CTO Chats with Patrick Vartuli, Group Head of Technology, Cbus Super Fund

Could you please introduce yourself and share a bit about your journey into the IT field?

My name is Patrick Vartuli, and I am the Group Head of Technology at Cbus Super Fund. My prior experience is in banking and retail, with companies like NAB, ANZ, and the Wesfarmers Group.

My interest in IT goes back to childhood. I was always curious about how things worked, and I grew up with the Commodore 64 writing games in BASIC. When the web took off in the ’90s, my interest was really piqued. In high school, I had a small business building websites for local clients and selling computer hardware. That personal curiosity took me down the path of studying IT at university, and my career has gone from there, moving from very hands-on roles through to management.

What are the most significant challenges you are currently facing in your industry?

From a technology perspective, a big area of focus is cybersecurity. With over $4 trillion under management, the super industry is an emerging target for cybercrime, and this brings with it a heightened obligation to our members and the overall industry to ensure our nation’s retirement funds are kept safe..

Another focus is digital. We are working on how we use our digital channels to better service our members, improve how they engage with us, and deliver financial advice in a more scalable way.

Underpinning all of this is AI. We are looking at how AI can help accelerate our maturity, whether that’s in member servicing, cyber threat monitoring, or migrating from legacy technologies to a more open and sustainable tech stack.

What technologies or innovation opportunities should businesses focus on?

Obviously, AI is a big one. As a first step, the low-hanging fruit is figuring out how AI can help us do the things we are already doing, but quicker, smarter, and in a more scalable fashion, especially in areas with a lot of administrative activity.

Beyond a specific technology, a key opportunity for me is a shift in our workforce profile. We can’t be building out big, bloated IT teams. This means I’m looking for people who can wear multiple hats and work in cross-functional teams rather than functional silos. It also means moving to more open technologies with larger talent pools in market. I’m looking for people with the right engineering culture, a curiosity to learn, and the ability to own an outcome end-to-end that aligns with the business strategy.

How do you envision the IT sector evolving over the next three to five years?

We are being abstracted more and more away from the underlying technology. In the old days, you built bespoke systems on infrastructure you managed. Then we moved to the cloud, PaaS, and now SaaS. The role of the tech function in an organisation is changing.

Concepts like “business-managed IT” used to be a worry, but now it’s the way of the world. The tech function needs to adapt. We don’t need to own and control everything; we need to shift from being a gatekeeper to an enabler. We are becoming a broker of capabilities for the business, providing the right guardrails for governance and security so the rest of the organisation can get their jobs done.

How are IT leaders navigating the changing regulatory environment?

The increased regulatory scrutiny is a good thing, but it’s something we need to adapt to. It means that organisations need improved tech literacy across the board – at the management, executive, and board levels. To understand your risks, you need an appropriate understanding of the technology. It’s also about having good hygiene and, just as importantly, being able to demonstrate it as part of good organisational governance.

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

First, you need to be a business leader, not just a tech leader. You need to understand what that means and play that role. If you come from a deep technical background, you have to learn how to craft a narrative, tell a story, and think strategically to support your executive peers.

On the flip side, a tech leader or their team must still have a deep level of technical expertise to be able to empathise with and help their people solve complex problems. As you get more senior, you also have to round out your skill set in areas like tech governance and cybersecurity.

Ultimately, no one person is an expert at everything. You need to build the right team around you to cover any gaps and support the broader team.

If you could ask one question to all IT leaders today, what would it be?

I would ask them to reflect on how they are being perceived through the eyes of others. If you were the CEO, the CFO, or a board member, what would you be expecting from your CIO?

A lot of the time, good work gets done in teams, but it’s not necessarily recognised or understood. It’s important to manage those expectations and perceptions, especially in a complex function where it might seem like everything takes too long and costs too much.

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

I really enjoy it. I always try to focus on finding the intersection of what motivates a person, what they enjoy doing, what the organisation needs, and where they can develop.

A lot of it is about fostering self-awareness. I try to help people figure out what really makes them tick by asking, “If every job paid the same money and had the same title, what job would you pick?” Once people have a good understanding of that, you can really help them with their career aspirations. I also create a safe environment and provide opportunities for people to get exposed to different teams through shadowing or secondments.