Point of View
Firsthand perspectives on leadership, strategy, and the decisions shaping what comes next — straight from our executive leadership.
How AI-enabled Due Diligence Builds the Conviction That Protects PE Returns
Alex Dukic, Chief Digital Officer at HTEC, examines why private equity firms that treat technical due diligence as an afterthought consistently leave value on the table. The real gap, he argues, is not in financial or commercial scrutiny but in the depth of technology evaluation — where AI readiness, architecture quality, and true modernization costs remain opaque until it’s too late to affect the price. The firms that close this gap are those that bring AI-powered technical diligence into the deal process early, treat it with the same rigor as any other workstream, and use what they find to underwrite value creation from day one.
Alex Dukic
Chief Digital Officer
When Intelligence “Fails” Us: The Missing Context for Enterprise AI
Sanja Bogdanović Dinić, Head of Data and AI Strategy, explores why enterprise AI so often delivers technical success but falls short of real business value. The core issue, she argues, is not the technology itself but the incomplete version of reality it operates on — built from documents and structured data, while the experiential knowledge that actually drives decisions remains invisible to any system. The organizations that bridge this gap are those that treat institutional knowledge as a first-class asset, remain honest about what can and cannot be captured, and make principled choices about where machines should act and where humans must remain.
Sanja Bogdanović Dinić
Head of Data and AI Strategy
Enterprise Software – Existential Risk & Opportunity
HTEC’s Chief Strategy Officer, Lawrence Whittle, reflects on the evolution of enterprise software—from on-premise client-server systems to SaaS and AI-driven innovation. As challenges in legacy delivery models and valuations emerge, engineering excellence, fast SDLC cycles, and an IP-aligned approach, combined with deep experience in ML and AI, are what can make or break the next generation of enterprise and SaaS solutions.
Lawrence Whittle
Chief Strategy
Officer
From Conviction to Compounding Value
HTEC’s Chief AI Transformation Officer, Ronny Fehling, argues that private equity often struggles not for ideas but for turning conviction into production-grade AI value that moves EBITDA and compounds over the hold period. True value emerges only when initiatives survive execution reality, reach production, and continuously deliver—beyond pilots or demos. With disciplined economic lenses and outcome-focused decisioning, AI becomes an enduring driver of value rather than just noise.
Ronny Fehling
Chief AI Transformation
Officer
The Risk of Ignoring Workforce AI Literacy
HTEC’s Chief Marketing Officer, Alex Rumble, argues that organizations risk falling behind when workforce AI literacy is treated as optional rather than foundational. The real challenge isn’t access to AI tools, but building the capabilities and cultural alignment required to translate experimentation into measurable business impact. True value emerges when employees at every level understand how to apply AI responsibly and effectively in their roles. With structured upskilling and leadership commitment, AI becomes a scalable advantage—not isolated innovation or stalled potential.
Alex Rumble
Chief Marketing
Officer
Unlocking AI ROI: 4 Ways to Shift From Pilots to Enterprise-wide Value Creation
HTEC’s Chief AI Officer, Tim Sears, shares a pragmatic view on how enterprises can move beyond AI experimentation to measurable business value. The focus shifts from pilots to outcomes—aligning AI initiatives with clear ROI, organizational readiness, and business priorities. When AI is treated as a strategic capability rather than a standalone technology effort, it becomes a scalable driver of enterprise-wide impact.
Tim Sears
Chief AI
Officer
From Storefronts to Agentic Shopping: Will AI Redefine Online Shopping?
HTEC’s expert Joe Serrano shares his point of view on how agentic AI is redefining online shopping—from discovery to checkout—inside conversational interfaces. As AI agents become the new front door to commerce, success will depend on how well retailers adapt their data, visibility, and experiences for an AI-first buying journey.
Joe Serrano
Senior Retail
Consultant
True AI-First Organisations Integrate AI Throughout Their Operations
Alex Rumble, HTEC’s Chief Marketing Officer, argues that being AI-first means much more than launching technologies. Sustainable adoption requires building deep AI literacy across culture, leadership, and organisational architecture, so humans and machines collaborate effectively. Without broad competency and strategic integration, companies risk compliance failures, bias, fragmented data, and missed value. For Alex, embedding AI across people, processes, and leadership is what turns technology into a lasting organizational advantage.
Alex Rumble
Chief Marketing
Officer
The End of Digital Transformation Theater: How One Company Cracked the Code on AI-Powered Delivery
AI-powered transformation has become expensive theater—fast prototypes, generated code, and mounting technical debt. Tim Sears, HTEC’s Chief AI Officer, argues that speed without structure is failure at scale. AI doesn’t solve problems; it improves strong systems and propagates weak ones. Feed it chaos, and you get chaos at scale. Feed it structure, and you get leverage. Explore Tim’s argument on how traceable, governed delivery turns AI from a risky accelerator into a trustworthy system for building software that holds up in boardrooms, audits, and production.
Tim Sears
Chief AI Officer