Twinings tech chief stirs up the IT department
As
the
chief
business
transformation
and
technology
officer
at
Twinings
Ovaltine
(TwO),
some
might
imagine
Sandeep
Seeripat’s
role
to
be
the
epitome
of
what
a
senior
technology
executive
should
be,
with
a
remit
beyond
IT
operations,
an
authoritative
voic
As
the
chief
business
transformation
and
technology
officer
at
Twinings
Ovaltine
(TwO),
some
might
imagine
Sandeep
Seeripat’s
role
to
be
the
epitome
of
what
a
senior
technology
executive
should
be,
with
a
remit
beyond
IT
operations,
an
authoritative
voice
in
the
boardroom
and
a
reporting
line
straight
to
the
CEO.
But
it
hasn’t
always
been
this
way,
with
IT
once
leaving
little
more
than
a
bitter
aftertaste
for
this
historic
tea
marketer.
When
Seeripat
joined
the
organisation
in
2018,
having
been
the
global
IT
delivery
director
at
multi-national
consumer
products
manufacturer
Kimberly-Clark,
IT
was
seen
as
a
back-office
cost
centre.
Introducing
new
technology
to
drive
growth
was
neither
encouraged
nor
supported,
not
least
in
a
federated
organisation
across
nine
business
units.
Seeripat
asked
the
senior
leadership
team
during
his
interview
if
the
organisation
wanted
change,
or
business-as-usual.
“The
answer
was,
‘We
want
change,’”
he
says.
“What
wasn’t
dimensioned
was
what
that
actually
meant.
I
can’t
say
I
had
open
arms
to
change
the
world,
but
there
was
definitely
an
intent
that
we
want
to
do
things.
We
just
didn’t
know
how.”
Change
is
certainly
what
TwO
has
done,
even
if
this
centuries-old
British
institution
retains
the
world’s
second
oldest
logo
from
1787,
and
the
same
216
Strand,
London,
office
as
it
has
since
founder
Thomas
Twining
opened
it
as
a
tea
shop
in
1706.
Owned
by
Associated
British
Foods
since
1964,
TwO
today
sells
teas
and
infusions
to
more
than
100
countries,
and
is
evolving
into
health
and
wellness
products
and
experiences
within
the
tea
market.
But
the
federated
business
model
makes
defining
a
single
technology
strategy
difficult
to
articulate,
says
Seeripat,
meaning
that
the
IT
team
instead
works
to
a
broad
set
of
business
themes,
such
as
facilitating
business
growth,
creating
scalable
platforms,
and
developing
a
technology-capable
team
and
learning
culture.
Alongside
these
themes,
Seeripat
rebranded
the
IT
function
from
Information
Systems
to
BizTech
to
change
how
it
engages
with
the
wider
business.
He
also
oversaw
the
introduction
of
a
new
purpose
statement—BizTech
Partners
that
Deliver
Wow—accompanied
by
two
team
behaviours:
be
curious
and
learn
continuously.
This
evolution
of
IT
to
becoming
a
digital
partner
to
the
business
is
already
yielding
results,
with
the
BizTech
team
engaging
earlier
on
business
initiatives,
driving
better
outcomes,
and
growing
in
size.
It’s
also
helped
Seeripat,
a
mechanical
engineer
by
trade,
progress
into
a
new
transformation
role.
On
the
back
of
initiatives
to
build
a
platform
business
and
connected
supply
chain
last
year,
he
was
promoted
from
global
CIO
to
global
chief
business
transformation
and
technology
officer,
where
he
reports
to
the
CEO
and
works
with
other
executives
to
create
a
so
called
end-to-end
innovation
organisation.
“This
role
is
truly
a
business
role
as
there’s
no
broader
business
activity
that
I’m
not
involved
in:
NPD,
supply
optimisation,
consumer
engagement
and
sales
force
enablement,”
he
says.
“It’s
still
accountable
for
technology,
but
strategically
as
opposed
to
operational.”
Rebranded
IT
function
starts
to
pay
dividends
A
key
ingredient
of
Seeripat’s
success
has
been
rebranding
the
IT
department
to
BizTech
to
change
how
it
engages
with
the
wider
business,
as
well
as
developing
an
ethos
within
the
team
to
be
curious
and
learn
continuously.
