Belcorp – Brochure 2021

The great makeover Project partners

The great makeover Written by

Nell Walker

Produced by

Craig Daniels

Venkat Gopalan, Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer of Belcorp, dives deep into the company’s astonishing transformation, the technology behind it, and how this year’s pandemic has actually accelerated it

B e l co rp

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business that’s fully and passionately dedicated to ¨promote beauty to achieve

personal fulfilment¨, Belcorp is creating something new for itself that’s not a cultural reset, per se, but a cultural reboot. The message behind this Latin American beauty corporation, which operates across 14 countries, remains the same – but it’s now better, stronger, even more deeply ingrained in each and every fiber of the business. What is, on the face of it, a digital transformation for Belcorp has actually been a full people-centric makeover from the inside-out – it just happens to have been driven by technology. With his hand on the tiller is Venkat Gopalan, Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer for Belcorp, who stepped in 18 months ago to help push the digital plan, resulting in a hard press on the fast-forward button for the company’s development.

Gopalan has a long history of this type of transformation within retail giants like Estée Lauder, Sephora, Walmart Labs, Nike, AT&T and Target, focusing on digi-

Venkat Gopalan Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer Belcorp

tal transformation. He even had his own startup, before returning to the corporate world. “I was very passionate about

job is to create the vision for the team,

bringing both products and services

and to make sure everybody – both the

to the consumer through technology.

technology team and business team –

That’s my passion. Now, as a leader, my

is successful.”

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Gopalan’s vision

consumer wants. The business had, in

Right from the start, with Belcorp,

fact, already begun its transformation

Gopalan’s priority was the human

before Gopalan came on board, but the

element of business and what the

introduction of him as CTO/CDO was www.theinterface.net

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Swipe

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e right.

w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

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game-changing. He drew up his vision for Belcorp, driven by company strategy and business needs by creating a new Technology organization with clearly defined roles, technical career path, product taxonomy model and new ways of working, creating a technology strategy and roadmap with clear outcomes which included foundational capabilities and enablers like Cloud and API first approach, new UX Design system, Data platform & Advanced Analytics, Cybersecurity, Automation, new tools and processes. Even from these broad headings, it’s clear to see that Gopalan’s vision was always about creating a total corporate shift and making sure every part of the business was not only on board, but fully engaged.

Obviously, the dream that I had was that we would be the best Technology team in order to transform the business and consumers’ life. It was important to align that dream to the existing organization before honing the technological strategy. To do all of this, you need the best talent and inspiring leaders. You need different ways of working and to make sure all technology systems are performing exceptionally - you need a full ecosystem. To get started, I did a reorganization within my first 90 days and then measured the outcomes,” Gopalan explains.

The Belcorp mindset ‘The best talent’ also needs to be on the same page, especially in a business as large as Belcorp while widespread change is happening. The Belcorp Technology team is driven by eight behaviors aligned with Company values: customer centricity, the ability to embrace and drive change, transparency, founder’s mentality, datadriven decisions, being learning-obsessed, execution B e l co rp

Venkat Gopalan Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer Venkat Gopalan is Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer at Belcorp, where he is responsible for leading the beauty multinational’s digital transformation and enabling the company’s corporate and sustainability strategy through technology. Venkat has more than 22 years of experience leading large-scale global technology organizations in companies that have achieved exponential growth.

He has led transformation programs for Fortune 500 companies such as EstĂŠe Lauder, Sephora, Nike, Walmart, Target & AT&T, among others focused on retail, CPG and e-Commerce.

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w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

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leading by example

— Ve nkat Go p a l an

C h i ef Tech nology, Data & D i g it al O ff i cer

“

“

I’m a strong believer in

excellence, and diversity. This is where

Agility Index (BAI) to measure business

the change begins and ends – with the

KPIs and consumer satisfaction, faster

people driving that change.

delivery of MVP, finance and risk reduc-

“At the end of the day, any transformation is not just about technology, it’s

tion, as well as employee engagement.”

