CTO Chats with Athikom Kanchanavibhu, Executive Vice President of Digital & Technology Transformation at Mitr Phol Group

What has been your career journey to becoming a CTO? 

My journey into the world of IT began with consulting, where I spent nearly a decade at Accenture, immersing myself in best practices, frameworks, and large-scale transformation projects across industries such as refining, healthcare, automotive, and energy. During this time, I honed my ability to bridge technology and business, managing complex SAP implementations and learning how technology drives organisational transformation. 

Building on this foundation, I transitioned to the corporate world, joining Nestlé as the Head of Business Applications for Indochina. Here, I gained firsthand experience in how IT operates within a multinational enterprise—ensuring business continuity, optimising digital solutions, and aligning IT strategy with corporate objectives across multiple markets. From there, I moved into leadership roles that deepened my expertise in both corporate IT and business transformation. 

As Vice President of Information Technology at Shera Public Company Limited, I led enterprise-wide digital initiatives, enhancing IT governance and operations. Later, at Zuellig Pharma, I took on the role of Vice President of Business Transformation, shifting my focus from IT operations to broader business transformation, leveraging technology as a strategic enabler for innovation and efficiency in the healthcare sector. Today, as Executive Vice President of Digital and Technology Transformation, Chief Information Security Officer, and Data Protection Officer at Mitr Phol Group, I bring together all my prior experiences. I drive enterprise-wide digital transformation, ensuring that innovation, cybersecurity, and data governance align to create a future-ready organisation. My role encompasses not only technology enablement but also fostering a security-conscious and data-driven culture, ensuring that digital advancements translate into tangible business impact. Each phase of my career deepened my ability to drive transformation—consulting honed my strategic thinking, corporate IT refined my operational leadership, and business transformation shaped my ability to drive enterprise-wide change. These cumulative experiences allow me to lead with both technological expertise and business foresight. Throughout my career, one principle has remained constant: technology is most powerful when it bridges business transformation and human potential. This belief continues to shape my leadership approach today.

What IT challenges are you currently facing, and how are you addressing them? 

In an era where technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace, the key challenge is striking a balance between agility, innovation, and cost efficiency while avoiding long-term technology lock-in. We have embraced an asset-light strategy—moving away from CapEX-intensive investments and adopting an OPEX-driven, consumption-based approach. This model provides the flexibility to rapidly adapt to emerging technologies without being constrained by long-term infrastructure commitments, ensuring we remain at the forefront of digital transformation. Another significant challenge is accelerating innovation while maintaining cost discipline. To ensure that our digital initiatives deliver tangible business value, we emphasise a strong ROI-driven approach. New investments are evaluated based on their ability to generate positive business outcomes, and for initiatives where ROI is not immediately clear, we focus on cost optimisation strategies to reinvest savings into high-impact, strategic projects. By embedding financial discipline into innovation, we sustain technological progress while ensuring every initiative translates into measurable business value.

What emerging technologies and innovation opportunities should businesses in the IT industry focus on right now? 

The transformative potential of Generative AI, Agentic AI, and business self-service technologies—including low-code platforms, data analytics, and automation—presents a significant opportunity for enterprises today. These technologies are democratising innovation by making advanced capabilities more accessible to a broader range of users. With natural language interfaces and intuitive tools, businesses no longer require extensive technical expertise to leverage sophisticated digital solutions. In sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and finance, we will see AI-driven decision-making replacing traditional forecasting models, while low-code platforms will enable rapid process automation across non-technical functions. By embracing these technologies, organisations can accelerate innovation, improve efficiency, and foster a culture of continuous digital empowerment, allowing business users to drive transformation at an unprecedented pace while ensuring IT resources remain focused on high-impact strategic initiatives.

What’s the biggest IT-related mistake you see companies make, and how can they avoid it? 

The most critical mistakes organisations make in IT investments can be categorised into three key areas. First is the lack of a strategic architecture. Many companies adopt technology without a well-defined enterprise architecture, leading to integration challenges, data inconsistencies, and security vulnerabilities. This fragmented approach results in technical debt, requiring costly fixes down the line. A robust, strategic architecture ensures scalability, security, and seamless interoperability across the technology stack. 

Next is neglecting human capital development: Organizations often focus on implementing new technologies but overlook the importance of equipping employees—both on the business and IT sides—with the skills needed to operate and optimise these solutions. Without proper training and change management, technology investments remain underutilised, leading to low adoption rates, inefficiencies, and higher long-term maintenance costs.  

Lastly, there is the failure to sustain and measure impact. Too often, companies assume that technology adoption ends at go-live, neglecting ongoing monitoring and optimisation. Without tracking key business objectives and continuously measuring adoption, organisations risk failing to realise the intended value of their IT investments. Leadership must proactively drive change, support continuous improvement, and address adoption challenges to ensure sustainable business outcomes. 

Avoiding these pitfalls requires a holistic approach—combining strategic planning, workforce enablement, and long-term performance monitoring to ensure that technology investments deliver lasting business value. We go beyond traditional project KPIs by measuring sustained adoption, tracking business impact over 12-24 months, and refining implementation based on real-world usage.

How do you think the IT sector will evolve in the next 3-5 years?

AI-driven innovation will be the defining force shaping the IT landscape over the next few years. We will see a profound transformation across all major technology domains—ERP, CRM, logistics, cybersecurity, RPA, and beyond—as AI becomes deeply embedded into both enterprise and consumer solutions. Technology providers in traditionally non-AI domains will rapidly integrate AI into their offerings, shifting from conventional digital solutions to AI-powered ecosystems. Businesses will increasingly adopt a hybrid approach, leveraging off-the-shelf AI solutions while simultaneously developing bespoke AI models tailored to their unique operational needs. This will lead to a fundamental shift where AI is no longer an add-on but a core enabler of digital transformation. 

