im digitalen Zeitalter zählt nicht mehr die Größe eines Unternehmens, wer schnell agieren kann, gewinnt! Umso wichtiger ist es für einen großen Konzern wie Woolworth, agil zu bleiben und sich immer wieder neu aufstellen zu können. Sind Sie flexibel genug, um keine Marktanteile zu verlieren?! Ryan Fahy, Chief Technology Officer bei Woolworth gewährt einen exklusiven Blick in seine Erfahrung und wie ein traditionelles Unternehmen sich aufstellt, um auch digital am Markt zu bestehen. Lesen Sie den gesamten Artikel hier: http://bit.ly/-Artikel_Woolworth

1. Industry article
Responding to digital disruption in a large organisation:
the Woolworths Story
Digital disruption is here and is already transforming the way companies and organisations interact and en-
gage with their customers. While disruption presents significant opportunities for Australian businesses, the
biggest risk facing leaders and executives is not to take any action at all. It’s now a fact: ignoring the wave of
digital disruption will result in the loss of customers, and ultimately result in business failure of extinction.
Business leaders only have to look at the
demise of big brands like Nokia, Video Ezy
and Kodak who are on the brink of extinc-
tion due to a lack of innovation, to see the
threats of disruption are very real. Accord-
ing to Ryan Fahy, Chief Technology Officer
at Woolworths there are a number of impli-
cations for large organisations if they don’t
formulate a strategy about how to respond
to digital disruption.
“The risk is there’s a competitor out there who
we don’t know about, who has a good idea
that will hurt our business. If we don’t respond
to it, or we respond to it too slowly, they
would have already made huge inroads into
the sector and potentially have started taking
customers away from us,”he says. So what
steps is the retail giant Woolworths taking
to tackle the threats associated with digital
disruption, as well as to take advantage of the
opportunities it can provide?
“Moving quickly means that
different parts of our
organisation need to interact
nd talk to each other, when
traditionally in the past they
would not“
Ahead of Digital Disruption, Ryan Fahy ex-
plores the fundamental elements of Wool-
worths’digital strategy, and the methods used
to overcome the challenges the business has
faced on the road to digital transformation.
The challenge: innovating in a large
organisation
Woolworths is a large and complex organisation,
whose customers’ rely on being provided with
high quality products. And as to be expected in
a large organisation, there are a huge number
of processes and people involved in delivering
high quality service and products to custom-
ers Australia-wide. Fahy says it has been these
processes, and the fact that Woolworths is such
a big organisation, which has been their biggest
limitation in terms of innovating. “Innovation
requires a business to move and respond quick-
ly. This is something that has been a big chal-
lenge for us. It’s forced change across the board,
because moving quickly means that different
parts of our organisation need to interact and
talk to each other, when traditionally in the past
they would not,” he says. The concept of ‘moving
quickly’ is echoed by the business’ approach to
innovation. Fahy explains responding to digital
www.Digit-Transform.de
$
DigIT

2. disruption is about taking risks and accepting
that failure may be involved. This can be some-
what daunting for a large business like Wool-
worths, with numerous internal systems and
processes. This can be somewhat daunting for a
large business like Woolworths,
with numerous internal systems and processes.
If you look at the skill sets in large organisations
such as ours, huge risk-taking mentalities is gen-
erally not part of our company’s DNA. I
f you look at the skill sets in large organisations
such as ours, huge risk-taking mentalities is gen-
erally not part of our company’s DNA. Despite
this, Fahy says he has been pleasantly surprised
with the reaction of Woolworths staff to digital
transformation, and the idea of ‘risk taking’ in
the wake of digital disruption. “Even within
large organisations like ours, there are enough
people who have that risk taking mentality and
can do it with a sense of stewardship over the
stakeholders funds. We’re finding we do have
people within our company that have the right
spirit and mentality to facilitate innovation,” he
says.
Creating a culture of innovation
According to Fahy, the idea of creating a holistic,
detailed digital strategy is not always the right
step for oragnisations to take when it comes
to innovation. According to Fahy, the idea of
creating a holistic, detailed digital strategy is
not always the right step for oragnisations to
take when it comes to innovation. “For me,
digital strategy is creating the right culture, the
right relationships, the right dialogue and the
right capabilities. This enables staff to have the
right degrees of freedom to respond to external
challenges, but also allows them to be agile and
nimble enough to respond to the opportunities
bought about by disruption,” he says. One way
Woolworths is facilitating a digital culture, is
through the creation of a ‘chief customer and
data officer’ in September 2014, who is at the
heart of the
organisation and drives
innovationbased on
changing customer
behaviour. Fahy says
data is being used in
two ways in order to
meet changing
customer demands brought about by digital.
“On one hand we’re using data to see how we
can better meet the needs of our customers. But
we’re also using data and innovation in terms of
how can we actually improve the movement of
physical goods for our customers. We are work-
ing on new and better ways of delivering those
foods at the right place at the right time, to meet
our customers’ needs,” he says. One example of
how Woolworths is responding to their chang-
ing customer needs, is through the creation of
it’s first dedicated online store, which opened at
Mascot in August 2014.
And with Woolworths’ total online sales, in-
cluding general merchandise, exceeding $1
“For me, digital strategy
is
creating the right
culture
and the right
capabilities. “
www.Digit-Transform.de
$
DigIT