De Beers has quite a history and the company has changed enormously in the last 15 years. What are the changes that people should remember and register about De Beers?
De Beers is an extraordinary company; it was formed in 1888 and has been myopically focussed on the mining and marketing of rough diamonds since its inception. De Beers has demonstrated that corporate success is dependent on an organisation's ability to change and adapt; to be sensitive to the changes in social, environmental, political and economic factors. Over the last 15 years De Beers has moved from a company that focussed on controlling the supply of diamonds, to a company focused on growing the demand for diamonds through our Supplier of Choice strategy. De Beers is no longer the buyer of last resort in the diamond industry, but is striving to grow global demand for diamonds and to sell our rough diamonds to those players in the downstream industry who understand the value of the diamond, who brand and market the diamond and who adhere to a clear set of Best Practice Principles. De Beers has always believed in corporate social responsibility and in mining diamonds so as to make a lasting contribution to the communities in which it operates. De Beers is a driving force behind the Kimberley process and the Diamonds for Development Initiative (DDI). De Beers has been acknowledged internationally for our groundbreaking initiatives in the management and treatment of HIV/AIDS and our recent BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) transaction has received recognition for its broad based impact.

How has the role of the IT Department changed in the last five years at De Beers?
Over the last five years, IT in De Beers has recognised its role to enable business excellence through the use of information technology. We strive to be a department that leads through example and that provides proactive service and solutions. We want every employee in the department to be challenged and have a meaningful job. We are rigorous in measuring our performance and constantly compare ourselves to world-class metrics. We are guided by the following principles across the global organisation -

• Single strategy and vision
• Adding value to the business
• Service and delivery excellence
• Developing IT smart business people and business smart IT people
• To be the envy of our peers
• Working collaboratively and cooperatively

These are backed up by clear strategy documents and tactical plans. All of our actions are measured against their contribution to our business strategy and so our daily work is clearly aligned to the strategic business initiatives. We never refer to the business as being separate from IT; it is an integral part of the business and earns its place through meaningful, measured contributions to the success of the business.

Transforming IT into a business function requires a cultural change that many IT departments are going through. Can you share some learning from your efforts in bringing about this change?
You need to believe passionately in the business, in understanding what the business does, in the levers that drive the success and failure of the business, in what makes up the costs and how the business efficiencies can be improved, in who are the customers and the competitors - IT departments need to have this knowledge, they need to know how their daily work contributes to the factors mentioned above for them to feel a part of the organisations. You will always get strong technological skills who are not interested in the business but only in technology - these people are better suited to technologically focussed organisations. Each and every IT employee in De Beers has a role to play in ensuring that De Beers remains the world's leading miner and marketer of rough diamonds and this must be what brings them to work on a daily basis.

You are the only woman amongst 20 directors of the DeBeers Group. Previously you were the head of IT at Sappi, one of the world's largest paper manufactures. What would be your advice to young women today starting out on a career in IT?
I am delighted to say that this is no longer the case, and that there are now three women on the De Beers Group executive and a number of women are serving as directors in many of our Group companies. My advice to young women (and men for that matter) starting their careers, in whatever discipline, would be to apply yourselves, strive not for position but for excellence in everything that you do, take responsibility for your career and look to improve and mitigate areas of strength and weakness in your own capabilities. Treat every opportunity as a means to grow and develop yourself and those around you. Never withhold knowledge or information and share, mentor and be mentored whenever possible, never stop learning or growing. Respect and harness diversity and give back to those less fortunate than yourself - this for me is the road to a fulfilling career and contentment within the workplace.

In looking for a business partner or an employee, what are the main things that you look for?
In all relationships I look for the win-win balance. I want partners, whether they be external service or product providers or employees, who care about the success of De Beers, who deliver more than what they have promised, who are committed, loyal, highly competent and capable, and who are successful - this ensures that they will be in business into the future and can be sustainable long term partners. I look for partners who share our values and our commitments to employees, communities and the environment, while striving to be the best, making and creating their future as a winning organisation.

In MindTree our values of CLASS (Caring, Learning, Achieving, Sharing and Social Responsibility) are central to everything we do. What advice would you have for us to ensure that we continue to guide our business through our values?
Values are an ideal without visible evidence that they influence every action taken by an organisation. It is the behaviour of people that demonstrates the values and culture of an organisation. Every employee, every leader, every executive must demonstrably live the values and ensure that decisions, whether easy or tough are taken with due consideration of those values. The values lived by an organisation will flow through the supply chain to both suppliers and customers as you will not want to have sustainable long term relationships with organisations who do not share your principles. To ensure the sustainability of values, it is necessary to embed feedback loops and mechanisms whereby anyone at any level can raise issues where they do no believe the values have been lived, and that there is due consequence when values are breached. You manage what you measure and so you need to have measurements in place to ensure they remain top of mind.