Seeripat
says
that
the
BizTech
name
reminds
us
of
all
the
reasons
we
come
to
work.
“We
should
drive
business
outcomes
first
supported
by
technology,”
he
says,
adding
it
moves
IT
away
from
being
order-takers.
Introducing
a
purpose
statement
within
the
team—BizTech
Partners
that
Deliver
Wow—has
helped.
“We
wanted
to
focus
on
the
end
user
experience
by
looking
to
create
moments
of
wow,”
he
says.
“This
change
has
allowed
us
to
earn
a
seat
at
the
decision
table
and
start
influencing
technology
choices,
educating
our
stakeholders
on
how
and
where
technology
can
add
value.”
He
adds
that
the
simplicity
of
a
name
change,
coupled
with
his
own
promotion,
has
seen
BizTech
move
from
a
delivery
capability
with
no
influence,
to
an
entity
influencing
the
growth
agenda.
BizTech
team
members
are
now
engaged
in
conversations
long
before
technical
requirements,
often
being
asked
to
be
part
of
client
pitches
and
design
processes.
Infrastructure
teams
recently
liaised
with
production
teams
on
using
HoloLens
and
VR
equipment
to
digitally
visualise
manufacturing
plants,
while
dialogue
with
the
marketing
team
has
sparked
an
Optimus
project
where
there’s
a
series
of
martech
initiatives
in
flight,
such
as
standardising
the
firm’s
consumer
experience
platform,
reviewing
consumer
data
platforms,
and
collaborating
with
start-up
partners.
Seeripat
says
that
BizTech
team
engagement
is
among
the
highest
in
the
business
and
has
improved
every
six
months
since
2019,
resulting
in
a
bigger
team.
BizTech
is
expected
to
grow
from
54
to
80
people
by
the
end
of
2023
as
well,
with
new
functions
for
data
and
analytics,
architecture,
security
and
the
Microsoft
Power
Platform.
“BizTech
wasn’t
just
words
on
paper,”
says
Seeripat.
“It’s
words,
supported
by
delivery,
and
supported
by
mindset,
which
has
now
created
the
platform
where
the
business
has
the
confidence
to
talk
to
us
about
the
consumer
or
technology.”
Business
transformation
in
flight
A
series
of
business
transformation
programmes
are
now
underway
at
TwO.
Program
Optimus
is
a
full
revamp
of
the
internal
technology
platform,
with
S/4HANA
on
Rise
on
Microsoft
Azure
as
its
core,
while
Project
Unify
sees
Twinings
Ovaltine
tech
teams
modernise
infrastructure,
end-user
compute,
and
security
by
moving
from
MPLS
to
SD-WAN.
There’s
also
growing
investment
in
automation,
like
Automation
Anywhere,
Power
Platform
and
Alteryx,
with
use
cases
emerging
in
automating
invoice
processing,
sales
validation,
finance
process,
P&L
analysis
and
claims
management.
Seeripat
says
that
Optimus
will
establish
new
ways
of
working
by
establishing
a
collaboration
hub
for
finance,
supply
chain
and
procurement,
as
well
as
a
standardised
tech
stack
across
10
geographies,
a
data
analytics
platform,
and
a
digital
adoption
tool
to
extract
value.
It’s
about
driving
a
data-driven
decision-making
culture.
“The
value
proposition
I
presented
to
our
CEO
and
CFO
was
that
we
could
standardise
our
ERP
to
provide
the
backbone
for
our
business
while
creating
an
integration
layer
and
data
platform
to
enable
the
systems
of
differentiation
and
innovation,”
he
says.
One
year
from
now,
Seeripat
hopes
to
have
improved
back-end
infrastructure,
built
out
the
BizTech
team,
and
have
Optimus
off
the
ground.
The
solution
is
being
implemented
now,
and
is
expected
to
be
completed
in
early
2025.
“The
first
objective
is
to
make
sure
that
what
we’ve
done,
in
terms
of
fixing
the
basics,
is
sustainable,”
he
says.
“Because
you
lose
all
credibility
if
you
talk
about
all
the
clever
stuff,
but
can’t
maintain
my
network
or
laptop.
To
grow
the
business
is
understanding
more
value
we
can
bring
to
it.
Delivering
our
first
implementation
for
Optimus
is
complex
and
ambitious,
but
it’s
my
number-one
priority.”
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