Southern Glazer's CIO Steve Bronson Reframes Technology's Role One Year In

Bronson shares that he has made meaningful progress in bringing teams together around a common roadmap, strengthening the operational backbone of SGWS' core platforms, advancing ERP modernization work, improving digital experiences, and building data and AI capabilities.

It has resulted in a conversation shift from “What technology are we implementing?” to “What business value are we enabling?”  

"This is an important mindset change," he says. "The roadmap is becoming increasingly tied to growth, operational efficiency, customer and supplier experience, resiliency, cybersecurity, and the company’s long-term vision."

Establishing Priorities & Building Blocks

The foundation was already in place when Bronson joined, but he knew the organization had to evolve how it works in order to progress on its technology roadmap. This required focusing on tying objects to measurable business outcomes while still operating with business partners.

He says success is not measured by activity alone, but must answer the following questions: 

• Are we helping the company grow? 
• Are we improving customer, supplier and employee experiences? 
• Are we making operations more efficient and resilient? 
• Are we enabling better data-driven decisions? 
• Are we protecting the company while allowing it to move faster? 
• Are we delivering commitments with discipline and measurable value?

Because the BevAlc distribution model is uniquely complex, this requires a careful, measured approach. 

"We operate across a multitier environment with significant regulatory requirements, market-by-market differences, supplier complexity, customer diversity, logistics considerations and legacy processes that have made our business successful over many years," says Bronson. "That creates a different level of complexity than a more centralized or uniform business model."

When it comes to ERP modernization that's in progress, the challenge is not simply replacing a system. It is creating a more modern, integrated ecosystem that can support the way the business operates today and the capabilities it will need in the future, he says. 

"That means improving process consistency, strengthening data quality, enabling better integration, supporting local market needs, and managing change carefully across a large and distributed organization," says Bronson.

And just as importantly, he says the integration must lean on trusted data, standardized processes and an enterprise foundation to fully realize the value of AI in the business.

For this reason, SGWS relies on its global business process owners to ensure teams are thinking end to end and cross-functionally when they build out new enterprise platforms. 

"We are focused on modernization that improves reliability, transparency, scalability and decision-making," he says. "We are also taking change management seriously because ERP work only succeeds when the business is ready, the process design is clear, the data is trusted and teams understand how the new capabilities help them do their jobs better."

Functional Hierarchy Matters

Bronson says SGWS' leadership structure is a real advantage. By reporting to chief growth officer David Chaplin, Bronson says it reinforces that technology is not a back-office function but rather a critical enabler of how Southern Glazer's grows, competes, serves customers, supports suppliers and operates more effectively.

RELATED: Chapline Says Sales Strategy to Include Digital Optimizations

It also leads to a productive balance because it connects two sides so the business can simultaneously focus on elevating experiences for business partners through analytics, AI and commercial capabilities while continually strengthening the core with cybersecurity, infrastructure, enterprise platforms, data, integration and reliability.

"As the largest distributor in the middle tier of the beverage alcohol ecosystem, we can see how a digital experience depends on data quality, how AI depends on governance, how supply chain performance depends on integration, and how growth opportunities depend on a modern technology foundation," says Bronson. "That perspective helps us make better decisions, prioritize the capabilities that matter most and ensure technology investments translate into measurable business value."

Bringing in Past Experience

Any large-scale transformation comes with lessons learned. And while every industry is different, some of these lessons carry forward, says Bronson. 

In previous roles such as SVP of global technology infrastructure and operations for McDonald's, he's learned that at scale, AI is not just about the model or technology. It's about the data modernized core, the cloud and integration architecture, the governance model, the operating discipline, and the clarity of the business problem.  

Specifically, it's about not using AI for the sake of AI, particularly given current market conditions and SGWS's highly relationship-driven and regulated industry, he says. 

"In many of my conversations with my peers, I’m finding there’s been a huge focus on the ‘art of the possible’ and not enough focus on returning true business value," says Bronson. "The opportunity is to apply data, automation and intelligence in places where they can make work easier, decisions faster and experiences better for customers, suppliers, employees, and our sales and operations teams."

Second, Bronson has learned that personalization is not only a direct-to-consumer concept. The same principles can be applied in the business to mean more relevant insights for sales teams, better recommendations for customers, more targeted supplier engagement, more efficient operations and a more intuitive employee experience. 

Third, is the importance of sequencing. 

"You cannot build advanced analytics, AI or next-generation digital experiences on an unstable or overly fragmented enterprise core," he says. "You have to strengthen the data core, simplify where possible, modernize platforms, improve data quality, and build strong security and resiliency."

Finally, transformation requires teams that understand both technology and business capabilities, Bronson emphasizes. One of his priorities has been making sure his teams are closer to the outcomes they are enabling, whether that is better supply chain execution, stronger commercial tools, improved employee experience, more efficient M&A integration, or a more secure and resilient technology environment.

Overall, technology change should never be a technology-only exercise; it’s business change. 

"The companies that get the most value are the ones that connect technology modernization to operating model, process discipline, data quality, talent, change management, and measurable outcomes," says Bronson. 

"The playbook is not to standardize everything blindly," he adds. "We are doing our best to make good decisions about leveraging standards in our core ecosystem to create scale, reliability, control and speed as well as enabling necessary customization in the periphery which helps to truly create differentiation."