Cathy O'Sullivan, 娇色导航editor-in-chief for APAC, recently sat with Eglantine Etiemble, group CTO at Property Exchange Australia, or PEXA, the online property exchange network. She was ranked third in the 2023 CIO50, Australia, and here she discusses the most effective teams to take on the digitalization journey, building strategic initiatives, and the deep dive required to understand all aspects of the business.
As a B2B organization, PEXA may not be very well known by the public, working with banking, conveyancers, and government, but it鈥檚 been quietly professionalizing in Australia for about 14 years. It was established to solve the problem of how to digitalize conveyancing, or transferring property titles, with financial settlements at the center. It sounds reasonably simple, yet it鈥檚 not without complexities. However, having over 90% of any property transaction settled in Australia on the PEXA platform in 2024 is it鈥檚 own success story, and integral to that is the company group CTO Eglantine Etiemble. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now growing this value proposition in EU data products and in the UK, too,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o while it鈥檚 an ASX listed organization, it鈥檚 still reasonably small with about 1,200 people across Australia and UK right now, and technology is probably a bit more than a third of that.鈥�
With a background in business and finance, it wasn鈥檛 until later in her career that Etiemble fully appreciated the power of technology as an enabler and a means to bring people together. 鈥淚n my current role as a technology leader in a technology organization, I have this component of community impact and using innovation for good,鈥� she says, which includes looking to scale AI not only to empower employees, but to use it as a guide to source talent who can master such emerging tech. 鈥淥ur team must self-actualize, but we want to make sure they鈥檙e empowered to drive the array of initiatives we see across the group,鈥� she adds.
On the flipside, however, is the need to balance implementing new technology and maintaining legacy infrastructure since going too much one way or the other can impede progress, or worse. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a challenge for us,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not trying to rebuild it all, but what we try to do when we build something new is to do it for reuse. We have an array of platforms we work in, so when we look at a payment system or an identification system, we make sure it鈥檚 going to be reused across the companies we have on different platforms so we don鈥檛 have to rebuild from scratch. We just make sure we take a modular approach that鈥檚 reusable throughout our organization.鈥� Innovation drives this approach, of course, but it takes a lot of oversight and a good prioritization process to manage the whole system. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very value-driven,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e have a very balanced approach when it comes to innovation.鈥�
O鈥橲ullivan spoke with Etiemble about data privacy, the value of a diverse workforce, and keeping competition in check in a fast-moving industry. Watch the full video below for more insights.
On the digital conveyance journey: The ambition of the Australian Government was to digitize this complex process across the country into a single solution. We鈥檙e almost there with six trade jurisdictions out of eight, and over 90% will be transacting through PEXA. We鈥檝e probably supported over AUD$3 trillion in transactions across our platform and 16 million property settlements in Australia. It鈥檚 a big impact on the market. And that translates into very different experiences for users of our platform. We鈥檝e seen a lot of diversity of people who leverage our tool, and they don鈥檛 have to come physically into Land Registry to settle; they can just do this from home. So that allows a lot of people to continue to work with our platform. In terms of digitalization, we鈥檝e been doing a lot of work on data. Because of the complexity and diversification, it was critical to effectively manage the data to support these new sophisticated products. It鈥檚 something we鈥檝e been improving over the past couple of years.
On aligning IT initiatives: We鈥檙e still a reasonably small organization. In much larger ones, you need to rely more on processes. The first thing is the executive team works closely together. We spend a lot of time assessing market opportunities and challenges ahead. So our strategy is a collective one, where we鈥檙e building strategic initiatives together with a prioritization process in place throughout the year, which allows us to be more agile in how we respond to market changes. That process or initiative gets across the whole organization, and we review it every month with the CEO of Australia, UK, and heads of different functions, and we鈥檒l be able to readjust what we鈥檙e doing. So in the end, 99% of what we鈥檙e doing are technology initiatives. The portfolio is a tech portfolio, but it鈥檚 a group portfolio. It鈥檚 something we keep alive and refreshed together. It keeps us honest and it drives transparency, too.
On emerging technologies: We鈥檙e a tech business in a property market, so innovation and understanding how technology can change the game is absolutely critical for us. Innovation is one of our core values that鈥檚 embedded in our reward and evaluation systems. Everybody knows what鈥檚 expected in that space. It鈥檚 an important foundation. The exchange platform of our business is regulated and is now critical infrastructure of Australia, so we鈥檙e trying to rebuild a lot of attention to where we innovate, or areas where we don鈥檛 have confidential data. Therefore, when we think about our pilots and innovation methods, we look at the non-regulated, less risky area of the business. In third parties, we also take a very holistic approach, and that was true for cloud, and very true for AI. About six years ago, when we were one of the first companies in Australia to move into the cloud, it wasn鈥檛 just about the migration. It was about ongoing training, reskilling, and certification, and we鈥檙e now taking a very holistic approach to AI, but never compromising on data privacy, cybersecurity, or resilience.
On thriving teams: Something we do well at PEXA is make a connection to purpose and strategy, and the tech side connects people to places. We鈥檝e made tremendous progress in that space in Australia and now in the UK. It鈥檚 about getting the team to understand what that means for customers, the impact you鈥檙e having on the markets, and the impact when things are down. Getting close to that purpose and making sure we keep it aligned and close to the strategy is essential, as well as understanding how one鈥檚 work contributes to the group scorecard and group impact. This is something we talk about all the time in different teams, and we cascade that visibility. Also, we鈥檝e been investing a lot in career pathways and self actualization to make sure our team continues to learn and evolve. Diversity and inclusion is also important to ensure that independent of your background, we can get the best out of you, and you can be yourself in the organization. I think people dramatically underestimate the impact of not having an inclusive organization.
On developing future talent: Technology is absolutely critical. You need to know your area, but also your business in great detail. Spend time with the customer center, in the store, in the aisle. Deep dive into your business and understand its potential, opportunities, pain points, and the realities of the employee. It鈥檚 always a competitive advantage in technology to do that. And don鈥檛 always ask for permission. There are always pockets of innovation, and you can always test things. It鈥檚 much easier to demonstrate the value of something if you鈥檝e been able to make it happen in real life. An inclusive team is also critical. Too often we have teams that are very similar in IT, and the problem there is you have a team that doesn鈥檛 fully understand all aspects of the business nor relate to different aspects of the team itself. If you have a team that鈥檚 able to do that, you can demonstrate it鈥檚 really going to reflect positively on your potential as a broader leader.
