Fonterra
The value of communication DIGITAL REPORT 2020
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
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The value communi
e of nication
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FONTERRA
We speak to Piers Shore, Chief Information Officer at Fonterra, about how the company’s IT team effectively communicates its directives across the company, gaining further insight into areas of opportunity and possible creative solutions 04
B
ased out of Auckland, New Zealand, global dairy co-operative Fonterra exports products to over 140 countries, reaching one
billion people every day. It employs approximately 20,000 people around the world and is owned by 10,000 New Zealand farmers and families, many of whose roots in the industry span generations. Piers Shore has been the Chief Information Officer at Fonterra for over a year now. From life sciences, to heavy manufacturing to consumer products, he has worked across multiple marketing and IT roles that focus on international business and digital strategy and transformation. “The first thing you do as an incoming CIO is understand the state of play,” Shore explains. Effective communication across the business is at the core of Shore’s strategy for Fonterra. When he first joined, Shore and his team ran a
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07 company-wide IT survey, asking all
strategy and business strategy should
employees to give feedback on the
be complementary, not competitive.”
current IT tools and services avail-
The main problem, according to
able to them. Their answers provided
Shore, was that Fonterra’s IT capa-
Shore and his team with strategic
bilities were “an inch deep and a mile
focus areas, and a baseline against
wide.” He and his management team
which they could measure future pro-
recommended an urgent transforma-
gress. “We had good response rates
tion programme, focusing on three
that indicated they really valued the
key areas. “We need to articulate IT
IT services and tools that enable their
in non-technical terms to ensure it
jobs,” he continues, “but it also high-
is understandable to anyone, at any
lighted areas of improvement. We then
level, from any department, rebuild-
articulated a very practical IT strategy
ing our infrastructure and operations
that was aligned with the overarch-
including a significant enhancement
ing business transformation. The IT
of our business partnerships, and w w w.c o mpa w w w.fo ny wente bsite. r ra . com
FONTERRA
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improving our diversity and inclusion,”
reinforce a digital foundation to sup-
explains Shore.
port their transformation initiatives.
He is a firm believer in building
With the spread of COVID-19 now a
deep, long-lasting relationships with
reality for it’s people, communities and
key suppliers and strategic partners.
way of life, Fonterra’s new strategic
To this end, he has recently overseen
partnership with HCL is more impor-
a process to review and consolidate
tant than ever. Fonterra employees are
vendors across his Infrastructure,
now increasingly reliant on technology
End User Compute, Security, and
and mobility to do their work. The pan-
Service Delivery estate into a single,
demic highlights the critical need for a
long-term strategic partnership with
rock-solid infrastructure at Fonterra.
HCL. HCL Technologies will bring
This partnership will also extend
together Co-operative’s IT infra-
HCL’s New Zealand presence to three
structure under one umbrella and will
offices within the country and will bring
around 60 new jobs to the Waikato
Salesforce, SAP and Amazon, it brings
region, as the local support services
us much needed global technical exper-
for Fonterra employees will be based at
tise, which will also help the evolution
its Hamilton Delivery centre.
of the technology ecosystem of New
Fonterra is committed to adding
Zealand as a country,” Shore explains.
value not just to customers, but to its
“It’s very important when you are
surrounding community. “By partner-
on a transformation journey that you
ing with major tech firms like Microsoft,
communicate,” says Shore. “Not just
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Piers Shore Piers is the Chief Information Officer for Fonterra. He moved to Aotearoa in 2018 to join Fonterra after numerous technology and digital roles across the globe, mainly in life sciences. During his time at Fonterra so far, he has led a comprehensive review and reset of the IT strategy, service delivery and operating model, including the following: •M anaging the IT budget and project portfolio with management remit •O ptimising infrastructure, architecture, ERP environment, data management and cybersecurity protocols to provide a robust, stable platform for future innovation •B uilding innovation capabilities to drive company-wide productivity and efficiency He has introduced three core priorities to strengthen Fonterra’s core infrastructure and operations, improve business partnerships and develop Fonterra’s people with a focus on diversity.
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Should digital transformation be on your agenda, or running it?
