Nedbank’s head of DevOps and value stream management, Rafeea Saib, describes herself as a “transformational strategist with a passion for technology”.

Currently focusing on enterprise transformation through a technical lens, her role involves helping accelerate the adoption of DevOps practices at Nedbank.

With a strong technical background with experience in telecommunications and application systems development, she has served as an integral contributor within CIO core teams, focusing on strategy and delivery of key projects.

Saib is well versed in cloud adoption strategies and operations, DevOps engineering and Agile leadership in complex programmes and organisations. Other areas of expertise include IT delivery, strategy and general management, and enterprise communication and collaboration.

TechCentral asked Saib a few questions for its regular IT Leadership Series.

What does your company do?

Nedbank is a leading financial services provider that aims to use its financial expertise to do good.

What do you see as the IT leader’s top priorities in 2023?

The move to cloud remains an important focus area, as does commercial viability of the execution of such a strategy, especially in the challenging economic climate we have in South Africa. Another important priority area is AI in engineering, including generative AI and data accessibility and its integration across platforms. Data is a commodity more valuable than gold and keeping that data safe and secure – and used optimally – ties into both cloud commercials and cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is also a huge priority right now.

Who do you most admire in business and why?

This is a tough one, but I’d go with Elon Musk. The reason is that he is such a big influencer in the technology space and also has an enormous impact on global economics. Whether you agree with his stance on things or not, when he says something everyone listens, including Wall Street. I suppose I admire that because traditional technologists just don’t have that type of presence and impact, and it epitomises how one person can truly shape the world. Also, I think so many of the projects he backs are pushing the boundaries of human capabilities, and that is fascinating to me.

How do you attract and retain talent?

This is a difficult question to answer because the global war for talent is real in the space I work in. There isn’t a single secret sauce that can provide the answer to this question. I believe that great leaders and traditional managers have a huge role to play in retaining talent, because the relationship between a manager and employee essentially shapes the experience of the employee. Employee experience is a differentiating factor in any business. So, cultivating relationships based on trust and mutual purpose is critical for this conversation. Ensuring that there are growth paths for your resources, especially for techies, is really important as well. And of course providing opportunities for people to really stretch themselves and try new things – innovation encourages creativity and allows people to bring their uniqueness to work every day. Ultimately, people want to be seen and heard, and have opportunities to learn and grow. If you can enable that, you will not only attract and retain scarce skills, but actually get the best out of your talented resources.

If you could go back and give your 18-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be?

The most important work you will ever do is on yourself. How you view the world impacts how you exist in it and, as a technologist and leader, the solutions you create for that world.

What’s your favourite productivity hack?

In the words of Mark Twain, “eat the frog”. For me, this translates to doing work that I find challenging or researching new topics and ideas early in the morning with no distractions and when my brain is able to fully focus and think deeply.

What occupation (other than your own) would you like to try?

I think I’d probably be an equine breeder.

Where do you see the technology industry heading in the next three to five years?

Top of mind for me is the shift and focus on sustainability and how technology can shape the conversation. For a long time, technology has been associated with modernity and almost this impersonal outer-space kind of imagery. I believe that the use and role of technology is now shifting towards inclusion and co-existence with our very real physical world, and dare I say an integration into a more conscious way of living. So, naturally, the tech industry will follow suit to develop solutions that create greater accessibility, make use of our natural resources more efficiently and preserve the world that we live in. The call now is to use the advances that have been made, including recently with AI, compute power and scalability, to guide the next level of human evolution – but with consciousness at the core. This is a very exciting time to be in IT.

What is one book you’d recommend to our audience and why?

The Road Less Travelled, by M Scott Peck. I recommend this book because I believe that as we make fantastic technological strides, there is a level of humanness that can be lost. I was at an event recently and the speaker shared the gender biases that exist within AI models; it made me take a step back and think about the huge impact that we as people have, even on something as “impersonal” as an AI model. It’s important to remember that people drive tech. Tech might shape how we go somewhere, but society shapes where we go. So, it’s important to understand yourself and the people around you to shape what our ultimate society looks like. – © 2023 NewsCentral Media