Customers at the centre of Three’s transformation
Elaine Carey, Chief Executive Officer of Three Ireland, speaks to eolas Magazine about leadership, organisational transformation, and her vision for the company’s next chapter, one defined by agility, innovation, and meaningful partnership.
Since stepping into the role of CEO in June 2025, Elaine Carey has set about reimagining how Three Ireland operates, collaborates, and connects with its customers. For Carey, this means placing the customer at the centre of everything the organisation does through the introduction of enterprise agile as an operating model.
“Our priorities are very much focused on how we deliver the best outcomes for our customers,” she begins. “We have just turned enterprise agile, which we are really excited by. Internally, it is about breaking down our traditional departments and creating cross-functional teams that are focused on customer outcomes.”
Three Ireland’s adoption of an enterprise agile model represents a major step forward in how a large organisation structures itself. “We are one of the first in Ireland, and possibly in Europe, to go full enterprise agile,” she adds proudly. “It is not just about speed; it is about collaboration, accountability, and empowerment.”
“The customer has to be at the heart of everything we do. It is about remembering that there is a customer or business behind it all who has a requirement that we need to serve.”
A career built on growth and change
Carey’s own journey to the top of Three Ireland reflects a mix of adaptability, curiosity, and resilience. A proud Limerick native, she began her career in travel and tourism before moving into telecommunications when she joined Digifone’s contact centre in Limerick in the late 1990s.
“I started out just taking a summer job,” she recalls with a smile. “But that is where I really found my passion for telecoms. From there, I joined Digicel and spent several years working across the Caribbean in St Lucia, Barbados, Aruba, and the Cayman Islands, and learned the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Returning to Ireland, Carey joined Three during its formative years and has since spent 18 years with the company. “It has felt like five different jobs in one organisation,” she says. “I started when Three was the challenger brand, growing from the ground up. Then we went through the acquisition of O2 in 2014, the integration of two large businesses, and later my role expanded to include the UK market. So I have seen transformation at every stage.”
That experience has shaped her leadership approach. “My philosophy has always been to have the customer at the centre,” she explains. “Everything we do should serve our customers better and create opportunities for our people to grow and shine.”
Transforming through enterprise agile
The decision to transition Three Ireland into a fully enterprise agile organisation was, Carey explains, driven directly by wanting a renewed focus on the customer.
Working with McKinsey, Carey and the leadership team explored how an enterprise agile model could unlock innovation and simplify decision-making. “The customer has to be at the heart of everything we do. It is about remembering that there is a customer or business behind it all who has a requirement that we need to serve. To do that, we now bring people from different functions around the business together to solve real customer problems,” she explains. “You define clear outputs, work in two-week sprints, review every 90 days, and continuously prioritise.”
The new model is designed to create a laser focus on the customer. “Every business has a million things it wants to do, but you cannot do everything,” Carey notes. “Enterprise agile gives us the system to prioritise what really matters. It makes time visible and finite. It forces us to deliver.”
Just as importantly, it shifts the role of leadership. “Our leadership team has to show up differently, as supportive, servant leaders rather than command-and-control managers,” she emphasises. “It is about empowerment. Give people what they need to make the right decisions for the customer and the business, and then remove the obstacles in their way.”
Building a culture of empowerment
For Carey, the internal culture is the foundation of enterprise agile. Without the right mindset and values, the model simply does not work.
“You can have all the systems in the world, but if your culture is not strong, enterprise agile will fail,” she says. “So we have been really clear on what kind of culture we want to build for our people.”
At the heart of this is empowerment, what Carey calls “the ability to shine”. “We want every person to have the ability to shine because they are empowered to make decisions that make sense for our customers,” the CEO explains. “That is where engagement, innovation, and satisfaction come from.”
Transparency and psychological safety are equally critical. “Everyone needs to understand the context and the why,” she continues. “And we need psychological safety, the ability to say something is not working without fear of blame. Perfection is not always possible. You have to release, learn, and improve.”
This open, learning-focused culture, she believes, is what will sustain Three’s agility and creativity in the long term. “Enterprise agile is a big shift from hierarchy to trust,” Carey reflects. “And I think that is what makes this transformation so powerful.”
From provider to partner
Beyond its internal transformation, Carey is equally passionate about how Three Ireland is evolving externally, particularly in its relationships with government and public sector clients.
