Heineken USA Innovates in IT
The word "innovation" is almost always synonymous with the words "new product." This story, however, tells another tale of innovation: how Heineken USA (HUSA) delivered an innovative IT strategy that better equips more than 500 employees with technology and services that suit individual IT-related business needs. A Time for Change
Over the past few years, HUSA has been expanding and optimizing its product portfolio to capture a larger share of the premium import specialty segment of the U.S. beer market. This included the 2006 launch and roll out of Heineken Premium Light, which was the first major brand extension in Heineken's 133-year history. HUSA also became the sole and exclusive importer, marketer and seller of FEMSA Cervesa's beer brands in the United States. These brands include Dos Equis, Tecate, Sol, Carta Blanca and Bohemia.
Meanwhile, company management was further developing and aligning their strategies as well as implementing many new changes and improvements throughout the organization.
According to HUSA Chief Financial and Operating Officer Dan Sullivan, the evolution of the company's core strategies also required a broader evaluation of the technology and information platform.
"As we assessed our business opportunities in the near term and longer term, enhancing our technology platform was a critical business enabler," says Sullivan.
Carol Schillat, senior director, IT, HUSA, adds, "All of these events and changes triggered us to re-evaluate our total IT strategy to better align with the business and our customers," wherein the word "customers" here refers to HUSA employees.
Thus, the HUSA IT department completed a full assessment of its current state -- everything from how it was organized to how it worked with customers. Four guiding principals emerged on how the department wanted to treat the IT customer:
- Become a more customer-facing IT organization; align better with their needs and priorities
- Increase proactivity; be the driver of solutions for customers
- Increase training efforts with customers and help them use IT to the fullest capacity
- Increase focus on business case and ROI; help the business and customers make better choices
The IT Store was one of many key initiatives deployed to support the new goals. Customer involvement was critical to creating a well-introduced and sustainable service platform that satisfied all four of the IT department's aforementioned principals.
According to Enrique Maspons, director of IT Operations and Services for HUSA, "The approach we took was to gather requirements from our employees, starting with vice presidents and senior directors, as if they were regular consumers going to a store and describing what they needed for their day-to-day jobs."
Through this exercise, the IT department found that it could develop profiles based on each employee's needs. The IT department then engaged Soft Inc., already a core service partner, to help match those unique needs with the latest technology available. The end result was the development of a technology catalogue that offered "bundles" for users in different business areas.
For example, "The Presenter" bundle for marketing personnel is composed of a wide-screen laptop with subwoofer external speakers and a 19-inch flat wide-screen when it is docked. Similarly, "The Nomad" bundle is designed to meet the needs of those employees on the go, featuring an ultra-light laptop, a webcam for one-to-one video-conferences and a wireless air card.
With the catalogue serving as a foundation, the IT department next set out to bring a physical and more personal shopping experience into its corporate office in White Plains, N.Y. Inspired by a visit to an Apple store, the team designed and opened the HUSA IT Store in October 2007.
Located on the 11th floor, the store has three areas. One area is dedicated to ticket submission. Here, a customer service specialist opens a ticket in front of the customer to assess the problem or situation. The second area features a glass display case where devices and accessories are accessible. Here, the customer has the opportunity to handle and ask questions about any specific device. The third area is reserved for one-on-one or small group training sessions. HUSA IT refers to this section as the "Learn with Us" area, where topics are open to customer suggestions.
The HUSA IT Store also offers services to its customers. "Our most recognized service is the 'Loaner Technology Service,' where a broad range of equipment, such as cell phones, air cards and other devices, are available to loan to all employees," says Maspons.
The Loaner Technology Service is a flexible option for customers that also provides tremendous cost savings for the organization because it doesn't have to equip every employee with the same technology at all times.
"Not everyone needs an air card all the time, but many need one for when they travel," says Schillat. "It also allows customers to try other technologies to see if it really meets their needs before they purchase."
Because HUSA operations are geographically-dispersed, the IT department next launched an online portal modeled after the IT Store that served additional employees across its four regional offices. "We are now able to reach everyone in the field and offer all the services that the IT Store was offering to our corporate-located employees," says HUSA Service Delivery Manager Joe Tassone.
The IT department is also working on a new service that offers customers the capability to download tools and utilities through the IT Store online portal.
Customer Response
According to Sullivan, "The IT Store helped us update our technology offerings to all employees in a unique and interesting way. Our employees can see the latest tools, understand the elements of each and decide what works best for their specific needs. The positive experience we are able to create for our customers goes a long way in helping us to achieve further success as we continue to work with them to leverage technology in our business."
The new process by which technology is deployed to the remote HUSA sales organization may be the project's largest success to date.
"We have gone from a model of total disparity that lacked standards to a model of centrally-managed deployment," says Maspons.
Standardized devices and a reduced number of providers not only significantly reduced costs, but has also alleviated customer frustration and reduced technical incidents.
"This initiative has given us an opportunity to get closer to our customers through a unique way to deploy the technology and services they rely on to get their jobs done each day," says Schillat. "The IT Store helped us balance our ability to be proactive and innovative, while still managing the boundaries and constraints of our corporate business environment. Our customers are continually exposed to new and improved technologies, both in and out of the office. We want to help bridge these gaps and be their preferred provider for all the IT they need to perform their job in the most effective way."
The best endorsement of HUSA's new IT strategy comes from the customers themselves, who say: "For many of us, the technology we use while conducting business is a mystery, shrouded in confusion. Choice and customization have not always been our strong suit. This initiative has opened up our eyes. By developing the IT Store concept, IT has provided an interactive way for leaders to be educated shoppers, giving their teams the right technology tools."