In Tune, In Form & In Front
Foodstuffs North Island 02
harvesting a fresh approach to data through digital transformation WRITTEN BY
DANIEL BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY
MIKE SADR
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fo o dst uf fs . co. n z
FOODSTUFFS NORTH ISLAND
Foodstuffs North Island’s Acting CIO Ashley Colyer explains how the cooperative is overcoming the challenges of change management to harvest the benefits of a customer centric approach to data
F
oodstuffs North Island became one of New Zealand’s most successful brick and mortar grocery businesses thanks to
a string of market leading brands such as Four Square, PAK’nSAVE and New World. Established in 1922 along with sister co-operative Foodstuffs South Island, the cooperative’s owner/operator model has seen it become the country’s biggest 04
grocery distributor while remaining 100% Kiwi owned. The North Island co-operative strives to be: In tune with what customers, colleagues and communities need; In form to give customers what they want efficiently, sustainably and profitably; and In front – innovating to make sure New Zealanders get more of what matters most to them. Acting CIO Ashley Colyer recalls the fundamental strategic decision the co-operative made about the future role technology would play across the organisation: “Seven or eight years ago, IT was considered by many simply as a necessary cost of doing business, something we worked hard to control. However, our Board recognised IT was going to be the key enabler of our future success, leading to a seismic shift of our investment in technology.”
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Colyer explains that implementing SAP as the core ERP was at the heart of an IT transformation program which saw the replacement of all technology, from the network to data centres, applications and hardware. “It’s a true digital transformation from back end core platforms to customer-centric digital technologies,� he says, emphasising the positive development of recently deployed e-commerce platforms. Alongside this recent focus on customer facing digital programmes, fo o dst uf fs . co. n z
FOODSTUFFS NORTH ISLAND
“ It’s a true digital transformation from back end core platforms to customer centric digital technologies” 06
— Ashley Colyer, Acting CIO, Foodstuffs North Island
Colyer explained that the second broad area of focus was around internal processes optimisation. “We asked, how will we operate more efficiently and effectively? How do we optimise our supply chain? How do we reduce the amount of manual effort associated with core business activities? For example, with support from EY, we deployed new transport management and warehouse management systems that have really underpinned our supply chain transformation. We’re also three years into a program of simplifying the internal user experience of some of our core applications – notably the SAP platform – and moving away from user interfaces that are hard to understand and easy to get wrong, to applications with very defined purposes, built with the end user in mind. This makes it easy for people to do their job with very little training, essentially replicating the consumer technology experience.” Colyer also notes that Foodstuffs North Island leads the charge in New Zealand with the adoption of Office 365 which has seen over 3mn documents moved to the cloud. “That’s
07 unleashed our people from their desks,
address this using their SD WAN
the office, the corporate network and
solutions to optimise the available
even the need for VPN in many instanc-
network to all our stores and we’re well
es,” he says. “We can now work on any
progressed with completing this
device, anywhere, anytime. It’s been
enabling programme.”
enormously successful for us allied
The company’s positive approach
with a flexi desk, activity-based
to change management is providing
working environment. Of course, with
a platform for everybody at Foodstuffs
more functions moving to the cloud,
North Island to get on board with new
reliable and performant network
ways of working. “We have really
connectivity only increases in impor-
matured our capability across all
tance and this can be challenging for
business units. We deliver a constant
our more remote stores who have
and heavy program of IT change, both
access to limited bandwidth. Working
within Support Centre and stores.
with Riverbed, we’ve been able to
We’ve a multi echelon approach to fo o dst uf fs . co. n z
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experience,” he adds.
to delivering a project that came in
Over the past year, Colyer highlights
on time and under budget. The impact
the hugely successful overhaul of
on the business was instant. Since
Foodstuffs North Island’s wholesale
we went live, sales growth has been
e-commerce platform, migrating to
dramatic for the business.”
