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?

ROI analysis is essential, especially since there is often a tendency to react quickly to market changes or new regulations. We evaluate whether there are particular markets we want to be in, considering the regulations and legal implications of serving those markets and customers. We also assess product capabilities, customer adoption, and demand. Our approach involves thorough analysis, but we strive to make decisions quickly to avoid analysis paralysis. It is a balance between conducting the necessary ROI analysis and making timely, effective decisions.

We focus on cost-benefit analysis and ROI. Our process is relatively fast—I run a meeting once a week where requests from group businesses are triaged. Four board directors are involved, but responsibility is devolved to me so we can act quickly. While this pace is not our usual operating behavior, it allows us to respond efficiently in the current environment.

We bring together business leaders and IT leaders to review our list of priorities. We categorize initiatives as “must do,” “should do,” and “nice to have,” ranking them as one, two, or three. Typically, the twos and threes are cut from the budget, while the “must do” items are definite and ones are mostly funded. This prioritization happens in a group setting over the course of three meetings to ensure everyone’s opinions and input are considered.

We use a template with four or five main criteria; each scored from one to five. These criteria cover impact to customers, impact on the balance sheet, risk, business value, ROI, and other factors. Although we distill it down to five metrics, there are about twenty different areas we consider. We collate all these scores to create a rank order of initiatives, which serves as our baseline. Judgment is layered on top of the scoring, so even if something has a higher score, recent events or changing circumstances may make another initiative more important. Our process is both structured and flexible, allowing us to adjust priorities as needed.

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.