“We have had brilliant success over the past few years,” she says. “From Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown to Tipperary and Sligo County Councils, we have built trusted partnerships across local and central government with organisations like the Department of Agriculture, Department of Foreign Affairs, the Taoiseach’s Office, the Central Bank, and, most recently, the HSE.”
Carey describes Three’s work with the HSE as a standout example of co-creation. “Back during the Covid period, the HSE faced real challenges communicating with patients and doctors,” she recalls. “We sat down with them to understand their business problem and co-created solutions that addressed it. That is what co-creation looks like in practice: collaboration, empathy, and innovation.”
The same approach applies across county councils and government departments. “When our public sector partners bring us a problem, whether it is connectivity, security, or network design, we bring our expertise to the table and work together to find a solution,” she explains. “It is not about selling a product. It is about being a partner.”
Unlocking potential through 5G
With Ireland’s digital transformation accelerating, Carey sees immense opportunity in the public sector’s use of 5G-enabled technologies.
“5G changes everything,” she asserts. “It allows for network slicing, guaranteeing dedicated, secure network capacity for specific uses. We understand what our market leading network needs to deliver, and we provide that day in and day out. Recently Three was independently awarded ‘Ireland’s Fastest 5G Network’ by Opensignal, and that is critical for applications like robotics, smart manufacturing, and public safety, where you need low latency and real-time connectivity.”
Carey sees 5G as a catalyst for innovation across sectors. “One partnership that we are particularly excited about in this area is with Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Ericsson and Samsung; together we are showcasing the capabilities of 5G standalone technology through practical use cases, advancing research and development in areas like connected agriculture, health, fitness, personal safety, and more. The potential of the technology is really quite inspiring.”
Carey has also taken on another role as Chair of Telecommunications Industry Ireland (TII), the Ibec group that represents electronic communications in Ireland. “The mobile and broadband networks in this country are world-class, and that is down to the significant investment that telecommunications operators and broadband providers have put into them. These networks are critical infrastructure for our country and I am looking forward to working to continue to enhance the capacity and capability of Ireland’s communications networks.”
“We are a technology partner, a problem solver, and a trusted enabler of transformation. That is a journey I am incredibly proud to lead.”
Early engagement and partnership
Carey firmly believes that engagement with the public, private, and third level sectors “should begin early”.
“We really value early engagement,” she stresses. “If you want a true partnership, do not wait until the tender stage. Have those conversations early, run workshops, let us understand your challenges. That is where differentiation happens.”
She believes this kind of collaboration benefits everyone. “When organisations allow suppliers like us to come in early, they often discover new ways of solving problems. Innovation comes from dialogue,” she says. “Yes, price matters; of course it does. But expertise and partnership matter too. You are not just buying a service; you are choosing a partner who can help you achieve your goals.”
Carey’s emphasis on people is evident throughout the conversation. “At the end of the day, you buy from people,” she says. “We are very proud of our people, their expertise, their creativity, and their ability to solve problems. They love a challenge, and they love to prove how they can make things better.”
Ambitions
Reflecting on her first months as CEO, Carey is candid about the journey ahead. “We are on a mission to simplify, to empower, and to grow,” she says. “Enterprise agile is helping us recapture that entrepreneurial spirit that made Three great in the first place, but now we are doing it at scale.”
For her, the company’s transformation is about more than process; it is about mindset. “It is about giving people the confidence to make decisions, to innovate, and to collaborate across boundaries,” she says. “And when we get that right, our customers feel it; whether that is an individual on a mobile plan or a government department managing critical infrastructure.”
As Ireland’s largest mobile telecommunications provider, Three continues to play a pivotal role in enabling connectivity “anytime, anyplace”. Under Carey’s leadership, the company’s focus is clear: to lead through connection between people, technology, and purpose.
“We are not just a mobile provider anymore,” she concludes. “We are a technology partner, a problem solver, and a trusted enabler of transformation. That is a journey I am incredibly proud to lead.”
| Profile: Elaine Carey
She played a key role in the 2014 acquisition and integration of O2 Ireland and later served as Chief Commercial Officer across both the Irish and UK markets. In June 2025, Carey was appointed CEO of Three Ireland. A passionate advocate for innovation, empowerment, and customer-centric leadership, she continues to drive the company’s transformation through enterprise agile methodology and a renewed focus on collaboration with Ireland’s public and private sectors. |
