The Complexity Problem: Gus Shahin on Simplifying the Enterprise for AI

Most companies don’t have a technology problem. They have a complexity problem.

In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Gus Shahin, EVP of Business Technology and Operations at NetApp, about consolidating IT, operations, global security, and enterprise process under a single leader. Shahin joined NetApp in 2024 after 24-plus years at Flex, where he served as CIO and led global supply chain. He argues that transformation stalls on change management, not technology, and that the real goal of enterprise AI is not a handful of pilots but an AI-first culture.

Key Highlights:

• Why consolidating four functions under one leader beats siloed CIO, CDO, and CTO roles
• How NetApp launched 29 AI projects and deliberately killed 11 to 12 mid-year
• Why the shift to inferencing makes storage performance the new bottleneck
• How “fail fast” became a transformation lever, not a slogan
• Where buy-versus-build is shifting, and the hidden cost of building your own

This episode is presented by Celonis — Give AI the context it needs. Learn more at celonis.com/technovation