With this simple equation, Eugene Roman, the Chief Technology Officer of Canadian Tire, set about transforming Canadian Tire through innovative digital technology. And in his recent session with McGill-HEC Montréal EMBAs, he triggered a lot of soul searching among participants in terms of whether their organizations were being proactive or reactive in dealing with disruptions they face. His session was part of the program’s module on Operational Excellence, serving as a live case on how to maximize the value of IT to enhance the performance of organizations.
For Mr. Roman “The future is ALL about the uber-connected customer, employee, and supplier” and disruptive technology is the driving force. It’s clear that’s not just true for Canadian Tire; there are implications for how most of us run our businesses, and that’s what had many of the EMBAs squirming in their seats. As Mr. Roman explained, given the new world we’re already living in with respect to connectivity and information availability, Canadian Tire (and by extension, many of our organizations) needed to make the big shift from IT as a back office support function to IT as a strategic technology partner. The next step is innovation – how will they use disruptive technology to guide innovation and transform the organization? Eugene Roman thinks big, very big, and it brought home to many in the class how cautious and tentative we are. For example, in Canadian Tire’s analysis, speed of reaction is crucial for the company to compete effectively in attracting consumers with a multitude of options. That led Mr. Roman and Canadian Tire to build their own cloud computing facility in Winnipeg where they have the ability to turn things up quickly and react at great speed. They’ve created an environment that supports their Agile culture and have been able achieve successes that would not otherwise have been possible. And this is not ‘just another data center’, but also a testing lab, a core digital hub, a digital content warehouse, an “App Factory” and a gamification lab.
In Mr. Roman’s approach, the answer could be anywhere. He’s not interested in the ‘best practices’ that so many of us try to keep up with, but insists his team keep a laser focus on the ‘next digital practices’. He is open to ideas from other disciplines not just technology – he searches out people that are the best at what they do in their field (medical, scientific, artistic…) and thinks about how he can learn from and adapt their expertise. And that’s what he looks for in his team as well. He hires the best and offers them a work environment in which they can thrive. At Canadian Tire that’s resulted in ” SMART innovation — Simplified Managed Agile Responsive Technology “. In the retail industry, Mr Roman calls these innovations “phygitailing” which is the combination of the physical store, digital and retail. As he explained to the class, it is all about using technology to connect to customers and to create an interactive customer journey through the synchronization of in-store and online experience. The key is to create a valuable customer experience enabled by technology throughout the entire “pre-shop”, “shop” and “post-shop” process. “Buyology”- the science of human behaviour and what drives their purchasing decisions – is a critical element of the strategy. Not satisfied with typical linear innovation where one idea brings another, Mr. Roman prefers to leapfrog the competition and to think a step or two ahead. In the retail industry, it means looking for social, interactive or immersive innovation at every single point of service.
Eugene Roman’s accomplishments at Canadian Tire are impressive and an ideal example of how technology can enhance the performance of the organization, but for the class, the bigger message was that of being aware of disruption, of searching for new ideas in unconventional places, of staying open to learning and of making complacency the enemy. The McGill-HEC Montréal EMBA class felt privileged to learn from his phenomenal experience, and his inspirational approach.
Eugene Roman was only one of several experts the class met during the module. They discussed various aspects of operational excellence with Luc Pinard, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Performance at CGI, with Alain Ménard, Vice President, Retail Operations, and Mathieu Lacoursière, Operational Excellence Manager both of Sobey’s Québec; and with Louise Murray, Vice President of Creative Entertainment at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. This integration of theory and practice is a cornerstone of the EMBA McGill-HEC Montreal.
