Head of Technology at supermarket giant Woolworths NZ, Steve James says the team has harnessed the best of an Agile model, along with Dev Ops, to build a team that focuses on value delivery rather than widget delivery.

“We partner with our team, enabling technology outcomes that make their life easier.  We are innovative, purposeful and empathetic in delivering for our team and customers,” says James.

The team has delivered a number of innovations over the past couple of years during a time when Covid lockdowns meant supermarkets were hit by unprecedented demand, both in-store and online.

Some of the innovations the team have been working on include:

● In-store cash recyclers
● Contact Centre as a Service with Genesys Cloud
● Infolink Cloud Service
● Robotic process automation
● Ubiquitous access to all systems
● E-Commerce platforms rebuilt in Azure
● Pick List assist
● Scan and Go checkout technology

Cash Recyclers: Less time spent counting, collating and reconciling cash means more time available to build a more efficient, customer-focused retail business.

Genesys Cloud: Technology has allowed the creation of a virtual contact centre with agents based at home using only a Chromebook, headset and the internet, which facilitated service continuing throughout Covid lockdowns in New Zealand.

Infolink Cloud Service: Manages the safety certification of all drivers by verifying their licence and training status before operating their risk height equipment.
 
Robotic process automation: This has removed hours of operational time across Woolworths NZ, says James.

Ubiquitous access: The team rebuilt remote access services in the Cloud using the best of context aware security and remote access services. This was done during the Covid lockdowns.

E-commerce to the Cloud:  Horizontally scalable and architected for ultimate resilience, these legacy systems are now built to scale to Covid level demand, says James.

Pick List Assist: Built off the back of Woolworths’ Life Cycle Management program that brought all self-checkout cameras to latest versions allowing the deployment of image recognition software that guesses what type of apple is being placed on the scale (as one example)

Scan and Go: Woolworths has “just walk out” technology deployed across multiple stores. The team learns as they deploy and bring new capability to customers with every deployment.

Pragmatic local innovation

“We have learnt the hard way that no one really cares about widget 123 being deployed on time and on budget.  What matters to our Executive team, our Group Board and our local business managers is how our technology delivers competitive advantage,” says James.

“Our Technology squads are business facing, there is no Technology and the business, we are the business.  We have structured our squads to be able to be moved deeper into the business but still be part of the Technology community they represent,” he adds.

At strategic planning sessions the team showcases how innovative technology is being used in retail across the world.

“However, there is no frivolous investment, pragmatic local innovation is the name of the game,” says James.

“Deeply researched papers from our Enterprise Architecture practice keep an honest lens on which technologies we should pursue, and which should be left to the side for later review.”