Interview with Noppadol Leumnarin, Chief Information Officer – Asia Pacific at ENGIE

 1) What do you feel are the biggest challenges IT leaders are currently faced with within their business?

I think the biggest challenges CIOs and IT leaders are currently faced within their business is how to successfully drive digital transformation and innovation to achieve sustainable business growth while keeping the business systems up and running against sophisticated cyberattack. It’s all about putting digital at the heart of the business, leveraging digital technologies to improve performance and operational efficiency, turning data into a competitive advantage and creating more values to customer, enabling consistent innovation, seeking the right talent, and balancing cybersecurity with accessibility. At the end of the day, CIOs and IT Leaders need to transform themselves to become Chief Meaning Officer in order to lead people in the organization to understand what’s in it for them to go with you for successful digital transformation journey.

2) As an IT leader, what do you feel businesses continue to get wrong when it comes to their IT strategy?

In the digital era, new digital and IT technologies are continuously introduced. When it comes to customer solution, sometimes business fall into the technology’s trap and fall in love with a digital or IT technology that may not necessary suited with customer needs or solve customer problem either it’s too complicate or too costly to implement. My advice to the business is don’t fall in love with new fancy technologies but just pick the right digital or IT technology and tools that solve customer problems or response exactly to customer needs with cost competitiveness.

3) What are the latest trends and behaviors you predict will be surfacing on the market over the coming 12 months?

Digital transformation continues to be crucial in energy industry especially for energy services business. Brings together the best breed of IoT, Big Data, Cloud computing and AI/Machine learning technologies working together to enable data-driven solutions to customer in form of Data-as-a-Service or Insight-as-a Service will bring the business to stay in the competitive edge in the market over the coming 12 months and beyond.

4) What is the best piece of advice you have received within your job over the years?

For the best piece of advice, I would refer to an advice from Isabelle Kocher, CEO of ENGIE, to all CIOs and IT leaders in the Digital & IT summit in Paris on Nov 9th, 2016. She said, “Keep clearing mindset of rapid & pragmatic delivery, keep enthusiasm and positive thinking and keep collective approach and team spirit, all these values are key for success to support the digital transformation”. I have cascaded down to my team and it has proven to be sage advice for me over the years.

5) What is one key takeaway you hope our IT audience leaves with after hearing your presentation on site?

A food for thought to overcome the challenges and key for success to build a data-driven company.

ABOUT ENGIE

We are a global energy and services group, focused on three core activities: low-carbon power generation, mainly based on natural gas and renewable energy, global networks and customer solutions. Driven by our ambition to contribute to a harmonious progress, we take up major global challenges such as the fight against global warming, access to energy to all, or mobility, and offer our residential customers, businesses and communities energy production solutions and services that reconcile individual and collective interests.

Our integrated – low-carbon, high-performing and sustainable – offers are based on digital technologies. Beyond energy, they facilitate the development of new uses and promote new ways of living and working. Our ambition is conveyed by each of our 150,000 employees in 70 countries. Together with our customers and partners, they form a community of imaginative builders who invent and build today solutions for tomorrow.

2017 turnover: 65 billion Euros. Listed in Paris and Brussels (ENGI), the Group is represented in the main financial (CAC 40, BEL 20, Euro STOXX 50, STOXX Europe 600, MSCI Europe, Euronext 100, FTSE Eurotop 100, Euro STOXX Utilities, STOXX Europe 600 Utilities) and extra-financial indices  (DJSI World, DJSI Europe and Euronext Vigeo Eiris – World 120, Eurozone 120, Europe 120, France 20, CAC 40 Governance).To learn more : www.engie.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *