Belinda Finch: The Digital Backbone Connecting Business Perspectives with Technologies for Better Outcome

Three was launched in 2003 as the UK's first 3G-only network, laying its foundations as the network that was born to be different. Today Three is a connectivity company that connects people to people, people to things, and things to things. It has over 9.6 million customers.

The company's network today covers 99% of the UK's population and it carries 28% of the UK's mobile data traffic. Three launched 5G in August 2019 and it is the largest holder of spectrum in the country. The company has been recognized by Ookla for 'having the fastest 5G network in UK'. It is the only operator able to meet the International Telecoms Union (ITU) 2020 standard of 100MHz of contiguous spectrum for full 5G services. Three is the official partner and shirt sponsor of Chelsea FC men's and women's teams. It is also a proud partner of Samaritans, which uses the strength of its network and technology to connect 1 million people to emotional support. Three was also voted the Best Network for Data at the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, as well as Best Network for Roaming by uSwitch, and the Best High Street Retailer at the Mobile Industry Awards. Three UK is part of the CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd group of companies, which has mobile operations in 11 countries. The company employs more than 4,800 people across its offices in Reading and Glasgow and its 311 retail stores.

A Versatile Leader with IT and Business Expertise

Belinda Finch is currently the Chief Information Officer of Three UK. She is responsible for all IT-related things, whether be it delivering new technology required for its new products or propositions across all channels, managing changes to its Call Centre technology, the digital estate and retail systems, Billing, and CRM. Basically, all things in IT that make a connectivity company like Three operate come under Belinda's control. Belinda works very closely with the commercial and customer experience teams to ensure that she can react very quickly when there is an issue that could impact customer experience or new technology that could help the company advance in certain areas. As well as this Business-as-usual role, Belinda is responsible for transforming not only Three's IT stack to enable it to give a better customer and agent experience, but also transforming its ways of working to enable the team to work hand in hand with the rest of the organization. Belinda is a firm believer in Business Led IT to change and this is what she is advocating at Three. Her background is in IT and transformation and she was previously the CIO at Centrica Group PLC and Transformation and Digital Director at Vodafone. She was also an Accenture management consultant for 8 years, and that is where she learned most about ensuring business and IT are absolutely aligned in their goals and priorities.

Exploring Diverse Ecosystems by Accepting the Adversaries

Belinda admits that the biggest lesson she learned was when she started her career. Belinda started as a COBOL programmer for the Bank of England in the late 90s, fixing the millennium bug. In those days, programmers sat in the basement and kept themselves to themselves. She reveals that she was frustrated with this and wanted to know more about the reasons behind the program changes she was having to make. Belinda confesses, "This is when I moved into consulting and realized that IT and technology cannot be separate from the rest of an organization and the business itself, we need to be joined at the hip… I've been a huge advocate of business-led IT ever since."

Crushing the 'Male-Dominated IT World' with Strong Opinions 

Belinda states that initially, the biggest challenge was to find her voice in the big male-dominated IT world and get the confidence to come out of her shell. She admits that having a different point of view about how IT should interact and be set up within an organization was hard to get across as a young 20-something. However, Belinda started small and began leading the business integration practice at Accenture, where she worked with like-minded individuals and her team started to get the message out there that working hand in hand with the business as an IT department gets you better wins than trying to be a siloed tower of power. Belinda believes that now, everything is changing and IT is actually becoming part of the business more and more. She has learned that multiple voices are better than one, and gaining confidence is a natural part of growing up!

Authenticity and Ability to Collaborate Makes a Successful CIO

For Belinda, a CIO must have authenticity and the ability to collaborate well by tapping into emotional intelligence. She mentions, "The best CIOs I know are the same people inside work as they are outside of work, they show their weaknesses as well as strengths, they can read a room and understand the emotion in it." Being open, honest, and bringing one's team along the journey is vital. In addition to this, it is also important to be razor-sharp of finances, especially in a transformation state. Belinda strongly believes that the CIO is nothing without his or her team. She feels that the team must have a sense of purpose and the same goals. If they are all working together, they will have the flexibility to get stuff done. According to Belinda, CIOs need to sit at the top table and be part of the future. Gone are the days where IT was an ivory tower, staying away from the rest of the organization. She also advised, "To be a successful CIO today you need to have just as much business knowledge and passion as you do technology."

Customer-Centric Solutions through 'Test and Learn' Strategy

Belinda presumes that Three is currently delivering its digital transformation, focusing on delivering a highly interactive, low friction experience for its users. She is confident that the easier it is for the customers to interact with the company, the better will be their experience, and the more they'll choose to meet future needs and wants. As per her beliefs, this requires focusing on knowing the customers, and making use of a range of technologies to understand their needs and wants without imposing on them to deliver better connectivity, every day, for every customer. Belinda claims that Three is increasingly operating using rapid, agile 'test and learn' development cycles in some key areas, hand-in-hand with its business. It really does keep the customer at the heart of everything the company does. Belinda thinks that if Three can get its customers involved in its test and learn development cycles then the company will continue to innovate successfully. 

Leaders to Go Hand-in-Hand with Technologies 

As stated by Belinda, AI offers a lot of potential in terms of predictive analytics and a huge range of use cases that increase almost daily. She thinks that the opportunity is huge but one should be using it in an unintrusive way as well as with empathy. "When interacting with customers is a work in progress but, when we get it right, it will deliver a step-change in efficiency and user experience," remarks Belinda. She also feels that the role of the CIO has expanded significantly as the breadth of opportunity, and threats, continue to grow. To her, this means that the team of the CIO needs to be even closer to the rest of the organization, working hand in hand with the team building solutions with new technologies, and keeping the customers safe.

Wider Intelligence at the Heart of Future Developments

From an industry standpoint, Belinda aims to see IT and the rest of the organization coming together as one. She wishes that in the not-so-distant future, Three will have multi-disciplined teams of technical and business savvy individuals all working together towards the same goals and priorities. There will no longer be IT vs the rest of the business. IT is the business and she thinks that people will see this organizationally more and more over the next coming years. Specifically for Three, as well as taking advantage of its exciting digital transformation, Belinda has envisioned the company to leverage wider datasets, operating in more rapid delivery cycles with its business and technology teams' hand-in-hand. Harnessing more events through its customer interactions and through wider intelligence of how its networks are being used will drive better and more diverse offerings in the future.