I get to meet a lot of very cool IT leaders as part of my role here at EMC. I've always felt that we should invest the time in sharing their stories and perspectives for the benefit of everyone.
Consider this the inaugural post along those lines. As time allows, I'd like to share as many of these as possible.
Why? Because there's something to be learned from everyone.
Understanding UNFI's Business
My basic premise is that you can't really appreciate good IT leadership unless you understand the context of the business and the IT organization -- so let's start with a question ...
Do you prefer natural, organic and healthy food? I certainly do, and so do many other people here in the US.
That, in a nutshell, is the engine powering UNFI's business model -- a growing demand for certified organic products sold through a variety of retailers from smaller independents up to the very largest retail chains.
Formed largely through a combination of acquisition and growth, UNFI is the recognized leader in this category, and -- as such -- speaks for the industry on a variety of important issues, such as GMO (genetically modified organisms) in the food chain.
Josh is VP of IT Operations and Applied Technologies, and came to UNFI via acquisition three years ago where he was CIO.
As part of the extended UNFI IT leadership team, he is in the enviable position where the business stakeholders now see IT as an essential part of their growth and differentiation strategy.
He laughs when he describes UNFI as a "$4B startup" -- sure, it's a mature business, but it's certainly growing fast. There are plenty of new initiatives to consider, and there's a certain excitement in the air.
Even though UNFI has multiple (and somewhat unrelated) business units, they all use a single IT organization and shared set of services to get the job done. That is no small feat, as we'll see in a moment.
A key part of UNFI's business is serving smaller, more boutique-like independent retailers. These people want more than good logistics -- they need a "high touch" experience that helps them, in turn, get closer to their customers who demand that same "high touch" experience. Much like an IT vendor such as EMC invests heavily in making their partners successful, UNFI invests heavily to make their retail partners successful.
But, of course, everyone wants something just a little different ...
You look at UNFI's IT organization today, and you'll see a portrait of engaged and highly-valued business partner that's starting to innovate across the board.
But things weren't always that way ...
Our Story Begins
Go back even a few years, and you'd find an IT organization in transition. As UNFI was formed largely through acquisition, there wasn't really a strong IT nucleus to build on.
As a result, the UNFI IT function at the outset was the most basic: "order takers" for the business: give me this, give me one of those -- buying, installing and running physical lumps of IT for individual functions.
As the IT team strengthened and made progress, this gave way to an IT model focused on predictability, efficiency and repeatability. Keep in mind, retail distribution and logistics isn't the most margin-rich industry, so there wasn't the luxury of big money to standardize and operationalize the back-end of UNFI.
The team had to methodically chip away at it -- project by project, process by process.
This, in turn, gave way to a more evolved model where, today, UNFI IT is not only as a "team player", but more of an "internal entrepreneur" -- bringing entirely new IT-based ideas to the business.
Getting From Here To There
The meat of this story boils down to how Josh and the UNFI IT team made the change.
Not surprisingly, it started with getting IT's own house in order: consolidation, standardization and operational efficiency. Old skills and behaviors were gradually replaced with new ones. Yes, EMC as a vendor helped out, but – clearly – the real heavy lifting was theirs, and not ours!
A key initiative was lining up IT incentives and measurements against UNFI corporate goals, vs. internal IT goals. The formal program acronym they used was MOOS (yep, pronounced just like the animal).
Market share was the primary goal -- clearly shared between the business and IT, especially in a fast growth business such as UNFI's.
Behind that, Operational efficiency -- providing the required services with a minimum of expense and fuss.
Because UNFI was still feeling the aftereffects of mergers and acquisitions, One company was added to the list -- and IT saw that they could play a key role in building bridges and communications between the different business units.
And finally, Sustainability and philanthropy -- reflecting UNFI's unique social role as well.
I asked Josh how long it took from the implementation of the MOOS program to seeing tangible results. While there's always more to do, he shared that tangible results were clearly visible after only a few months. That alone could be a key learning for many IT leaders ...
As the internal environment began to stabilize and improve, IT started approaching the business with an increasingly sophisticated set of ideas and proposals to move the business forward. Josh credits persistence here -- although the first few proposals might have been met with skepticism, over time there was growing enthusiasm and sponsorship for the potential the IT team saw.
As I'd put it, over time they earned the right to be seen as a full business partner.
Becoming A Business Partner
So many IT leaders want to be better at working closely with the business. I guess the first thing I noticed was that Josh's dialogue is decidedly a business conversation, and most definitely not a technology one.
He starts with a clear and simple articulation of what UNFI's retailers need and want, and works backwards towards IT capabilities, creating linkages at each and every step of the way. These don't start as brain-busting 100-page white paper proposals; they're germs of ideas that are nurtured, grow and expand across the business until there's widespread enthusiasm that makes the justification and planning exercise more of a formality than an event.
Want Some Examples?
So, how does IT at UNFI really move the needle for the business? Josh was kind enough to share three examples with me, and they're each pretty cool in their own way.