Salesforce’s recently acquired
Colyer notes a huge shift in the
“CloudCraze”, a natively and purpose
digital expectations of customers,
built B2B e-commerce solution which
whether shopping online or in store,
had yet to be implemented in the
which is focusing the company’s
region,” he reveals. “We partnered
energies on building an integrated,
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Ashley Colyer, Acting CIO Before embarking on a career in IT, Ashley Colyer worked as a trader on the financial markets in London. He believes that data driven role, focused on being able to digest and analyse vast quantities of information, gives him an intuitive approach to the data wrangling solutions technology can offer. “The shift towards a data driven and customer centric approach at Foodstuffs North Island has felt very natural for me,” he says. “You’re really looking at what the data’s telling you and then figuring out what to do next, so my previous career experience has definitely shaped my approach towards leading in IT.” Never one to get overexcited by the latest hyped technology his first thought is: “How do we actually turn that into something that’s going to be useful and meaningful to the business and our customers?” fo o dst uf fs . co. n z
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FOODSTUFFS NORTH ISLAND
$7.7bn Approximate store sales
1922
Year founded
22,000
10
Approximate number of employees
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“ We need to let what our customers’ data define how we operate” — Ashley Colyer, Acting CIO, Foodstuffs North Island
oped sophisticated AI models allowing our category managers to know what to promote and when to optimise the impact of our promotion and marketing activities.” Colyer adds that the fundamental shift currently being realised at Foodstuffs North Island is a customer driven approach to data core to the company’s strategy. “We need to let
change management with a team at
our customers’ data define how we
Support Centre whose raison d’être is
operate,” he says. “So instead of
to support delivery into the business
promoting something because our
across our 332 stores and help them
suppliers are giving us a special on it,
not just to adopt, but optimise the way
it’s promoting something because we
that technology is used. It’s a big
think it will resonate with our custom-
challenge with so many distributed
ers. Understanding that level of
users, so you need an efficient structure.”
granularity takes trillions of calculations
Colyer believes the grocery industry
so we need the sophistication of AI.”
is ripe for the application of automation,
For Foodstuffs North Island to
AI and machine learning as the vast
develop these capabilities, strong
majority of the business is data driven.
partnerships have been key. EY played
“Promotions, for example, knowing
an important role in the company’s
which to put on, when, how and to
ERP implementation and wider digital
whom. All of that can and should be
transformation, providing “intellectual
driven by data,” he explains. “Previous-
horsepower and capacity to help
ly there really wasn’t the capability
deliver critical large IT programmes,”
to process the volume of data to do
says Colyer of this important strategic
justice to that. Now we’re starting to
alliance. Allied to this, South America-
work with partners who have devel-
based Grability Inc has provided the fo o dst uf fs . co. n z
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FOODSTUFFS NORTH ISLAND
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customer-centric digital experience. “It’s about where they get their inspiration, how they create a shopping list and how we can make it easy for them to find products in store. It’s also about the online shopping experience and how we make that as simple and as engaging and as rewarding as possible.” Like many digitally forward businesses, Colyer predicts Foodstuffs North Island will continue to use AI to greater effect. “It will mean we can start moving our people into significantly more value-add activities. Working out what
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to order and when is not something a person should be doing. It’s completely predictable to a level that’s as good as, if not somewhat better than, a human could do.” He sees the future focus for
Island is to leverage IT and data to
staff on building a better experience for
serve customers. Allied to that Colyer
customers. “Instore, that may lead to
stresses the exec level focus on
fewer staffed checkout lanes allowing
simplifying the business: “Our goal is
our people to be out helping and
to reduce duplication and streamline
inspiring customers – it’s a big shift away
processes leveraging automation
from ‘processing’ towards ‘customer
and AI to create the headroom in order
experience’,” pledges Colyer. “It’s
to progress many more customer
about adapting your systems and
centric initiatives.”
processes to accommodate that.” The ultimate goal, and number one strategic priority, for Foodstuffs North fo o dst uf fs . co. n z
Foodstuffs North Island 60 Roma Road Mt Roskill Aucklands New Zealand T +64 9 621 0600 foodstuffs.co.nz