The great makeover Project partners
The great makeover Written by
Nell Walker
Produced by
Craig Daniels
Venkat Gopalan, Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer of Belcorp, dives deep into the company’s astonishing transformation, the technology behind it, and how this year’s pandemic has actually accelerated it
B e l co rp
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A
business that’s fully and passionately dedicated to ¨promote beauty to achieve
personal fulfilment¨, Belcorp is creating something new for itself that’s not a cultural reset, per se, but a cultural reboot. The message behind this Latin American beauty corporation, which operates across 14 countries, remains the same – but it’s now better, stronger, even more deeply ingrained in each and every fiber of the business. What is, on the face of it, a digital transformation for Belcorp has actually been a full people-centric makeover from the inside-out – it just happens to have been driven by technology. With his hand on the tiller is Venkat Gopalan, Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer for Belcorp, who stepped in 18 months ago to help push the digital plan, resulting in a hard press on the fast-forward button for the company’s development. Gopalan has a long history of this type of transformation within retail giants like Estée Lauder, Sephora, Walmart Labs, Nike, AT&T and Target, focusing on digi-
Venkat Gopalan Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer Belcorp
tal transformation. He even had his own startup, before returning to the corporate world. “I was very passionate about
job is to create the vision for the team,
bringing both products and services
and to make sure everybody – both the
to the consumer through technology.
technology team and business team –
That’s my passion. Now, as a leader, my
is successful.”
B e l co rp
Gopalan’s vision
consumer wants. The business had, in
Right from the start, with Belcorp,
fact, already begun its transformation
Gopalan’s priority was the human
before Gopalan came on board, but the
element of business and what the
introduction of him as CTO/CDO was www.theinterface.net
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Swipe
The perfect match for Belcorp’s beauty transformation. valtech.com
e right.
w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t
7
game-changing. He drew up his vision for Belcorp, driven by company strategy and business needs by creating a new Technology organization with clearly defined roles, technical career path, product taxonomy model and new ways of working, creating a technology strategy and roadmap with clear outcomes which included foundational capabilities and enablers like Cloud and API first approach, new UX Design system, Data platform & Advanced Analytics, Cybersecurity, Automation, new tools and processes. Even from these broad headings, it’s clear to see that Gopalan’s vision was always about creating a total corporate shift and making sure every part of the business was not only on board, but fully engaged. Obviously, the dream that I had was that we would be the best Technology team in order to transform the business and consumers’ life. It was important to align that dream to the existing organization before honing the technological strategy. To do all of this, you need the best talent and inspiring leaders. You need different ways of working and to make sure all technology systems are performing exceptionally - you need a full ecosystem. To get started, I did a reorganization within my first 90 days and then measured the outcomes,” Gopalan explains.
The Belcorp mindset ‘The best talent’ also needs to be on the same page, especially in a business as large as Belcorp while widespread change is happening. The Belcorp Technology team is driven by eight behaviors aligned with Company values: customer centricity, the ability to embrace and drive change, transparency, founder’s mentality, datadriven decisions, being learning-obsessed, execution B e l co rp
Venkat Gopalan Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer Venkat Gopalan is Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer at Belcorp, where he is responsible for leading the beauty multinational’s digital transformation and enabling the company’s corporate and sustainability strategy through technology. Venkat has more than 22 years of experience leading large-scale global technology organizations in companies that have achieved exponential growth. He has led transformation programs for Fortune 500 companies such as EstÊe Lauder, Sephora, Nike, Walmart, Target & AT&T, among others focused on retail, CPG and e-Commerce.
