CIO Spotlight

Stoddart Group Automates Processes and Improves Business Efficiency With NetSuite

Stoddart Group is Australia’s leading supplier and installer of products to the residential building industry. It’s helped its customers build beautiful homes for more than 60 years. With around 600 employees and 31 branches supplying to 17 of the top 20 builders in Australia, the company has experienced rapid growth in recent years.

Stoddart Group recognised the need to modernise its business management software. To do so, it hired a CIO, Krushal Shah, to lead its transformation program, which included a new ERP system. Stoddart Group implemented NetSuite two years ago, and since deployment, has experienced a significant increase in efficiency gains across the business, as well as new granular visibility into its stock and inventory, automated financial reporting, and new forecasting capabilities.

We spoke to Krushal Shah to find out his insights, including how CIOs have become business leaders, on-premises vs cloud ERP systems, and the importance of people skills in the modern workplace.

Q&A

Describe your role?

Krushal Shah: My role was established to identify how Stoddart Group could benefit from technology and help them deliver on this. When I joined four years ago, we weren't really technology driven from a day-to-day operations perspective. The intention was to come in, understand where the industry and organisation was at and deliver a plan for how technology could streamline operations and drive strategic growth.

What are your key responsibilities?

Shah: I am responsible for the Technology and Project Management Office (PMO) division. In addition to participating in the shaping of the organisational strategy, my primary responsibility is to ensure we have well-aligned Technology and PMO operations which will support implementation of our strategy.

Which stakeholders do you work closest with?

Shah: Being part of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), I work alongside our key business leaders to provide strategic viewpoints around how technology can assist in driving the business forward. I work very closely with each of our business unit heads and my fellow ELT members to identify opportunities for optimisation and deliver key business outcomes.

Do you have specific targets or goals set by the business?

Shah: My high-level targets include driving efficiencies in our operations through use of technology and reducing the cost-to-serve. A key goal as part of this, is to provide insights to the organisation which assist fact-based decision making. We can’t continue to grow without having the right data.

Do you have specific targets or goals you set yourself?

Shah: My mantra is very simple: standardise, optimise, and then automate. I aim to influence the business and standardise operations and processes by examining everything end-to-end. We have a huge opportunity to optimise and drive efficiencies and still service our customers in the same way or even better. Consistent patterns or repetitive tasks also present a perfect opportunity to automate. In doing all of the above we improve employee and customer experience.

How do you as CIO serve your company, customers and colleagues?

Shah: I believe I best serve the organisation by communicating a clear roadmap on how we can use technology to achieve the organisation’s strategic goals and vision.

What three soft skills are most important for your role?

Shah: Relationship building is number one; empathy is a big element of this and more important post pandemic than ever before. Having empathy and flexibility to allow for how different people operate is important. Communication skills are also a must-have in today's day and age, particularly because we are not all working in the same office or environment anymore. Finally, I think resilience is critical. In any transformation program resilience is key because you're always going to come up against challenges and setbacks!

What three hard/tech skills are most important for your role?

Shah: For me, not having a lot of tech skills works to my advantage. It means relying on the expertise within my team, which allows me to be more business-centric, rather than being hands-on. I think today's CIO is a business leader, not a tech leader anymore.

How has the role of CIO evolved in the past 10 years?

Shah: 10 years ago the focus was still on keeping the lights on, keeping the team working and providing IT support services. It was still very reactive at that point in time. Now, my job is to offer business value – that is the most fundamental focus for a CIO. It’s not about just having a technology conversation, it's more about understanding the problem you are trying to solve and what business value the solution will deliver.

What do you think are the biggest reasons for these changes?

Shah: Firstly, we now have a generation that expects answers now or instantly. Think about dial-up days when people had the patience to wait for half a day to download a MP3 song. Today’s expectation is that this happens instantly, if you are waiting for more than a minute it is taking too long. Secondly, people now have many choices, which is driving competition and different business models globally. And finally, the rate of change and exponential growth in technology, and a generation that is ready to adapt at that rate, are the key catalysts of change. Technologies such as Cloud, AI, ML are pushing the boundaries and demanding change.

Has understanding how a business operates has become more important for a CIO?

Shah: Definitely! The key is examining the organisational operations and structure and asking how we can do things differently and become a more streamlined operation. In doing so, we can leverage technology to achieve better outcomes and growth. The end game is to optimise cost-to-serve and enhance customer experience.

Do you think collaboration has become a central part of the role of today’s CIO?

Shah: Yes. My key strengths and my personal style of leadership is very much about relationship building and collaboration. I work very closely with stakeholders to understand their business and pain points and identify where we can assist. I also try to influence where additional benefits can be achieved and push their agenda through. It’s all about having open and honest conversations with stakeholders and working with them, rather than working for them.

Do you think today’s CIO needs to be a strong communicator in a way that wasn’t as important in the past? If so, why?

Shah: I do. Communication is one of the key skills required as a CIO. If you are unable to articulate your ideas and influence your customers and stakeholders, then the job becomes very difficult! Communicating clearly, effectively and in a timely manner is critical for any Executive.

Can you describe the process of selecting a new technology?