In the last 18 months, they were able to

about the culture, the mindset,” Gopalan

deliver 400% more projects compared to

explains. “These goals were created from

2018 and reduce time to market by 40%.

a behavioral standpoint, and from there

That leap in agility is no surprise, given the

I was able to align the organization. We

depth of change Gopalan has created. In

created OKRs within Technology, specif-

a year marred by a pandemic that nobody

ically three objectives and four results

could have predicted, one that has shaken

for each of them, to measure where we

our lives to their core and sent many

were going. We also created six KPIs

businesses to their knees, the changes

to measure how we would become a

implemented at Belcorp have meant that

high performing team, and we have a

the business has not simply survived, but

Technology dashboard to track that

thrived and grown. In fact, Belcorp has

progress. From there, we were able to

continued to on-board new people and

drive agility. We came up with a Belcorp

introduce technology as a viable career www.theinterface.net

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Technology Services B e l co rp

Digital Optimization

Digital Business www.tismart.com

path to newcomers.

“In Technology, there was only one

Belcorp was already prepared for this, thanks to the groundwork laid down by

career path and we needed to create a

the Technology team. Before, on-board-

technical career path,” Gopalan explains.

ing a new employee took several weeks

“You can have software engineers, archi-

– now, it takes less than a week. Gopalan

tects, Data scientists etc. and Belcorp

is passionate about self-learning, and

is a pioneer in Latin America for creat-

not only does the new-and-improved

ing these paths for our employees. We

on-boarding process give new staff an

want staff to really own their careers – it’s

increased sense of ownership, but their

important, in terms of retention and satis-

learning doesn’t stop there.

faction. So, nine job families were created

“I focus heavily on a continuous learn-

in different levels, and we moved 50% of

ing mindset,” he says. “Technology

our employees to the technical career

changes so fast, and it’s important that

path.”

the organization learns. So, I expanded

Due to COVID-19, all on-boarding this year had to be digital – fortunately,

the Belcorp learning ecosystem, which covers everything employees can learn

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“ It’s very important for us to move from a siloed mentality to a more cross-functional way of working” — Ve n kat Go p a l an C h i ef Techn o lo gy, Data & D i git al O ff i cer

about technology. We have a partnership

Radical candor in leadership

with Udemy and LinkedIn for the tech-

So, once all of this incredible talent is in

nical courses and soft skills, we have

place, who leads? Leadership is another

workshops, and we used to do meetups

vitally important element of Gopalan’s

before the pandemic. We also have an

vision; he’s all about leadership develop-

Agile Academy and a Data Academy –

ment, and what he calls ‘radical candor’,

there’s a lot of different formats for learn-

which focuses on having the mindset

ing. Before COVID-19, we even had pizza

and framework to enable transparency

nights where we used to bring in entre-

and honest feedback between manag-

preneurs to talk about their journeys in

ers and staff. “Leaders must care for the

a casual environment.” Gopalan also

employees personally, but also challenge

instituted the Tech Awards, which rightly

them directly and give honest feedback,”

celebrate employees and ensure they

says Gopalan. “Thanks to our strategy of

feel recognized for their hard work and

having the best talent, and managing that

what they’ve learned.

talent in a successful way, there’s then a life-cycle in place. I did several workshops on talent management with our www.theinterface.net

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leaders, and shared my personal leader-

but when remote working became a

ship philosophy within the team, inviting

necessity, they broadened their busi-

them to create their own.”

ness.” Belcorp worked with Valtech to bring best-in-class experience to their

Best-in-class partnerships

e-commerce and virtual store. They also

With the right talent and the right lead-

partnered with Perfect Corp to bring

ers in position, Gopalan then shifted

AI/Augmented Reality tools like Virtual

his focus to look closely at the vendors

Make up/Try on to their consumers,

to ensure Belcorp was partnering with

and this especially helped during lock-

truly best-in-class organizations. Before

downs. Companies like Valtech, Inetum,

he joined the team, Belcorp had to limit

Pyxis, Globant, SAP, Tismart, Altimea and

itself to what was available within Latin

Zoluxiones are key partners in Belcorp’s

America, but now is working across the

Digital Transformation. These strategic

globe. “This is actually thanks to COVID,”

partnerships bring specialized tech-

Gopalan says. “Initially, a lot of vendors

nology expertise into the corporation,

insisted on face-to-face communication,

allowing it to continue along its digital

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transformation journey.

