What methodologies are you using to evaluate trade-offs between emerging opportunities and essential infrastructure modernization? Can you share examples of how you've prioritized competing demands?

For us, it’s about understanding our technology radar from a corporate perspective, considering emerging technologies and their ROI to guide internal prioritization. Our radar isn’t limited to IT; we also involve the business, often through committees that examine developments in mining processes and other areas beyond IT. When initiatives show promise beyond proof of concept or MVP, we build business cases to justify further exploration. These then enter our internal prioritization process, competing alongside all other projects.

We also bring resource management into our portfolio discussions, since the business often wants more than we can deliver. Sometimes the budget is available, but the people are not, and it’s not always feasible to onboard externally. Everything competes for resources, so we use resource management alongside a clear view of business cases, particularly around infrastructure modernization. These infrastructure needs are often invisible to the business, operating below the surface, but they’re critical enablers that support our OKRs and ODMs.

What has helped us is having one central focus, really working on our data. We got everyone to buy into the idea of working on our data first, which then enabled us to do more with AI and automation. We established steering committees around this strategy, and it has been helpful. When people start to go too far in one direction that could send us off course, we use these committees to bring everyone back to the question: How does this fit into our overall strategy? This approach has been working so far, but as Brad mentioned, we have to start showing results now. I liked that concept of the “wow factor.”

This is an interesting question because the methodologies we use for trade-offs need to be sustainable. They must have enough of a “wow” factor to keep everyone motivated and interested in investing in those emergent opportunities. At the same time, I cannot lose sight of the need to modernize. The hardest thing to do in a company that’s been in business for three years, and with me as VP for less than twelve months—is to balance these priorities. I am still getting my head around the business itself, how we’ve established ourselves, and now we’re trying to change the tires on the bus going downhill at ninety miles an hour, to use a familiar analogy.

Having a seat at the table, as Aleks pointed out, is very important. I believe it is the only way to keep priorities straight when dealing with competing demands, because the business always wants more and we are trying to provide as much as we can from a technology perspective. However, some solutions do not always align with what the business is looking for. There is a lot to say about this, but I will keep it brief.