Strategy by Stealth - how to implement an innovation and transformation strategy by stealth
Mark O’Brien is the General Manager for Digital Technology & Innovation at CITIC Pacific Mining, the world’s largest magnetite iron ore operation, and China’s largest resources sector investment outside of China.
With a background in Mathematics and Computer Science and more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry, Mark knows what’s up across the mining sector. Ahead of his upcoming guest speaker spot at CORE’s End of Month Drinks, we sat down to discuss innovation and digital transformation at CITIC and across the industry as a whole.
CORE: Can you tell us about the case study you will present at End of Month Drinks?
MARK: I will be discussing how my team went about implementing strategy, innovation and transformation by stealth. In a business that resists effective long-term planning, this is the way we have driven technological change into the business.
CORE: What does your role entail within the business and what will your key focus be in the coming months?
MARK: I am the GM for Digital Technology and Innovation (CIO role at CPM). My main focus for the next several months is knocking through a number of large refresh projects, while also setting ourselves up for the future. It’s a delicate blend of keeping the lights on while also sowing the seeds for what we believe the business will require in coming years.
CORE: What are 2-3 industry challenges you are facing/coming across? These can be both micro and/or macro.
MARK: Trying to keep good people is a challenge, and also finding vendors who have both capability and capacity is tough at the moment.
This is not new, but there’s an awful lot of hype and buzz in the market about all kinds of things from digital twins to blockchain, and the trick is always weeding out fact from fiction.
And, the usual challenge… being expected to do more with less!
CORE: What are your thoughts around the structural shift of the mining industry in recent times and the accelerated pace of change in the resources sector?
MARK: My basic view is that mining has always been fairly slow to take on a lot of technology innovation, so the acceleration in some spaces is quite exciting but it could be faster in others. There is no doubt that we’re seeing some great progress on a number of fronts, including AI, IOT and much better use of our data.
CORE: What does innovation mean to you and your company?
MARK: For us, it’s about the incremental progress towards better use of technology and data. We’re not a business that is given to big step change, so it’s generally pushing and prodding forward in relatively gentle ways to get where we need to go.
CORE: What are you most excited about covering in your upcoming End of Month drinks session?
MARK: I always enjoy connecting with vendors and suppliers in the mining space because it’s a great sector to be in with a lot of opportunity to improve mining as an industry. Yes, it’s often very hard work, but there’s some great stuff that’s finally getting traction. I also value the opportunity to give vendors a sense of what our business is about and how they can engage with us most constructively.
To hear more from Mark and find out more about how he went about implementing ‘Strategy by Stealth’ - join us on Thursday 28 October at End of Month Drinks.
MORE ABOUT MARK
Mark O’Brien currently serves as the General Manager for Digital Technology & Innovation at CITIC Pacific Mining, the world’s largest magnetite iron ore operation, and China’s largest resources sector investment outside of China. His responsibilities cover strategic engagement with the business, technology leadership and innovation, and ownership of the key application and infrastructure platforms at CPM, across both IT and OT. He has an involvement in mining technology that stretches over 30 years. He is a graduate of Curtin University with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and has undertaken postgraduate studies in AI, Philosophy and Ethics. Mark is also the Chair of the GMG AI in Mining Working Group, as well as a contributor to national and international collaborations around mining technology.