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w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t
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leading by example
— Ve nkat Go p a l an
C h i ef Tech nology, Data & D i g it al O ff i cer
“
“
I’m a strong believer in
excellence, and diversity. This is where
Agility Index (BAI) to measure business
the change begins and ends – with the
KPIs and consumer satisfaction, faster
people driving that change.
delivery of MVP, finance and risk reduc-
“At the end of the day, any transformation is not just about technology, it’s
tion, as well as employee engagement.” In the last 18 months, they were able to
about the culture, the mindset,” Gopalan
deliver 400% more projects compared to
explains. “These goals were created from
2018 and reduce time to market by 40%.
a behavioral standpoint, and from there
That leap in agility is no surprise, given the
I was able to align the organization. We
depth of change Gopalan has created. In
created OKRs within Technology, specif-
a year marred by a pandemic that nobody
ically three objectives and four results
could have predicted, one that has shaken
for each of them, to measure where we
our lives to their core and sent many
were going. We also created six KPIs
businesses to their knees, the changes
to measure how we would become a
implemented at Belcorp have meant that
high performing team, and we have a
the business has not simply survived, but
Technology dashboard to track that
thrived and grown. In fact, Belcorp has
progress. From there, we were able to
continued to on-board new people and
drive agility. We came up with a Belcorp
introduce technology as a viable career www.theinterface.net
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Technology Services B e l co rp
Digital Optimization
Digital Business www.tismart.com
path to newcomers. “In Technology, there was only one
Belcorp was already prepared for this, thanks to the groundwork laid down by
career path and we needed to create a
the Technology team. Before, on-board-
technical career path,” Gopalan explains.
ing a new employee took several weeks
“You can have software engineers, archi-
– now, it takes less than a week. Gopalan
tects, Data scientists etc. and Belcorp
is passionate about self-learning, and
is a pioneer in Latin America for creat-
not only does the new-and-improved
ing these paths for our employees. We
on-boarding process give new staff an
want staff to really own their careers – it’s
increased sense of ownership, but their
important, in terms of retention and satis-
learning doesn’t stop there.
faction. So, nine job families were created
“I focus heavily on a continuous learn-
in different levels, and we moved 50% of
ing mindset,” he says. “Technology
our employees to the technical career
changes so fast, and it’s important that
path.”
the organization learns. So, I expanded
Due to COVID-19, all on-boarding this year had to be digital – fortunately,
the Belcorp learning ecosystem, which covers everything employees can learn
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“ It’s very important for us to move from a siloed mentality to a more cross-functional way of working” — Ve n kat Go p a l an C h i ef Techn o lo gy, Data & D i git al O ff i cer
about technology. We have a partnership
Radical candor in leadership
with Udemy and LinkedIn for the tech-
So, once all of this incredible talent is in
nical courses and soft skills, we have
place, who leads? Leadership is another
workshops, and we used to do meetups
vitally important element of Gopalan’s
before the pandemic. We also have an
vision; he’s all about leadership develop-
Agile Academy and a Data Academy –
ment, and what he calls ‘radical candor’,
there’s a lot of different formats for learn-
which focuses on having the mindset
ing. Before COVID-19, we even had pizza
and framework to enable transparency
nights where we used to bring in entre-
and honest feedback between manag-
preneurs to talk about their journeys in
ers and staff. “Leaders must care for the
a casual environment.” Gopalan also
employees personally, but also challenge
instituted the Tech Awards, which rightly
them directly and give honest feedback,”
celebrate employees and ensure they
says Gopalan. “Thanks to our strategy of
feel recognized for their hard work and
having the best talent, and managing that
what they’ve learned.
talent in a successful way, there’s then a life-cycle in place. I did several workshops on talent management with our www.theinterface.net
17
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B e l co rp
leaders, and shared my personal leader-
but when remote working became a
ship philosophy within the team, inviting
necessity, they broadened their busi-
them to create their own.”
