Kavitha Siddada, Global IT Head of Design Engineering at Shell, shares her insights on technology leadership and inclusion in Retail IT in a session titled, ‘Technology Leadership – Retail Enterprises’, hosted by IIMB’s Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management
July 24, 2021, Bengaluru: An IT leader with experience of over 25 years in Technology Engineering Transformation, Business Strategy Enablement, Operations and other key areas, Kavitha Siddada, Head of Design Engineering at Shell, spoke at a session titled, ‘Technology Leadership – Retail Enterprises’, on July 11 (Sunday), 2021, as part of the LeaderSpeak Series, hosted by IIM Bangalore’s two-year weekend Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM). Apart from PGPEM students, the session had participants from the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) and other programmes of IIMB too, during which Kavitha shared her experiences on leading business with technology inclusion.
Talking about how she never imagined to settle down in IT, being a hardcore science student with a Master’s degree in Physics from Andhra University and aspiring to do PhD in Applied Physics, Kavitha said destiny had different plans for her. Although she landed up with IT, her passion to learn new things in life made the transition easy. She was not conversant with IT at that time, she recollects, despite being exceptional academically. She owed the initial momentum and learning in her career to the host of experts surrounding her in Walmart with tremendous experience and expertise in retail chains and business processes, whose mentoring she said she greatly values and cherishes.
The Tech DNA & Walmart
Throwing light on the formative years of her career, she said she imbibed her passion for technology and Tech DNA from Walmart whose motto was to make lives of the consumers better through technology. “Technology can be used to make business processes simpler and that saves huge costs across the value chain, the benefit of which can be passed on to end consumers”, she observed. She adds that this is the mantra that keeps her motivated.
Recollecting how she built expertise in data integration and integrating the end-to-end consumer supply chain, she shared that within 15 minutes of a customer signing off at a point-of-sale, a recommendation had to be drawn for the replenishment of inventory. “Lean Inventory, rather Zero-Inventory levels being the goal, we were measured on inventory turns”, she said in retail terms. One of her initial accomplishments was to reduce the inventory levels by two points from 7 to 5. With 4000 stores and huge inventory, this meant a great challenge and also involved huge amounts of cash, but it was also something that made technologists in Walmart think differently, she remarked.
It was a time when her career transitioned into a stage where vendors were sitting at office and she was enquiring, “Let us know your requirements and we will be building the message queuing systems for you!” she shared. The two years that went into experimentation of messaging queues matching the scale of Walmart, led her to learn many nuances of the end-to-end supply chain. For instance, to move from batch mode to near real time – a 60 second transition timeline – the databases need to be setup very efficiently, switching from serial to parallel processing. She described how this whole experience made her realize the scale of transactions, the scale of infrastructure, the total cost of an end-to-end transaction and more importantly the value of money on the table.
With these strong tech foundations, Kavitha later went on to lead many transformation programs in Walmart India, like globalizing the logistics systems integrating them all into a future mode, setting up GIC (Global In-house Center) for core technology offices, setting up the data analytics practice, streamlining operations and testing practices which were hugely vendor driven. “Technology keeps transforming very drastically. But what one needs to watch out at any point is – Is the solution scalable, is it sustainable, is it reliable and secure? If not, business will send you home immediately!”
Technology is always an enabler for business, according to Kavitha. But the business choices leaders make are important and not making appropriate choices may prove very costly. For instance, in existing systems while the error tolerance maybe less than 0.1%, when moving to new AI systems 85% accuracy may be sufficient in the initial stages, since focusing on the rest of the 15% can throw the inventory levels off the acceptable limits. When the business choices are taken correctly, technology enables the business greatly, she observed.
Technology as the differentiator
Technology served as the key differentiator for both Walmart & Shell in their own verticals, along three dimensions - cost perspective, innovation and making it easy for the customer to come and shop with them. Both the companies did phenomenally well in understanding both the customer and competitors. “To maintain a healthy balance of cash, the costs need to be reduced, and attaining efficiency in operations is the key. Using IoT for leak detection, using sensors to identify theft and pilferage, using self-correcting mechanisms through digital twins in environments where humans cannot enter – these are some examples how technology is being leveraged greatly through apt business choices”, she said.
Talking about product life cycle management, Kavitha explained, “A company creates a host of products/sub-products. A product life cycle has to be understood in the context of a given zone of circle and a zone of influence. There is no stand-alone product that can yield value on its own. The value is generated from an integrated network that connects the products and its dependencies. Scenario planning is hence important in this context for a technologist to stay ahead of the curve. Understanding the ecosystem one is operating in, understanding the product and layer adjacencies, and making them simpler and leaner will make the product life cycle management more effective”.
