Name: Rachael Sandel
Title: Chief Information Officer
Company: Orica
Commenced role: July 2023
Reporting line: Chief Technology Officer
Member of the executive team: No
Technology Function: 400, 8 direct
 
Since joining mining and infrastructure solutions provider Orica in 2019, chief information officer Rachael Sandel and team have completed a series of transformative technology innovations , delivering real value to Orica.
 
As a motivated IT professional, passionate about leading teams through digital transformation, Sandel worked on the ServiceNow implementation that centralised the servicing of requests across IT, HR, and Legal, supporting 12,500 people across 100 countries in multiple languages.
 
As one of the first companies in Australia to use ServiceNow over 10 years ago, Orica has led innovation, reimplementing the platform in just six months to kickstart changes across ITSM, ITOM, SPM, and HRSD.
 
Orica has since accelerated its pace, releasing multiple  updates each month,  expanding the use of ServiceNow into new business areas through the rollout of LSD, App Engine, and Gen AI. This has streamlined operations and significantly improved service delivery. Notably, the activation of ServiceNow Gen AI was the first in Australia, enhancing end-user interaction through a virtual agent and improving efficiency in resolving queries.
 
Creating greater resilience
 
Orica executed a major SAP upgrade from version 1809 to 2022, reducing custom code, leveraging improved application capabilities and enhanced functionality. This upgrade marked a significant milestone in the company’s SAP S4/HANA and technology transformation journey.
 
They also successfully migrated its SAP hosting from Microsoft Azure to Google Cloud Platform, becoming the first company in Australia and one of the first globally to complete this migration. This move has provided greater resilience and access to innovations from the Google and SAP partnership.
 
To further drive value with process efficiencies enabled by the single SAP S/HANA implementation, in partnership with UIPath and SAP, Orica aims to drive further automation. “To increase operational efficiency across various business functions, Orica launched an automation program with UIPath,” says Sandel. “This initiative has shown a positive return on investment from the automations delivered to date.”
 
 
Support with AI
 
Moreover, Orica established artificial intelligence (AI) governance and standards for the responsible use of AI, delivering various initiatives organisation-wide.
 
The formation of the data, analytics, and AI team across IT and R&D has helped build centralised capabilities and expertise. These AI initiatives include developing product expert systems, providing translation services, and utilising AI to support recent acquisitions.
 
In October 2023, Orica became one of the first 20 customers in Australia to deploy Microsoft Copilot to 300 executives, senior leaders and staff. This deployment has since increased productivity by offering AI-powered assistance in their workflows.
 
Delivering value in core technology services
 
Under Sandel’s leadership, Orica moved to laptop device provision with Windows Autopilot, which has reduced the device setup time to less than thirty minutes rather than the previous four hours. The partnership with Microsoft, leveraging Autopilot and Microsoft Intune tooling, has delivered time savings for both users and IT support staff, using Windows Autopilot to deploy devices to remote parts of the world, and improving security around device management.
 
“Orica also completed a global SDWAN rollout with partner BT, transforming its network from MPLS to a more flexible system that improves last-mile carrier selection and enhances overall network agility,” says Sandel.
 
These innovations have not only delivered real value but have also fundamentally changed the way the organisation operates, positioning it to be more agile, efficient, and prepared for future challenges.

 
Rachael has made a concerted effort to adopt technologies as they’re released. In most cases, by working closely with her vendor partners, she is afforded opportunities to be an early adopter and this has created tangible value for Orica through performance improvements and cost optimisations. These close partnerships with technology providers including Microsoft, Google, ServiceNow, SAP and UIPath. For example, the ServiceNow innovations have driven employee productivity, efficiency, and digital transformation within the organisation, leveraging the strategic role ServiceNow platform has in organisation’s internal operations.
 
Rachael has been driving value with IT, influencing the understanding of emerging technologies in an approachable way and moving to be a valued partner for the business operations. Within Orica’s global operations, Rachael performs this role with the Board, C-suite and across the organisation, and champions Women in Technology at Orica.