ness.” Belcorp worked with Valtech to bring best-in-class experience to their
Best-in-class partnerships
e-commerce and virtual store. They also
With the right talent and the right lead-
partnered with Perfect Corp to bring
ers in position, Gopalan then shifted
AI/Augmented Reality tools like Virtual
his focus to look closely at the vendors
Make up/Try on to their consumers,
to ensure Belcorp was partnering with
and this especially helped during lock-
truly best-in-class organizations. Before
downs. Companies like Valtech, Inetum,
he joined the team, Belcorp had to limit
Pyxis, Globant, SAP, Tismart, Altimea and
itself to what was available within Latin
Zoluxiones are key partners in Belcorp’s
America, but now is working across the
Digital Transformation. These strategic
globe. “This is actually thanks to COVID,”
partnerships bring specialized tech-
Gopalan says. “Initially, a lot of vendors
nology expertise into the corporation,
insisted on face-to-face communication,
allowing it to continue along its digital
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19
transformation journey. Working with the best has allowed
high resiliency across the board. And the relationship with vendors
Belcorp to move its workloads to the
doesn’t end with simply integrating their
cloud; 93% of products/workload is on
services – Belcorp considers itself a true
cloud, and by June 2021, it will be 100%.
business partner, with these relation-
In fact, Belcorp is the largest consumer
ships being a two-way street. “We work
of cloud in Latin America for Amazon
very, very closely with our vendors as
Web Services. “This enables the speed,
thought leaders, to drive technology,”
agility and advantages of innovation
says Gopalan. “One of the things we have
that we require. From a digital transfor-
rolled out is a collaboration tool for the
mation standpoint, this is a very impor-
business. During COVID, it has helped us
tant enabler for us.” Moving to the cloud
work remotely and communicate across
has been just one part of modernizing
the organization. Plus, we have a vendor
Belcorp’s entire infrastructure – it has
management strategy in place to always
also rolled out DevOps using SRE and
keep an eye on our relationships, and
performs world-class monitoring of its
we’ve developed our roadmap manage-
platforms to provide high availability and
ment in terms of how we, strategically,
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make changes in a flexible and agile way,
the consumer, they must be the rich-
based on market conditions and busi-
est person in the world!” Gopalan jokes.
ness needs. It’s very important for us to
“Understanding those needs meant a
move from a siloed mentality to a more
lot of experiments, and moving into an
cross-functional way of working.”
experimental mindset requires new tools, processes and a fresh mindset.”
Testing the waters
Advanced data analytics, AI, business
With how quickly and efficiently the vari-
enablement tools – these are all just a few
ous changes across Belcorp have been
of the elements Belcorp has delved into
rolled out, you might think there was no
over the past year to give the consumer
room for experimentation in the process
what they need, along with automation of
– but actually, experimenting along the
manual processes which has eliminated
way proved key to the continued success
close to 1,600 hours of manual processing
of Gopalan’s vision. As Belcorp moved
per month. More processes will be auto-
into a far more digital sphere, it was diffi-
mated in 2021, streamlining the business
cult to know what the consumer would
even further. The sheer volume of projects
want. “If anybody says they truly know
being developed in the background, while
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NYSE (GLOB) public traded company since 2014
U n de rstanding EQ and h ir ing for it i n a p o st-pa n d emi c wo r l d
create the vision
— Ve nkat Go p a l an
for the team and empower them
C h i ef Tech nology, Data
“
“
As a leader, my job is to
& D i g it al O ff i cer
Belcorp continues to improve itself at
career progression for employees, is
every level, is incredible. They were able
unity. Gopalan is utterly dedicated to
to deliver 400% more projects compared
the idea of professional togetherness,
to 2018 and reduce time to market by
in a way that goes far beyond the broad
40% by improving deployment frequency,
range of training and learning offered
lead time for changes, MTTR and change
to staff. From the Tech Awards, to Tech
failure rate. “The transformation has
Day – which this year was all about
been amazing between 2018 and 2020,
the consumer journey so that Belcorp
and 2021 and 2022 will be even greater
employees could better understand the
in terms of not only delivering projects,
end-user – to Data Day, which promotes
but the value of the outcomes across the
data culture, to pre-COVID physical
business,” says Gopalan.