Shah: The first step is to define the business problem that we are trying to resolve, understand what are the outcomes that we need to realise, and what are the key requirements. No technology meets 100% of the requirements out of the box, so it's looking at what the must-haves, what are the good to haves and where is the flexibility in that. It’s a collective decision, but the key consultees are any business stakeholders significantly involved in the purchase decision-making. The way I look at it, IT is not a decision-maker. IT participates and recommends, but ultimately it should be a business decision, even if it is a technology tool. From my end, I need to make sure it fits in the architecture, it's a sustainable solution, it's secured, the vendor is the right vendor, etc. I need to provide the business with comfort from a technology perspective and ensure it fits in within the technology framework.

What three things are most important for a CIO to consider when choosing new technology?

Shah: Sustainability of the technology is very important. Secondly, it must meet business requirements and the ability to solve business problems. Thirdly, I always look at partnerships – is this someone I can work with for the next 10 years?

Has the role of CIO in technology purchasing changed in recent years?

Shah: One of the factors I see as a big plus is the ability to fail fast. Today we have the opportunity, with a majority of vendors, to request a proof of concept to see if the technology is going to work. This helps in the decision making. Previously, there was an upfront investment that was required to even try and get hands-on with the technology. This is something which has changed a lot in the last five years or so.

To what extent does your company see technology as a way to better serve your employees and customers?

Shah: Technology is one of the key pillars of our organisational strategy. The way I describe technology, it's the new fuel and the lubricant in the engine that keeps the business moving. Our people are the drivers who know where to head and take the business in the right direction, they're the decision-makers.

How does NetSuite help you succeed as CIO?

Shah: NetSuite provides strong core capabilities for our business, plus its focus on data and reporting also aligns with us. Being a cloud-based technology and SuiteApps ecosystem was another advantage. NetSuite is a platform that grows with your business and eliminates maintenance and upgrade costs. Its ability to integrate into multiple products, that flexibility and that agility, was most important for us.

What were the top reasons for choosing NetSuite?

Shah: Longevity is important. It's still our core financial platform and it's well proven in that space with the backing of Oracle, so I knew it was sustainable. This is valuable because we look at five- to 10-year software life cycles. The cost to replace a system is huge and we want to avoid that. So financial is the other pillar here; looking for something efficient that we can afford. It is scalable and provides a low cost and agile solution.

What are the advantages of having an open system like NetSuite?

Shah: One of the key things I like about NetSuite is its ability to integrate; all the operational systems plug into it, and we have a very standardised structure and framework that we operate within.

Has NetSuite made your life or role easier?

Shah: Yes, one of the biggest benefits is the insights. Providing data and insights is important for us because business operations managers need job data. NetSuite makes that easier and enables us to optimise operations. It's also agile enough to adapt and work with ever-changing business needs.

What are the three biggest benefits of being in the cloud vs on-premises?

Shah: I don't have to worry about downtime, that's number one. I know it's a world-class system. Security, the availability and the constant upkeep, that's another thing I don't have to worry about. It’s also a great ecosystem, with new solutions all the time. The ability to grow, experiment and constantly adapt is significantly enhanced compared to the traditional model. It provides agility and speed in finding solutions. That saves time and money while driving faster outcomes for us.

What real-world improvements has your business experienced since switching?

Shah: With NetSuite, we have been able to introduce more automation into our financial practices and we have extended NetSuite to our warehouse management as well. We now have better visibility into our stocks, and better financial reporting around that. We are implementing a new operational system and it integrates very nicely with NetSuite. We can forecast and have an end-to-end view, with insights on every product line, every customer and exactly how they're performing, how we engage with them, and where some of the key opportunities are.

How has NetSuite improved collaboration?

Shah: Implementation of NetSuite was very timely, coming just prior to the pandemic. From a tech perspective, the pandemic didn’t impact us much. We were ready. Our workforce was used to operating and collaborating in the hybrid form and remote work wasn't a new concept for us so we adapted very easily.

What advice would you give to an aspiring CIO?

Shah: Focus on the business, learn the business, understand the business. And again, technology is just a toolkit, so think about how to utilise it rather than how awesome it is. Don't look at how it is made, look at what business problems it can solve; that’s key.

What skills (hard or soft) do you predict will become more important for CIOs in the future?

Shah: Having strong people skills will always be number one. As will leadership, because you are driving change and having the ability to bring your key stakeholders along with you on the journey is critical. For me, having strong business acumen and knowing how the business runs wins over deep technical skills.

Do you think the role of CIO will continue to evolve?

Shah: I think it's a constantly evolving role, with more responsibilities coming. You can see there's currently an evolution where businesses are now largely operationally dependent on technology. The CIO role will become so more significant at a Board level because of this.

Are you excited about any upcoming technology?

Shah: I think the construction industry is ready for a huge transformation. There is a significant amount of new tech that is coming out: 3D printing, robotics, and surveillance drones. I've seen some very interesting models overseas, like robotic factories building houses. The industry is ready for disruption, and it will be very interesting to see what that brings. I believe it will be technology led. The way I look at it is, there's no technology and business, technology is business.