AS COMPANIES embrace technology and add digital to their DNA, they realize that the sky is the limit. Of course, digital thinking skills are critical, and that’s what sets organizations such as Nestlé apart from its competitors.
The company has been working on the Chain of Origin project — an effort to bring more transparency into the supply chain — which has just been shortlisted for an award in the ‘Operating Model Mastery‘ category at the IDC Digital Transformation Awards.
Ahead of the award ceremony, Tech Wire Asia caught up with Nestlé Digital Technology Manager Armin Nehzat to learn how the company propagates digital thinking and its success pioneering the use of blockchains in the Chain of Origin project.
“The company, on a global level, has seen the need to develop in a digital way. We launched a global program called DAT (Digital Acceleration Team) where members of the brand teams are exposed to digital projects.
“Members of the DAT also have the ability to go on missions to other Nestlé offices in order to propagate digital thinking and complete briefs based on brand & consumer problems and needs, usually on smaller budgets and condensed timelines.
For the Chain of Origin project, the company took a similar approach and started with an initial proof of concept that did not require an investment. That helped the team present the business case and secure funding for development.
According to Nehzat, the Chain of Origin project has been a tad more challenging than most others.
“It has been testing how quickly we can move as an organization to completely review how we do business. From sourcing products at the micro lot level, all the way through to tracking products individually to the end consumers.
In order to succeed, the company adopted a “start-up” mindset approach, deploying small teams with the ability to solve problems on the go.
However, Nehzat plans on taking the learnings from this project and transferring them to things that the organization pursues in the future.
“While we are starting the transformation on a small scale with a new brand, we are looking to see how this could scale to other product offers. So I guess it’s more of a long term journey rather than a short term bet.”