Working with the best has allowed

high resiliency across the board.

And the relationship with vendors

Belcorp to move its workloads to the

doesn’t end with simply integrating their

cloud; 93% of products/workload is on

services – Belcorp considers itself a true

cloud, and by June 2021, it will be 100%.

business partner, with these relation-

In fact, Belcorp is the largest consumer

ships being a two-way street. “We work

of cloud in Latin America for Amazon

very, very closely with our vendors as

Web Services. “This enables the speed,

thought leaders, to drive technology,”

agility and advantages of innovation

says Gopalan. “One of the things we have

that we require. From a digital transfor-

rolled out is a collaboration tool for the

mation standpoint, this is a very impor-

business. During COVID, it has helped us

tant enabler for us.” Moving to the cloud

work remotely and communicate across

has been just one part of modernizing

the organization. Plus, we have a vendor

Belcorp’s entire infrastructure – it has

management strategy in place to always

also rolled out DevOps using SRE and

keep an eye on our relationships, and

performs world-class monitoring of its

we’ve developed our roadmap manage-

platforms to provide high availability and

ment in terms of how we, strategically,

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make changes in a flexible and agile way,

the consumer, they must be the rich-

based on market conditions and busi-

est person in the world!” Gopalan jokes.

ness needs. It’s very important for us to

“Understanding those needs meant a

move from a siloed mentality to a more

lot of experiments, and moving into an

cross-functional way of working.”

experimental mindset requires new tools, processes and a fresh mindset.”

Testing the waters

Advanced data analytics, AI, business

With how quickly and efficiently the vari-

enablement tools – these are all just a few

ous changes across Belcorp have been

of the elements Belcorp has delved into

rolled out, you might think there was no

over the past year to give the consumer

room for experimentation in the process

what they need, along with automation of

– but actually, experimenting along the

manual processes which has eliminated

way proved key to the continued success

close to 1,600 hours of manual processing

of Gopalan’s vision. As Belcorp moved

per month. More processes will be auto-

into a far more digital sphere, it was diffi-

mated in 2021, streamlining the business

cult to know what the consumer would

even further. The sheer volume of projects

want. “If anybody says they truly know

being developed in the background, while

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U n de rstanding EQ and h ir ing for it i n a p o st-pa n d emi c wo r l d

create the vision

— Ve nkat Go p a l an

for the team and empower them

C h i ef Tech nology, Data

“

“

As a leader, my job is to

& D i g it al O ff i cer

Belcorp continues to improve itself at

career progression for employees, is

every level, is incredible. They were able

unity. Gopalan is utterly dedicated to

to deliver 400% more projects compared

the idea of professional togetherness,

to 2018 and reduce time to market by

in a way that goes far beyond the broad

40% by improving deployment frequency,

range of training and learning offered

lead time for changes, MTTR and change

to staff. From the Tech Awards, to Tech

failure rate. “The transformation has

Day – which this year was all about

been amazing between 2018 and 2020,

the consumer journey so that Belcorp

and 2021 and 2022 will be even greater

employees could better understand the

in terms of not only delivering projects,

end-user – to Data Day, which promotes

but the value of the outcomes across the

data culture, to pre-COVID physical

business,” says Gopalan.

meetups, to large-scale video catch-ups, team spirit is a must in Gopalan’s vision of

Professional togetherness At the core of Belcorp, connecting digi-

Belcorp.