“ It’s at the core of what we’re trying to do here: rebuilding our baseline infrastructure and foundation. Once you have that, it becomes something you can leverage to drive future transformation” — Piers Shore, Chief Information Officer, Fonterra
your stakeholders. It will vary based on their area and their drives,” he continues. “Just talking tech may not resonate with everyone, but application to business areas will.” It is important to Shore that he is visible across the company as the CIO. This includes visiting manufacturing and R&D sites to understand how technology is used on a day-to-day basis and hearing directly from people how IT could be leveraged further. He also visited the company IT helpdesk and listened into calls to understand
with your own team of global, highly-
what people struggle with. Additionally,
skilled IT professionals, but with
Shore runs regular CIO dialogue ses-
stakeholders across the business. You
sions, both virtual and face-to-face,
can have an elegant, highly technical
with the global IT team. The feedback
strategy but if people anywhere in the
and suggestions that come from these
business, at any level, can’t articulate
interactions directly impact Fonterra’s
simply what your plan is, I would ques-
IT strategy. “It’s important that you have
tion the possibility of success.” Shore
the integrity to reach out to employees
takes a “cascade approach”, regularly
in a transparent fashion and ask them
interacting with Fonterra’s executive
to benchmark your performance,” says
management to ensure teams across
Shore. “At the end of the day, we’re all
the company are informed on the
one company and want what’s best. It’s
state of IT strategy and are able to
vitally important we work as a team.”
seek assistance in areas pertinent to
Shore’s focus on visibility extends to
them. “It’s important to communicate
how Fonterra presents to the world;
on the basis of the value IT adds to
he maintains positive relationships w w w.c o mpa w w w.fo ny wente bsite. r ra . com
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Explore how Fonterra is powering end to end business efficiency through digital transformation
with senior management and CEO’s of major global tech companies to ensure Fonterra has access to world-class innovative minds. The global dairy co-operative relies on developing strong partnerships to ensure it is participating in the global tech economy. “In the life sciences industry, it is particularly important that you partner with selected strategic entities that progress your pipeline,” explains Shore. “I wanted to take the same approach with Fonterra.” By connecting with a tech giant like Microsoft,
“ You can have an elegant, highly technical strategy but if people can’t articulate simply what your plan is, I’d question the strategy’s success” — Piers Shore, Chief Information Officer, Fonterra
SAP and Amazon, Fonterra ensures its data strategy is optimised. Global brands also provide expertise around cutting-edge processes. EY has been a key partner in Fonterra’s integration of a Lean Six Sigma methodology into IT, training green belts, and assisting in framework implementation. “Having an internationally recognised standard that our IT employees can aspire to and get trained upon is phenomenal for development,” explains Shore. “We’ve achieved some significant results, not only absolute financial savings, but time savings and significant productivity enhancement.” w w w.fo nte r ra . com
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FONTERRA
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C O M PA N Y FACT S
Projects pioneered through a Lean Six Sigma framework have resulted in Fonterra reducing the number of unallocated laptops in the warehouse by around 40% and reducing the average time to approve project invoices by 70%
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FONTERRA
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2001
Year founded
$20.1bn Revenue in US dollars
20,000 Number of employees
Projects pioneered through a Lean Six Sigma framework have resulted in Fonterra reducing the number of unallocated laptops in the warehouse by around 40% and reducing the average time to approve project invoices by 70%. Shore hopes to dramatically increase the usage of Six Sigma in IT to drive enhanced productivity and efficiency across the business. Fonterra received a 2019 SAP Innovation Award for a joint IT-HR project called Project App. Alongside
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SAP, it sought a way to improve the vis-
becomes something you can leverage
ibility of projects and initiatives at the
to drive future transformation.”
company so people with the right skill
In summary, Shore says “I am
sets could get involved. “The solution
extremely excited about the role IT
was to build an online tool that used
can play in helping to support the new
SAP cloud in which projects could be
Fonterra strategy. We are part of the
registered and the skill sets advertised,”
business and we wish to leverage
explains Shore. “It’s a simple idea:
technology to drive great value to our
we’re leveraging technology to match
stakeholders and Fonterra customers
opportunities with people. It’s at the
around the world”.
core of what we’re trying to do here: rebuilding our baseline infrastructure and foundation. Once you have that, it w w w.fo nte r ra . com
FONTERRA 109 FANSHAWE STREET AUCKL AND NZ 1010 T +6 4 9 374 9000
www.fonterra.com
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