Changing landscape in organizations
When asked about changing organizational landscape, Kavitha replied, “Without change there is no co-existence. By 2050, about 50% of the workforce would be redundant due to technology and digitization. Both organizations and people need to think differently and think ahead too, to stay relevant. Envisaging where one wants to be in the future, identifying the right opportunities and investing in them will help organizations win the game of survival of the fittest. For example, in Shell there is a program called ‘Powering Progress’, which creates strategy to accelerate transition of Shell’s business to net-zero emissions. There are ‘Sky Scenarios’ which plan for the environment for the next 150 years, so this is the kind of scale of the future one needs to think of, when it comes to Energy.”
About changing landscape in retail, Kavitha said only those companies that anticipate customers’ needs even before the customer and put customer convenience to the forefront, will succeed. Given that consumer behavior is changing pretty fast due to rapid technological changes, understanding customers’ shopping habits and maintaining data privacy at the same time will play an important role in the retail sector. Customers are looking for more secure and reliable products, hence companies should pay greater attention to security aspects, she added.
Sustainability
When asked about sustainability in IT and how she views sustainability in terms of design technologies, Kavitha said, “Sometimes the product an organization creates could become redundant by the time the product is actually released in the market. Organizations are trying to beat legacies constantly. Sustainability in IT is to create designs which are foolproof for at least 10 years. Designing systems which can integrate with other systems easily and forecasting the changes within and outside an organization accurately as much as possible, taking care of end-to-end requirements too such as adherence to governance and audit principles, lead to such sustainability, she suggests.
Answering a question on how organizations are being required to re-translate the goals at various levels and bring all the stakeholders into their stride to attain sustainability goals, Kavitha cited Shell as an example of how they are doing it. “Shell has committed for being carbon-neutral by 2050. That does not mean only Shell provides carbon-neutral products. It means that along with Shell, we ensure that the consumers too, consume the products in a carbon-neutral way. The goals must be achieved across the value chain, not at any one end alone. Our goal is to neutralize the carbon emissions in the system through carbon absorption mechanisms,” informed Kavitha.
Closing thoughts
Talking about the huge following on social media, she said she is grateful that people see her that way. Her focus to detail and content has helped strengthen the trust in professional relationships, she shared. Honesty, transparency, and credibility are some values she has always believed in, which has brought her closer to people. “I have always chosen organizations that match my values and that has helped me a lot”, she said, signing off.
Kavitha Siddada, Global IT Head of Design Engineering at Shell, shares her insights on technology leadership and inclusion in Retail IT in a session titled, ‘Technology Leadership – Retail Enterprises’, hosted by IIMB’s Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management
July 24, 2021, Bengaluru: An IT leader with experience of over 25 years in Technology Engineering Transformation, Business Strategy Enablement, Operations and other key areas, Kavitha Siddada, Head of Design Engineering at Shell, spoke at a session titled, ‘Technology Leadership – Retail Enterprises’, on July 11 (Sunday), 2021, as part of the LeaderSpeak Series, hosted by IIM Bangalore’s two-year weekend Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM). Apart from PGPEM students, the session had participants from the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) and other programmes of IIMB too, during which Kavitha shared her experiences on leading business with technology inclusion.
Talking about how she never imagined to settle down in IT, being a hardcore science student with a Master’s degree in Physics from Andhra University and aspiring to do PhD in Applied Physics, Kavitha said destiny had different plans for her. Although she landed up with IT, her passion to learn new things in life made the transition easy. She was not conversant with IT at that time, she recollects, despite being exceptional academically. She owed the initial momentum and learning in her career to the host of experts surrounding her in Walmart with tremendous experience and expertise in retail chains and business processes, whose mentoring she said she greatly values and cherishes.
The Tech DNA & Walmart
Throwing light on the formative years of her career, she said she imbibed her passion for technology and Tech DNA from Walmart whose motto was to make lives of the consumers better through technology. “Technology can be used to make business processes simpler and that saves huge costs across the value chain, the benefit of which can be passed on to end consumers”, she observed. She adds that this is the mantra that keeps her motivated.
Recollecting how she built expertise in data integration and integrating the end-to-end consumer supply chain, she shared that within 15 minutes of a customer signing off at a point-of-sale, a recommendation had to be drawn for the replenishment of inventory. “Lean Inventory, rather Zero-Inventory levels being the goal, we were measured on inventory turns”, she said in retail terms. One of her initial accomplishments was to reduce the inventory levels by two points from 7 to 5. With 4000 stores and huge inventory, this meant a great challenge and also involved huge amounts of cash, but it was also something that made technologists in Walmart think differently, she remarked.