meetups, to large-scale video catch-ups, team spirit is a must in Gopalan’s vision of
Professional togetherness At the core of Belcorp, connecting digi-
Belcorp. “And, obviously, we want to have fun,”
tal transformation, the relationship with
Gopalan adds. Last year we had a
consumers, improved leadership, and
costume contest on Halloween, as well www.theinterface.net
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as a Comic-Con-style event. I’m a strong
working, and that’s why I didn’t want to
believer in leading by example. I dressed
stop having spaces where employees can
up as the Mad Hatter with full make up for
be virtually together, share, learn and have
our Halloween contest. This year, we did
fun. This kind of thing is important; people
a remote costume contest for Halloween,
have been under tremendous stress.”
and we’ve had dress-up video meetings a talent show! I wanted to create better
Adapting to the consumer’s new normal
integration, and for everyone to have fun.
All of this begs the question: what exactly
People really, really enjoy this.”
was Belcorp like before Gopalan joined?
with everybody joining in. We even had
“For me, as a leader, the last eight
Why was the sheer volume of change
months have been challenging because
necessary? “Consumer needs are chang-
everybody’s working longer hours; since
ing, and customers are demanding
we’re all remote, our people are manag-
more,” explains Gopalan. “And, as Latin
ing their home lives, sharing bandwidth
America is becoming more digitally-savvy,
with family and making other sacrifices
the consumer is looking for things on
as they’re adapting to the new ways of
an immediate basis, and that means
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U n de rstanding EQ and h ir ing for it i n a p o st-pa n d emi c wo r l d
DIGITAL ANALYTICS
businesses need to be available. As well as that, our independent beauty consultants had to be reframed as influencers to keep up with the trends, and we also had to get into a position where Belcorp could handle COVID-like situations. Hopefully we won’t experience another pandemic in our lifetime, but the ability to weather a disruptive event is necessary for future-proofing.” It’s difficult to imagine how the business might have coped with the pandemic before Gopalan pushed its transformation into hyper-speed.
2021 is going to be pivotal for that path.”
Part of this new-and-improved flexibility had to involve the business pivoting
Creating empowerment
to handle new needs – after all, when the
The aforementioned consultants are the
world went into lockdown, people who
main beneficiaries of Belcorp’s desire
previously wore makeup to work every day
to empower women. The purpose of
were probably no longer doing so, mean-
Belcorp is to promote beauty to achieve
ing they didn’t need to stock up in the same
personal fulfilment – it aims to enable
way that they might have before. This could
woman entrepreneurs to manage their
have been a serious blow for a beauty
own businesses, developing a diverse
business like Belcorp; instead, it moved
range of skills in a way that suits their
quickly to launch a branded hand sani-
lifestyle. “We’ve done that successfully
tizer – a real essential in The New Normal
for more than 50 years,” says Gopalan.
– and observed increased demand in other
“It used to be that they’d go door-to-door
product markets, such as skincare, adapt-
direct selling, which left them restricted
ing to those as necessary. “Through our
by geographical boundaries; now, with
consultants and various digital channels,
the digital tools we’ve created, they can
we’ve been able to keep in close communi-
reach out to customers wherever they
cation with our consumers,” says Gopalan.
might be. We’re rolling out more tools
“We want to be a fully digital business and
next year to improve this even further,
this year has been the start of that journey.
and we’re bringing in a new profile, which www.theinterface.net
25
we call the Beauty Community Manager. This will help the consultant be more of a beauty advisor and influencer and build a stronger relationship with their customers to create loyalty.”
Opportunity in crisis Gopalan is, rightly so, incredibly proud of what has been achieved during a year which could have been incredibly difficult, and has been for many. “There’s been amazing collaboration and alignment across the board, resiliency, leadership, and putting employees first, overall. We were even one of the first companies to start working from home, because we wanted to protect our staff. People will always come first. Also, mindset change has been a very important aspect of this entire journey, and the next two years are going to be critical in how we accelerate things. Nobody knows the future, but the right mindset makes all the difference. To my mind, every crisis is an opportunity; Belcorp has proven that.”
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