National Australia Bank's chief information officer, Adam Bennett, has a full dance card grappling with the swag of computing platforms the bank is inheriting as NAB undertakes a series of small acquisitions.Bennett already has reviews under way of the IT operations of the bank's three recent acquisitions: Aviva, Challenger Mortgage and JB Were, which he hopes to complete by the end of the year, supported by the Boston Consulting Group. He will also now have to run the ruler over the computing operations of US-based TierOne Bank, of which NAB picked up half the branch network this week for $45 million.The increasingly global footprint of the bank also makes NAB's recently signed and inaugural global licensing deal with software giant Microsoft particularly timely.Bennett, who took up the CIO reins four months ago, replacing Michelle Tredenick, has only recently completed his review of NAB's own 2,500 strong IT shop. "I ran a structured process, and was very pleased at the capability, energy and professionalism of the people."However he noted that: "I think in some cases there was a budgetary lens rather than a customer lens - we might make our budget numbers but didn't serve the customer well. We've got to do both. "I see my role as unlocking the potential and energy. It could be hard to get things done, navigating your way in technology and through technology with an idea - it was difficult to get things done. My role is to create an environment where innovation can take place more easily and where people are clear on their roles."As part of a push across the bank being driven by Bennett's boss, Gavin Slater, group executive for group business services, the IT division is taking on a more services-oriented focus where every IT project has a well defined customer. In order to improve customer support Bennett has recently installed Jonathan Davey as general manager of integrated service delivery, with responsibility for ensuring service level targets are established and met across the bank.Besides driving a more service-based approach in NAB IT, Bennett is exploring how best to integrate the IT functions of the bank's recent acquisitions. With regard to the three recent Australian acquisitions, "We are working out how we will integrate those and what that will look like going forward.  I don't want to approach that from a fundamentalist perspective - I'd much rather run a dedicated piece of work to run the ruler over the IT functions in those areas and work out how best to fit those within our existing frameworks."I am sure that there will be good things we are doing on the banking and wealth side we could do in all three of those, but equally I'm open to the fact that each of those three areas will have good ideas and practices we should be sharing." The review will also explore opportunities for data centre consolidation. With Bennett focussed on the here and now of IT, former Jones Lang La Salle CEO Christine Bartlett is