Woolworths farewells CIO

Woolworths is searching for a new chief information officer after Dan Beecham announced his departure to join British supermarket chain Morrisons.

Beecham has held the CIO position since 2007. He will relocate to the UK and his new role in January 2014.

A Woolworths spokesperson said in a statement Beecham was a "valued member of the team ... and we wish him well for the future."

One of Beecham's first tasks in his new position will be to oversee the completion of Morrison's £300 million (A$511 million) overhaul of its internal IT systems. 

The supermarket is modernising its ageing infrastructure, which among other things had been a barrier to developing an online grocery business, CEO Dalton Philips told UK's Retail Week.

The program has so far seen Morrisons roll out tablets in store to replace paper processes, and extend its Oracle applications onto the software giant's Exadata platform, replacing HP Superdome.

The program of work is scheduled for completion next year. 

Morrisons also spent £200 million buying online grocer Ocado's technology and warehouse in order to launch an online shopping website, due in January.

More to come