the investment case from the start.

A philosophy in practice ↗

The journal

Further reading.

  1. 02

    Cyber resilience3 min read

    Resilience is a cross-functional rehearsal

    A recovery plan is incomplete if the people who must make decisions have never worked through it together.

  2. 03

    Data3 min read

    Technology adoption has an operating owner

    A system can be available without becoming the organisation's way of working.

Applications retired
62%
Simplified estate in three years
Core platform availability
99.98%
Through a full modernisation
Run-cost released
₹740 Cr
Reinvested in digital products
Countries on one ERP
14
From nine legacy systems

Beyond the page

The record behind the perspective.

In the boardroom

  • Westmoor Housing FinanceIndependent Director · 2022 — Present
  • The Digital Public Goods CouncilAdvisory Board Member · 2020 — Present

Recognition

  • CIO 100The Technology Leaders Review · 2024
  • Digital Transformation of the YearThe Enterprise Technology Awards · 2022

In conversation

  • “Retiring 600 applications without breaking the business”The Technology Leaders Review · 2025
  • “What boards should ask about cyber resilience”The Boardroom Review · 2024
  • “Episode 98 — Technology debt is a strategy decision”The Leadership Ledger podcast · 2023
Made technology a boardroom conversation about outcomes, not acronyms.
Priya RamanChair, Risk Committee, Westmoor Housing Finance
The full record ↗

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Ideas are tested in conversation.

For board, advisory and speaking invitations, and for readers who want to take an argument further.

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