"There is no one silver bullet for innovation to happen. You need to have the right people with the right culture."
So said Discovery Vitality CIO Joe van Niekerk, who continued that in order for your organisation to be innovative, you need a conducive environment and industry. "You also need to recognise creativity and encourage (sensible) risk-taking. Most of all you need to be consistent," he added.
Van Niekerk joined Discovery in 2009 as CIO for Vitality Life in the UK, and held both operational and systems roles during his tenure there. During this period he led the build-out of the systems that helped grow the organisation from start-up to the second-largest insurer in the UK.
CIOs have a unique perspective which puts them at the centre of digital transformation, he said. "We understand both the business and technology opportunities and limitations. In a sense the CIO's role is where the rubber hits the road with regards to the conceptualising of digital ideas, the implementation of them and the processes to ensure ROI objectives are met."
Van Niekerk explained that going digital means fully embracing the fourth Industrial revolution. "It's not just about automating processes using technology and improving recordkeeping; that is third industrial revolution thinking. It's about using artificial intelligence to augment human capability and creating new insights, products, services that would not be possible without the data capabilities that currently exist."
Van Niekerk transferred to Vitality South Africa as a CIO in 2014. He oversees the growing portfolio of systems and partner integrations. He is a member of the Vitality Exco, and is also the convener of the annual IT and systems conference. In addition, he is a member of the Group CIO Forum. Van Niekerk contributes significantly to a number of Group IT initiatives and leads the Group IT Cost Optimisation programme. With his unique combination of leadership, IT and business skills, he has successfully delivered innumerable projects, product launches and new initiatives during his time at Discovery.
He will be speaking at the ITWeb's Digital Economy Summit about Discovery's digital transformation agenda.
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