Helping Businesses Thrive In Digital Transformation

Q- Could you please tell me about your current role and responsibilities at Reeds Jewelers and your experience in the industry?

I am currently the CIO at Reeds Jewelers. We are a 70-year-old diamond and jewelry luxury brand, based in North Carolina. We are renowned all over the world for our extraordinary and wide range of jewelry. I have been associated with the Information and Technology industry for over 30 years, and over these decades of service, I have seen multiple transformations in the digital world. Having said that, we also take online orders and do deliveries across the globe.

I have had the privilege of holding various Chief Officer positions

In different organizations of different industries ranging from consumer products, retail, government, and the financial sector.

As the former head of global c-commerce stores of multiple brands, I have an accurate understanding of how technology drives business, and how consumer behavior is related to it. To pass on my expertise in this field I am serving as a lecturer for seven years at the University of West Indies.

Q- What are the challenges that these organizations were facing during this digital transformation? And how has the industry evolved?

Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination. It's a multi-dimensional transformation, that includes three key dimensions, which are process, people, and technology. It is impossible to do one without doing the other two if you want the most effective outcome. Digital transformation makes an organization rethink the role that technology plays and understand the value proposition of technology.

  An increase in the standard consumer real estate delinquency rate would indicate that more customers may require assistance, triggering additional loans that fall into the complicated world of default servicing   

However, it gets a little complicated at times as the culture will dig deeper and circle wagons around the pros and cons of incorporating new technology. Generally, the traditional approach opposes IT, and considers it as an additional cost, but the founders and owners need to understand that one complements the other and it’s getting that cultural acceptance gradually.

Coming to people, it is important to note that the staff may not know the value that the software is bringing, and may also not be well-equipped with the technical skills to drive this digital transformation and become the desired omnichannel. This becomes a major challenge as the entire talent management and capacity-building process is extremely extremely complex and time-consuming.

Notably, In this course of digital transformation, it is essential to highlight the visible and necessary role that the human resource department is required to play. The head of the HR department becomes the key ally of the CIO in driving this transformation.

The third dimension, which is technology, is the simplest among the three as it functions like a commodity. Services like cloud computing, database management, training, and security can be leveraged.

It doesn’t need to be purchased, it can be rented. And as stated before, it works best when it is incorporated in association with the talent management team.

Q- Could you walk me through your experience of working with Microsft, and the role that it plays in digital transformation?

I would like to mention that the services offered by Microsft are well satisfying and my team has been utilizing it for several years. We find its email infrastructure, SQL database servers, and office desktop services very user-friendly. These services have found a place in most of the key areas of our operations.

Serving for over four decades, Microsoft has been a pioneer in many new transformations that have come in the industry. It either matches or sets the standard for the latest applications. It has a dedicated team for R&D that constantly drives this transformation forward.

Q- Do you have any advice for your peers that they must keep in mind during this process of digital transformation?

My suggestion for my peers, which are CIOs, is that they need to act as the leader of this transformation and not take this transformation casually.

The second thing that I would recommend is that a lot of time and effort needs to be put to drive this digital transformation. The leaders in this field should be the coach who is also playing.

And third is that the CIOs need to build a consensus within the organization. They have got to become the cheerleader within the organization to drive that transformation. And especially working with the HR to build a course for talent management and succession planning.