If you think about what goes on in a retail store, there's a lot of people moving around on the store floor, and not sitting at desks. Combine that with the most recent generation of mobile technology (e.g. iPads and/or iPhones), and you've got an entirely new paradigm for such basic tasks as ordering, stock checking, etc. in an easy-to-consume, low-maintenance format.
Now, the technologists reading this might think -- what's so interesting about putting up custom iPad apps for people in the store?
Well, in the retail industry, this is a pretty radical and transformational idea -- empowering the store employees to have the right information at the right time to make good decisions about how much stuff they should order, and not decoupling this core activity into isolated processes.
As a result, their new iUNFI platform is pretty revolutionary in context: not only is it a new use of consumer technology, but it essentially redefines the workflow in the retail environment -- especially for smaller locations.
A little more radical is www.wowzaville.com. Go ahead, check it out.
Here's the setup: in retail, knowing about your customers is key. But the smaller retailers don't have access to the same customer and demand analytics as the bigger players. UNFI is offering them a service where they can now play with the big boys -- having access to the same data feeds and deep insight as the larger retail chains.
But -- remember -- these independent operations don't have the luxury of hiring professionals to analyze and interpret the data. It all has to be presented in a fun, educational and simple-to-navigate context, otherwise it won't meet the needs of their audience.
Take a quick look -- this isn't your average data-head IT application.
It's a warm, engaging and entertaining environment. Dare I say it -- fun? If you look closely, you'll also see the foundations for -- over time -- building a community of like-minded retailers discussing their various experiences in what works, what doesn't etc.
Very cool and transformative indeed.
But not everything that is impactful is as glamorous as a new mobile experience, or a killer infotainment website.
The core of UNFI's business is supply chain -- fail to get that right, and nothing else will much matter.
Currently, the IT team is hip-deep on re-engineering this core process for the next decade of growth, acquisition, diversification and specialization. They see this as yet another opportunity for IT to deliver a sustainable competitive advantage to UNFI -- which is the right mindset, if you ask me.
Practical Advice For IT Leaders
Josh offered up multiple tips for IT leaders during our conversation, all of which made obvious sense.
The first -- and most important -- point is that it takes a team. No single individual can drive substantive change, but -- as part of a team of like-minded people -- almost anything is possible. Josh considers himself very fortunate to be part of just such a team.
I found that trying to get him to talk about himself vs. the team was difficult. I think that's a great perspective.
One point he emphasized is "don't wait for top down initiatives". There are lots of people who are waiting for the CEO to "get it", and drive the organizational change between IT and the business. His point is clear -- that's something that IT will have to do itself -- so be prepared to step up and earn the right to be a business partner.
Josh is also very big on people: talent and rotation. He'd prefer to hire a bright, entrepreneurial types vs. a technology-heavy or process-heavy individual, referring to them as "rebels and innovators" vs. simply replaying conventional wisdom. Good perspective.
IT has also started to hire from UNFI's business units as well -- bringing in passionate people with deep knowledge of the various businesses, and landing them smack-dab in the middle of real-world IT initiatives. That's pretty cool, if you think about it.
He's very big on synergy -- rather than breaking down big ideas into dozens of smaller, complicated parts, he and his team instead refer to HLA's -- highly leveraged actions -- where one capability or process can create far-reaching impacts across the current and future business.
He sees his key role as creating an environment where good, innovative ideas are coupled with efficient and pragmatic execution -- because both are needed to be successful. Not surprisingly, he spends a significant amount of time outside of the IT organization -- talking to internal business leaders, customers and other ecosystem partners.
But there's more ahead for UNFI's business.
As they expand, the new opportunity is larger retail chains with more established and rigid processes and methodologies. His next strategic opportunity is to figure out how UNFI's IT capabilities can bring the same sort of high-touch, business-generating value as it has to UNFI's traditional market of independent retailers.
And not lose the focus on what's made them successful up to this point, of course ...
Suggestions For EMC?
I like to end these interviews with an open-ended question: what could EMC be doing better?
Although Josh was highly complimentary about the products and the organization, he did make one astute observation: he's finding it harder to keep up with everything EMC can do for him and UNFI.
That's understandable. The historical picture of "EMC as storage vendor" has since been replaced by "EMC as IT transformation partner", now covering an incredibly broad range of technologies, products and services. And we keep adding more capabilities to the “EMC wheelhouse” over time.
That's not only a challenge for Josh and his account team to keep up with, but as Josh sells EMC's capabilities internally, he's continually encountering traditional perspectives, which in turn makes things a bit more difficult for him.
One example he offered was EMC Consulting's engagement around the business process re-engineering of key workflows inside of UNFI. Not something most people would think of as an EMC core competency, but -- yes -- it's something we've been doing for a while.
A good observation, so thanks ...
Final Notes
I see our IT industry as populated with shining stars who've cracked the code and are making a difference in their worlds. And, usually, they're having a blast doing it. Work is mostly fun for them – they’re energized and passionate as a result.
Personally, I think their stories and perspectives need to be shared more widely. There's something to be learned from each and every one of them.
My personal thanks to Josh for taking the time on the phone with me.
And here's looking forward to doing of this more in the future.
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