It was a time when her career transitioned into a stage where vendors were sitting at office and she was enquiring, “Let us know your requirements and we will be building the message queuing systems for you!” she shared. The two years that went into experimentation of messaging queues matching the scale of Walmart, led her to learn many nuances of the end-to-end supply chain. For instance, to move from batch mode to near real time – a 60 second transition timeline – the databases need to be setup very efficiently, switching from serial to parallel processing. She described how this whole experience made her realize the scale of transactions, the scale of infrastructure, the total cost of an end-to-end transaction and more importantly the value of money on the table.
With these strong tech foundations, Kavitha later went on to lead many transformation programs in Walmart India, like globalizing the logistics systems integrating them all into a future mode, setting up GIC (Global In-house Center) for core technology offices, setting up the data analytics practice, streamlining operations and testing practices which were hugely vendor driven. “Technology keeps transforming very drastically. But what one needs to watch out at any point is – Is the solution scalable, is it sustainable, is it reliable and secure? If not, business will send you home immediately!”
Technology is always an enabler for business, according to Kavitha. But the business choices leaders make are important and not making appropriate choices may prove very costly. For instance, in existing systems while the error tolerance maybe less than 0.1%, when moving to new AI systems 85% accuracy may be sufficient in the initial stages, since focusing on the rest of the 15% can throw the inventory levels off the acceptable limits. When the business choices are taken correctly, technology enables the business greatly, she observed.
Technology as the differentiator
Technology served as the key differentiator for both Walmart & Shell in their own verticals, along three dimensions - cost perspective, innovation and making it easy for the customer to come and shop with them. Both the companies did phenomenally well in understanding both the customer and competitors. “To maintain a healthy balance of cash, the costs need to be reduced, and attaining efficiency in operations is the key. Using IoT for leak detection, using sensors to identify theft and pilferage, using self-correcting mechanisms through digital twins in environments where humans cannot enter – these are some examples how technology is being leveraged greatly through apt business choices”, she said.
Talking about product life cycle management, Kavitha explained, “A company creates a host of products/sub-products. A product life cycle has to be understood in the context of a given zone of circle and a zone of influence. There is no stand-alone product that can yield value on its own. The value is generated from an integrated network that connects the products and its dependencies. Scenario planning is hence important in this context for a technologist to stay ahead of the curve. Understanding the ecosystem one is operating in, understanding the product and layer adjacencies, and making them simpler and leaner will make the product life cycle management more effective”.
Changing landscape in organizations
When asked about changing organizational landscape, Kavitha replied, “Without change there is no co-existence. By 2050, about 50% of the workforce would be redundant due to technology and digitization. Both organizations and people need to think differently and think ahead too, to stay relevant. Envisaging where one wants to be in the future, identifying the right opportunities and investing in them will help organizations win the game of survival of the fittest. For example, in Shell there is a program called ‘Powering Progress’, which creates strategy to accelerate transition of Shell’s business to net-zero emissions. There are ‘Sky Scenarios’ which plan for the environment for the next 150 years, so this is the kind of scale of the future one needs to think of, when it comes to Energy.”
About changing landscape in retail, Kavitha said only those companies that anticipate customers’ needs even before the customer and put customer convenience to the forefront, will succeed. Given that consumer behavior is changing pretty fast due to rapid technological changes, understanding customers’ shopping habits and maintaining data privacy at the same time will play an important role in the retail sector. Customers are looking for more secure and reliable products, hence companies should pay greater attention to security aspects, she added.
Sustainability
When asked about sustainability in IT and how she views sustainability in terms of design technologies, Kavitha said, “Sometimes the product an organization creates could become redundant by the time the product is actually released in the market. Organizations are trying to beat legacies constantly. Sustainability in IT is to create designs which are foolproof for at least 10 years. Designing systems which can integrate with other systems easily and forecasting the changes within and outside an organization accurately as much as possible, taking care of end-to-end requirements too such as adherence to governance and audit principles, lead to such sustainability, she suggests.
Answering a question on how organizations are being required to re-translate the goals at various levels and bring all the stakeholders into their stride to attain sustainability goals, Kavitha cited Shell as an example of how they are doing it. “Shell has committed for being carbon-neutral by 2050. That does not mean only Shell provides carbon-neutral products. It means that along with Shell, we ensure that the consumers too, consume the products in a carbon-neutral way. The goals must be achieved across the value chain, not at any one end alone. Our goal is to neutralize the carbon emissions in the system through carbon absorption mechanisms,” informed Kavitha.
Closing thoughts
Talking about the huge following on social media, she said she is grateful that people see her that way. Her focus to detail and content has helped strengthen the trust in professional relationships, she shared. Honesty, transparency, and credibility are some values she has always believed in, which has brought her closer to people. “I have always chosen organizations that match my values and that has helped me a lot”, she said, signing off.