“And, obviously, we want to have fun,”

tal transformation, the relationship with

Gopalan adds. Last year we had a

consumers, improved leadership, and

costume contest on Halloween, as well www.theinterface.net

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as a Comic-Con-style event. I’m a strong

working, and that’s why I didn’t want to

believer in leading by example. I dressed

stop having spaces where employees can

up as the Mad Hatter with full make up for

be virtually together, share, learn and have

our Halloween contest. This year, we did

fun. This kind of thing is important; people

a remote costume contest for Halloween,

have been under tremendous stress.”

and we’ve had dress-up video meetings a talent show! I wanted to create better

Adapting to the consumer’s new normal

integration, and for everyone to have fun.

All of this begs the question: what exactly

People really, really enjoy this.”

was Belcorp like before Gopalan joined?

with everybody joining in. We even had

“For me, as a leader, the last eight

Why was the sheer volume of change

months have been challenging because

necessary? “Consumer needs are chang-

everybody’s working longer hours; since

ing, and customers are demanding

we’re all remote, our people are manag-

more,” explains Gopalan. “And, as Latin

ing their home lives, sharing bandwidth

America is becoming more digitally-savvy,

with family and making other sacrifices

the consumer is looking for things on

as they’re adapting to the new ways of

an immediate basis, and that means

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U n de rstanding EQ and h ir ing for it i n a p o st-pa n d emi c wo r l d

DIGITAL ANALYTICS

businesses need to be available. As well as that, our independent beauty consultants had to be reframed as influencers to keep up with the trends, and we also had to get into a position where Belcorp could handle COVID-like situations. Hopefully we won’t experience another pandemic in our lifetime, but the ability to weather a disruptive event is necessary for future-proofing.” It’s difficult to imagine how the business might have coped with the pandemic before Gopalan pushed its transformation into hyper-speed.

2021 is going to be pivotal for that path.”

Part of this new-and-improved flexibility had to involve the business pivoting

Creating empowerment

to handle new needs – after all, when the

The aforementioned consultants are the

world went into lockdown, people who

main beneficiaries of Belcorp’s desire

previously wore makeup to work every day

to empower women. The purpose of

were probably no longer doing so, mean-

Belcorp is to promote beauty to achieve

ing they didn’t need to stock up in the same

personal fulfilment – it aims to enable

way that they might have before. This could

woman entrepreneurs to manage their

have been a serious blow for a beauty

own businesses, developing a diverse

business like Belcorp; instead, it moved

range of skills in a way that suits their

quickly to launch a branded hand sani-

lifestyle. “We’ve done that successfully

tizer – a real essential in The New Normal

for more than 50 years,” says Gopalan.

– and observed increased demand in other

“It used to be that they’d go door-to-door

product markets, such as skincare, adapt-

direct selling, which left them restricted

ing to those as necessary. “Through our

by geographical boundaries; now, with

consultants and various digital channels,

the digital tools we’ve created, they can

we’ve been able to keep in close communi-

reach out to customers wherever they

cation with our consumers,” says Gopalan.

might be. We’re rolling out more tools

“We want to be a fully digital business and

next year to improve this even further,

this year has been the start of that journey.

and we’re bringing in a new profile, which www.theinterface.net

25

we call the Beauty Community Manager.

This will help the consultant be more of a beauty advisor and influencer and build a stronger relationship with their customers to create loyalty.”

Opportunity in crisis Gopalan is, rightly so, incredibly proud of what has been achieved during a year which could have been incredibly difficult, and has been for many. “There’s been amazing collaboration and alignment across the board, resiliency, leadership, and putting employees first, overall. We were even one of the first companies to start working from home, because we wanted to protect our staff. People will always come first. Also, mindset change has been a very important aspect of this entire journey, and the next two years are going to be critical in how we accelerate things. Nobody knows the future, but the right mindset makes all the difference. To my mind, every crisis is an opportunity; Belcorp has proven that.”

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