LONDON -- With only 20% of tech roles filled by women, at O2 we’ve been working hard to champion female role models in the sector. A stand out example for us is Jennifer Rigby, Head of IT Channels and Innovation at O2. She won the IT Transformation of the Year Award at the Women in IT Awards last week due to her role leading the technology components of a customer experience transformation programme called Trinity.

Trinity is a large programme spanning many different teams in O2 and many different activities all with the aim of driving profitable direct sales and further improved self service capabilities through the multichannel customer experience and creating the foundations for future flexibility.

Stating the presence of women within the IT industry as ‘hugely important’, Jennifer recognises that technology requires a diverse set of skills, including: analysis, coding, creativity, leadership and organisation. Because of this, Jennifer believes it is important for any team to have a broad range of people with women bringing as much to the table as men in IT, explaining diversity and increasing the digital skills in the workforce is important to the productivity of the country in the future.

With Telefónica UK (O2) up for two awards including e-Skills Initiative of the Year and IT Transformation of the Year, the night was already considered a success with our incredible IT team being recognised for their hard work. With judges which included the CIO of Halfords Ltd, Network Rail and Transport for London, Jennifer described the event as inspiring and a great opportunity to meet some of her role models.

From librarian to Head of IT Channels and Innovation, Jennifer Rigby’s story is certainly fascinating and inspiring to all girls looking to pursue a career within IT.

Early career and the journey to Head of IT Channels and Innovation
Having always believed the paradigm ‘knowledge is power’, Jennifer had a passion for the process in seeking out information and using it to help people get answers and understand things better. This passion lead to Jennifer beginning her career as a librarian. With a focus on research and innovation, recognising the potential which technology could have on this, Jennifer took a technical pathway as part of her degree in Information and Library Studies.

Following graduation Jennifer worked as a multimedia librarian at the BBC. Then, as the BBC started to digitalise their archive, she began to work on this project due to her background in technology, she progressed into working on the BBC’s website, doing a variety of roles including search, content management and ultimately being Executive Producer of the BAFTA winning Creative Archive.

Following this, Jennifer held several senior IT roles in the public sector, working for The National Archives, Home Office and Department of Energy and Climate Change before moving to Telefónica UK (O2) in 2014. She recognised the opportunity to be part of the progression of O2 as a leading digital telco, joining as its Head of IT Channels and Innovation.

Telefónica UK Ltd.