The key to a successful integration of Suncorp and Promina's information systems will be installing an individual with the stamina to drive through significant IT changes while fending off vested interests which have built up in both organisations' computing ranks because of the large amount of legacy computer systems.While the technological challenges are immense, the first problem to be tackled is hiring the right person for the chief information officer role. At present neither company has a permanent, dedicated CIO.Suncorp has gone through three heads of IT in less than two years. Carmel Gray was general manager of IT at Suncorp for almost six years before retiring in 2004 and had been responsible for beginning the integration of Suncorp's and GIO's IT systems after Suncorp bought GIO from AMP in 2001 for $1.4 billion.Almost immediately the acquisition took place Gray organised for the insourcing of GIO's computer systems. GIO had outsourced management of those systems to CSC. The insourcing brought all the computer operations back under Gray's control in Brisbane, which she claimed saved $30 million a year.She also blueprinted what needed to be achieved in order to integrate the information systems of GIO and Suncorp. While Gray made inroads with that integration, it was not complete when she retired at the end of 2004 in order to move back to Melbourne and seek a new career as a corporate board director. (Gray has since been appointed to the Bank of Queensland's board.)Hemant Kogekar who had been the general manager of application services at Suncorp picked up the baton. Formerly an IT consultant and before that chief information officer of the Franklins chain of supermarkets, Kogekar was in the top IT role at Suncorp for just 18 months. A reorganisation in mid 2006 placed Diana Eilert in charge of human resources, marketing and information technology. This management reshuffle effectively squeezed Kogekar out, and he returned to Sydney in June after three years in Queensland.His departure stalled a plan to overhaul the IT operations of Suncorp which would have seen day to day IT support separated from an IT development team focused on writing and implementing new systems. That reorganisation would have required the company to hire significant numbers of new and senior IT personnel but was put on the backburner when Eilert took the reins.A second attempt to restructure IT was halted by the October announcement of the planned merger with Promina. With this latest announcement Suncorp's IT group remains in flux. Eilert heads IT (along with marketing and human relations). Four executives report to Eilert: Paul Cameron, general manager infrastructure services; Adrian Quinn, GM IT strategy and architecture; Fulton Smith, GM customer development - technology and Paul Detheridge, acting GM solutions delivery.The challenge Eilert is facing is to hold on to those skills. The robust Queensland economy coupled with the nationwide acute IT skills shortage has led to plenty of options for Suncorp's 900 IT employees, some of whom have already moved on.Meanwhile Promina's chief information officer, Rob Flannagan,