CIO Leadership Live: ASEAN

In this conversation, Estelle Quek, Editorial Director of CIO ASEAN, speaks with Anand G.A, Digital Services Lead for Africa, Middle East, and Asia at Mondelez International, on turning digital ambition into measurable business outcomes. The conversation was about how Mondelez navigates rapid technology shifts with a principle of being “as common as possible, as different as needed,” ensuring scalable AI platforms while tailoring experiences to local markets. Success depends on data quality, governance, and talent readiness, not just technology. Mondelez approaches AI adoption through two lenses: everyday productivity tools for employees and deliberate enterprise-scale game changers that transform manufacturing, supply chain, and sales. Governance is central, with a global AI board ensuring ethical use, bias control, and consumer data stewardship. Capability building spans both technology and business functions, supported by structured upskilling programs and internal platforms like Workday. When integrating AI into legacy operations, Anand stresses that people and data matter more than systems, strong change management and data governance are critical. Looking ahead, FMCG players can collaborate on standards and share data responsibly while competing in the marketplace. For talent strategy, Anand advocates a “step in, step out, step up” framework, encouraging employees to embrace AI, offload repetitive tasks, and elevate to higher-value roles.

In our latest CIO ASEAN Leadership Live session, I - Estelle Quek, Editorial Director of CSO ASEAN engaged Violet Chung, Senior Partner at McKinsey, on how artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) are reshaping the insurance sector across Southeast Asia. Our conversation was structured around key questions that CIOs and senior technology leaders must address to move from experimentation to enterprise transformation. We began by asking what explains Southeast Asia’s relatively low AI maturity scores, despite its digital readiness. Chung pointed to the need for holistic transformation-beyond technology procurement, emphasizing leadership alignment, change management, and scalable enterprise capabilities. As embedded insurance gains traction, we asked how insurers should evolve their business models. Chung highlighted the importance of agile partnerships with non-financial players and the co-creation of customer-centric value propositions. On GenAI, we explored what lessons CIOs can draw from early pilots. Chung cautioned that many initiatives lack integration and measurable ROI. She stressed the importance of infrastructure flexibility, workforce enablement, and a clear roadmap for scaling. I also asked how insurers should approach AI governance, particularly in underwriting and customer-facing applications. Chung advocated for embedding compliance from the design phase, maintaining human oversight, and ensuring data transparency. Finally, we examined the readiness of insurers to scale GenAI amid legacy systems and siloed data. Chung recommended infrastructure-agnostic platforms and agentic architectures, supported by public-private collaboration to close protection gaps and accelerate innovation.

Nobumasa Takeuchi, Editorial Director Japan, CIO.com, shares his findings from many conversations with Japanese technology leaders on the current state of technology adoption in Japan, the challenges that Japanese organisations face, and what the future holds.

Dr CJ Meadows - author, speaker, professor, entrepreneur, and former Accenture consultant - shares her thoughts on the future of work, how that is changing with AI, and how organisations should prepare for this change.

Sandeep Pandey, Group Chief Technology and Operations Officer of FWD Insurance, shares his humanistic approach to implementing technology that creates meaningful customer and employee experience. In his expanded role of managing both technology and customer operations, he details how his strategies offer personalisation for his teams and customers to deliver the ultimate experience.