Lungile Mginqi, Group CIO at Sasol.

“Our energy supply and its impact on small, medium and large business is of particular concern,” says Mginqi. “Given, all those economic headwinds, we as individual companies need to implement self-help measures to cut costs significantly to respond the current times. While we understand that one cannot save his or herself into prosperity, so we still need to prepare for what the future may hold.

“Such as all business have done, we have identified areas affected by loadshedding and have plans in place to minimise the impact, especially in our retail environment. We have already implemented loadshedding-mitigating mechanisms, and we continue interacting with impacted businesses and customers. We need to have the right backup plans and redundancy measures in place.

“Industry downturn cycles put significant cost pressures in the short term. However, the challenge is to be responsive to those pressures, while being clear of IT’s role in the organisation as an enabler of business productivity and growth.” Mginqi says IT is crucial to Sasol’s internal business stakeholders to aid fast decision making and also to support external customers, adding that new technologies allow IT to target and deliver appropriate and effective IT services to grow the business. “Examples of where we have applied the latest technologies include providing our engineers with artificial intelligence capability to allow for improved predictive maintenance; enabling digital initiatives to reinforce customer loyalty and enhancing customer experience to improve our market share through growing the retail customer base, as well as boosting the interface with our B2B customers for a more enticing overall user experience for their offerings.”

Mginqi says his primary role for Sasol is to be the custodian of IT assets and, more importantly, to strategically apply these assets to support Sasol’s business strategy. “The role itself is heavily involved in how IT and business should be configured to derive the best business outcomes through technology and to include both IT and the broader IoT within the manufacturing space. My top priority is enabling digital value delivery without increasing the cost base in this prevailing challenging business environment so I’m also constantly on the lookout and executing IT cost-efficiency initiatives while providing fit-for-purpose services at the right market-related costs to enable business growth. Cybersecurity remains a high priority as it can be a destructive inhibitor to organisational growth.

Safeguarding against cybersecurity incidents remains a key focus. “Our ambition is to power the success and sustainability of Sasol through IT and our strategy will enable us to continue to execute brilliant basics while providing the flexibility to test and pilot new technologies to determine how best they will drive the business strategy and enable growth.”

Asked what leadership techniques he has learned over his career that have helped overcome obstacles, Mginqi says: “As a CIO, don’t profess to know everything because you don’t. Listen to what your teams have to say because they are the experts in their respective fields. Never underestimate the importance of managing all business stakeholders and managing downwards, side-ways and upwards to ensure everyone is aligned. Learn every day as IT is evolving from week to week. One foot always needs to be in the future, with the other foot grounded in current realities. Ensure that both the organisation and its people are equipped with the agility to change course as the only constant is change.”

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