Meet the CIO | The Capital Hotels' José Soares – from gamer to director of IT

Loading player...
José Soares, director of IT at The Capital Hotels, Apartments and Resorts, fell in love with computers when his dad brought home a Sinclair ZX81.
Through a series of upgrades – from the Commodore 64 to early Apple machines and eventually his first PC – Soares developed a passion for gaming and technology.
Meet the CIO is presented by Wipro
That passion led him to co-found a mobile gaming company and eventually to pursue a career in IT management.
Our guest in the latest episode of Meet the CIO, Soares tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about the journey that led him to The Capital Hotels group.
Soares also discusses:
• The assets owned by the group and why it’s focus is a little different to other companies in the hospitality industry;
• What the group’s IT stack looks like, and the big projects Soares is leading;
• How the internet and modern technology have transformed the hospitality industry;
• His strategic priorities as head of IT;
• The role of artificial intelligence in the hospitality industry, and how The Capital Hotel is approaching AI;
• The qualities that make for a good CIO; and
• The importance of developing the next generation of IT talent.
Don’t miss a great conversation!
13 Nov 2024 English South Africa Management · Technology

Other recent episodes

Derek Wilcocks on how AI finally Vitality

Discovery group CIO Derek Wilcocks on personalised Vitality, the limits of AI coding and why growth beats cost-cutting. Derek Wilcocks, group CIO at Discovery, says AI has finally given the group the ability to do something it has wanted to do since Vitality launched more than 25 years ago: personalise…
13 Aug 50 min

Absa CITO Johnson Idesoh on AI, cyber and the future of banking

Meet the CIO is brought to you by NTT DATA -- Johnson Idesoh, group chief information and technology officer at Absa, says AI in all its forms – generative, agentic and the AI now being wielded by cybercriminals – is the single biggest topic on his desk, but cautions that…
28 May 38 min

Healthbridge CTO Anton Fatti on the future of digital health

Anton Fatti, chief technology officer of HealthBridge, says the doctor-patient relationship must remain at the centre of digital transformation in healthcare, even as AI reshapes how medical practices operate. Speaking on TechCentral’s Meet the CIO podcast series, brought to you by NTT DATA, Fatti said AI and cloud computing are…
23 Mar 45 min

Meet the CIO | Inside the JSE’s tech engine with CIO Tebalo Tsoaeli

Technology sits at the heart of modern capital markets, and nowhere is that more evident than at the JSE. In the latest episode of Meet the CIO, TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod sits down with Tebalo Tsoaeli, the bourse’s CIO, to unpack how technology underpins Africa’s largest stock exchange – and…
2 Feb 47 min

How BDO’s Khaya Mbanga is preparing the firm for an AI future

Welcome to season 2 of Meet the CIO, TechCentral’s podcast series that dives into the minds of South Africa’s top technology leaders. Meet the CIO is brought to you by NTT DATA – where global experience meets local impact. After a highly successful first season featuring CIOs from across the…
17 Nov 2025 34 min