Furthermore, organisations will move beyond standalone AI applications, embedding AI capabilities directly into their proprietary business applications to drive automation, real-time insights, and enhanced decision-making. This AI-powered evolution will redefine how businesses operate, offering unprecedented levels of efficiency, agility, and innovation, ultimately setting the stage for a more intelligent and autonomous enterprise future. The next wave of digital transformation will be AI-first, not AI-assisted. Organisations that fail to embed AI as a foundational layer in their business will struggle to compete.

What trends or technologies do you believe will have the biggest impact on the IT industry?

I believe there are three major forces that will shape the future of the IT industry: AI, cybersecurity, and sustainability. 

AI is rapidly accelerating and fundamentally reshaping the IT landscape. As AI becomes deeply embedded across industries, it will drive automation, enhance decision-making, and unlock new business models. Organisations must embrace AI not just as a tool but as a strategic enabler of growth and efficiency. 

As AI adoption increases, cybersecurity threats will evolve in complexity. Cybercriminals are already leveraging AI to develop more sophisticated attack vectors, making AI-driven cybersecurity solutions essential. Organisations must proactively strengthen their cybersecurity posture by integrating AI-powered threat detection and response mechanisms. 

Sustainability practices are reaching a critical inflexion point where traditional manual operations are no longer viable. To achieve sustainability at scale, businesses must leverage digital solutions, data analytics, and AI to drive ESG initiatives, optimise resource consumption, and ensure regulatory compliance. 

These three interconnected trends will define the next era of IT, requiring organisations to rethink their strategies, enhance resilience, and harness technology to drive sustainable innovation. The convergence of AI, cybersecurity, and sustainability will separate digital leaders from digital laggards. Success lies in harnessing these forces as interconnected enablers rather than isolated trends.

How is the regulatory environment changing, and how are IT leaders navigating these regulatory shifts? 

The regulatory landscape is evolving beyond traditional cybersecurity and data protection frameworks to encompass AI governance and responsible AI practices as businesses increasingly integrate AI into their operations. 

Forward-thinking IT leaders must ensure compliance with foundational cybersecurity and personal data protection laws while proactively preparing for emerging regulations around AI and data governance. This requires continuous monitoring of evolving regulatory frameworks, embedding responsible AI practices, and fostering a culture of compliance and transparency. By aligning compliance strategies with business objectives and adopting a proactive governance approach, organisations can navigate regulatory shifts with agility to ensure they remain both secure and ethically responsible in an increasingly AI-driven world. Moreover, active engagement with regulatory bodies and industry coalitions allows us to stay ahead of compliance changes while helping shape the future of responsible AI governance.

How do you balance the need for innovation with the demand for stability and security in your IT systems? 

Balancing innovation with stability and security requires a structured Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) framework that ensures agility without compromising resilience. We have established a dedicated GRC function that oversees enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, data and AI governance, and overall risk management in technology adoption. This function operates independently from the digital innovation and delivery teams, allowing us to maintain a clear distinction between the need for speed and agility in innovation and the imperative for robust security and compliance. 

Although these two areas have distinct focuses, they are ultimately aligned under my leadership to ensure that innovation supports business growth while being underpinned by a strong governance foundation. This dual approach enables us to drive digital transformation responsibly—delivering cutting-edge solutions while safeguarding operational stability, security, and long-term business resilience.

What do you consider to be the most critical skills for IT leaders today? 

Orchestration. IT leaders need to orchestrate technology, teams, and projects strategically.  This requires strong communication, adaptability, innovation, cybersecurity knowledge, data literacy, and financial understanding to drive business value and manage talent effectively.

What’s one question all CTOs should be asking themselves today? 

Is our technology roadmap not just aligned with key stakeholders but actively driving our company’s competitive advantage?

How do you approach mentoring and developing the next generation of leaders within your IT team? 

My approach is rooted in mastering the fundamentals—establishing a clear organisational structure, defining competencies, and ensuring a balanced allocation of human resources across strategy, delivery, operations, and governance. I emphasise continuous professional development, structured competency frameworks, and proactive gap assessments to cultivate future leaders. Beyond technical expertise, I focus on employee engagement, empowerment, and recognition. Key initiatives include goal alignment sessions with IT leadership, opportunities for team members to step beyond their comfort zones to drive business impact, and structured recognition programs that go beyond standard performance evaluations and merit increases. By fostering an environment of growth, accountability, and achievement, we ensure that the next generation of IT leaders is well-equipped to navigate the complexities of digital transformation.

What’s been the most memorable insight that you’ve applied in your work? 

The most impactful insight I’ve gained is the power of fostering mutually beneficial collaborations between business, IT, technology partners, and key stakeholders. Extending collaboration beyond organisational boundaries allows for early influence on technology roadmaps and strategic resource allocation, ensuring timely access to cutting-edge solutions at an optimal cost. By aligning roadmaps and goals with industry partners, we not only help shape the direction of technology development but also gain the opportunity to test and adopt emerging innovations ahead of the curve. Furthermore, exchanging insights with industry peers provides invaluable validation, helping to refine strategies and ensuring that digital transformation initiatives remain aligned with both business objectives and industry trends.

What advice would you give a first-timer at an Ortus Club event to get the most value out of their experience? 

Ortus Club events uniquely blend meaningful peer connections, insightful exchanges on current industry trends, and high standards of hospitality. Engage actively—pose your burning questions to speakers and delegates to gain valuable perspectives. Approach each conversation with curiosity, and you’ll walk away with insights that could shape your next big strategic move. Most importantly, savour the first-class ambience and meticulous care that Ortus provides, ensuring an unforgettable and professionally enriching experience.