REEDS Jewelers

Please tell us 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 renowned worldwide for our extraordinary and wide range of jewelry. We also take online orders and do deliveries across the globe. 

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.

I have had the privilege of holding various leadership positions in organizations across different industries ranging from consumer products, retail, government, and the financial sector. 

As the former CIO and digital transformation apologist for multiple global 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 have served as a member of the faculty, for seven years, at the University of West Indies graduate schools of Business.

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. 

However, it gets a little complicated at times as the culture will dig deeper into the pros and cons of incorporating new technology. Generally, the cultural reflex action is to consider digital transformation as an additional cost, but over time organizations soon understand that one complements the other, and gradually leans in the direction of change. 

Coming to people, it is important to note that the staff may not know the value that the technology or process change is bringing and may also not be well-equipped with the technical skills to drive the digital transformation goal of omnichannel service delivery. This becomes a major challenge highlighting the critical need for talent management and capacity-building programs to enable the required outcomes. The process is extremely complex and time-consuming. 

 Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination. 

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. 

In today’s accelerated technology-driven society, the third dimension of digital transformation, which is technology, is the least contentious among the three as it functions like a commodity. Services like cloud computing, database management, training, and security can be leveraged. It doesn’t have to be owned; it can be subscribed to. Technology transformation cannot be done in a vacuum and is most effective when considered relative to the people and process dimensions of digital transformation.

Please walk us through your experience of working with Microsoft and the role that it plays in digital transformation?

In my view, the services offered by Microsft have been mission-critical to the technology ecosystem for several years. I find their email infrastructure, SQL database servers, and office desktop services quite effective. These services have found a place in most of the key areas of our operations. 

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 with its dedicated team for R&D that constantly drives this transformation forward.

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. 

Secondly, I would recommend that a lot of time and effort be put into driving change. Leading digital transformations can be compared to being a coach who is also on the field of play. 

And third is that the CIOs need to build consensus within the organization. They have got to become the cheerleader within the organization to drive digital transformation and emphasize working with HR and peers to build strategies for capacity management across the company.