Josiah Moloi, PPS sector CIO: shared services, says his goal is to connect people, simplify complexity and bridge two worlds.
As sector CIO, Josiah Moloi is responsible for shared services at PPS, the only mutual financial services company in South Africa that serves graduate professionals. According to Josiah, PPS operates within a group structure with a group CIO. Multiple sector CIOs work under the group CIO and look after the respective businesses within the organisation.
Josiah is responsible for the group’s shared services, which are all of PPS’s corporate and subsidiaries’ services. His portfolio is vast: it includes group finance, group HR, marketing, the corporate actuarial team, the company secretary, group risk, and legal and compliance. In essence, says Josiah, he is accountable for the technology and related strategy that runs all of PPS’s enabling functions, from employees taking leave to collecting members’ premiums.
“I call what I do the ‘O’ to the organisation’s oxygen,” he explains. “If we stop, everything stops, and no one can work, get paid, market to prospective members, collect premiums or hire our top talent. It’s like breathing – you don’t know how vital it is until you can’t do it.”
Wearing many hats and navigating challenges
For Josiah, one of his biggest challenges is context switching. This isn’t surprising, considering his role involves many aspects of the business. “On any given day, I have to put on the hats of six different people,” says Josiah. “I must think like a CHRO if the HR platform goes down or its capabilities are not optimal. If group finance stops working, I must think like a CFO. I have to understand the pain points of every part of the business.”
Another major challenge is balancing investing in technology versus building it in-house. Josiah emphasises that not everything on the market is suitable for the organisation, and many vendors claim they have a state-of-the-art, end-to-end process but it’s not fit for purpose. “I have to balance ’buy or build’. Building has its own complexities and we look at this as a last resort within PPS, and once we buy, we end up doing some sort of customisation to fit our unique business context,” he adds.
Like all financial services organisations, PPS is hypersensitive to cybersecurity, says Josiah. “We have a dedicated CISO who oversees security for the group. I must also ensure that what we do stacks up to what the CISO expects. We work closely to ensure we are always on top of our cybersecurity game. We also have many third-party vendors, so it’s a combination of ensuring our security layer is top-notch and constantly keeping our vendors accountable, so they give us the highest level of security.”
Understanding two worlds
Josiah, a self-proclaimed ‘techno-business executive’, considers himself fortunate due to his career experience. He started as a software engineer 17 years ago, but his career has gone through multiple permutations. “I’ve been in sales, I understand products, I know the pain of not being able to service a customer because a system isn’t working as it should. I also know the pain of being the slave to the business, when CIOs were just order-takers,” says Josiah.
He adds that CIOs must now understand both worlds – the worlds of technology and doing business. “I find myself in a privileged position because I’ve played in both worlds so I can understand what people need and offer the right solutions. My biggest mission, for as long as I’ll be in the CIO space, is to simplify overly complex and manufactured problems – technology plays a huge enabling role in that.”
Connecting people and asking questions
Josiah says he is “a natural people connector”; he’s seen this play out in high school when he was head boy, as well as in his various roles. “I tend to obsess about being interested versus being interesting,” he adds. “If I’m with the marketing fraternity, for example, I want to understand the sales funnel and what’s inside the CMO’s head. There is a lot of noise, but if I can find the one thing to make their job easier, I will go after that aggressively. I’ll also connect people to achieve that.”
In his spare time, Josiah reads many leadership books (“I know that’s needed to get the best out of people”), and he’s a fan of pan-African literature (Sello K. Duiker is one of his favourite authors). He often listens to podcasts (especially Diary of a CEO), and he follows those who inspire him.
“I have been fortunate to have been mentored by some of the best in the industry. I try to stay abreast of topics that really excite me. I always want to make my life easier, so I also ask many questions. I look to those who have gone before me for guidance because, as young leaders, we can become quite arrogant if we don’t keep ourselves in check!”
