TalkTalk has been in a world of trouble lately, facing a £400,000 fine following the theft of a significant amount of consumer data. In the wake of this PR nightmare, four months following the big event, the company’s chief executive, Dido Harding, has chosen to resign.
Harding took charge over the telecoms company in 2010, and is expected to leave the company in May. Financial documents indicate that Harding will be handing her role and responsibilities over to Charles Dunstone, the current chairman without any executive privileges.
Handing Over the Reins
In a statement released to the press regarding Harding’s resignation, she commented that she was proud to have spent “seven extraordinary and fulfilling years” with the company. During her time with TalkTalk, Dido believes that she has seen the business transform their customer experience efforts, and lay the foundations for sustainable growth (despite the recent scandals). Harding said that she simply decided now was the time to hand the reigns over to someone new, and focus on her public service activities.
Besides being a CEO at TalkTalk, Harding also acts as a member in the House of Lords, and a trustee for a charity called “Doteveryone“. Her announcement to leave the company came at the same time the firm released the financial report it had set in place for the initial three months of 2016. The third quarter revenue for TalkTalk was approximately £435 million, which was a drop compared to the £459 million revenue achieved in the previous financial year. However, the company commented that the “Fixed Low Price Plans” it had introduced allowed around 516,000 customers to renew their services at a controlled price.
A Tarnished Memory Left Behind
Unfortunately, it seems that Harding’s position at a CEO of TalkTalk will be remembered with some sourness, thanks to the hacking scandal that took place in 2015, in which 156,959 customer details were stolen. During the theft, addresses, names, phone numbers, dates of birth, and email addresses were all stolen, and around 15,656 of the affected customers also had their bank account details and sort codes taken too!
An investigation conducted by the data protection regulation group discovered that the stolen information had been accessed with significant ease, due to the presence of structural and significant technical weaknesses within the TalkTalk system. This lead to the £400,000 fine for TalkTalk, which was issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office – who commented that TalkTalk should have taken further steps to protect the systems in place.
The information taken from TalkTalk was accessed from a consumer database that ran using outdated software. According to the company, the business had no idea at the time that the software had been affected by a bug that could have easily been fixed. By February 2016, TalkTalk issued a statement revealing that the hack had cost them around £60 million in lost business opportunities and outstanding costs. For Dido Harding, this wasn’t a great legacy to leave behind.
