Digital Tools

Key Achievements

Best Buy, a major retailer, was expending a significant amount of money on redundant apps, websites, and other digital tools, without any coherent plan or coordination among teams. This caused confusion for both customers and employees, resulting in significant costs for the company.

The Digital Tools project addressed this issue by consolidating all the work under a unified structure and utilizing enterprise capabilities to optimize the value and impact of these tools. As a result, the company was able to save a considerable amount of money, enable employees to perform at their best, and enhance the shopping experience for customers at Best Buy.

Changing Status Quo

It all started when I discovered yet another product finder. Product finders were popular in the late 2000's, but this one was terrible. It broke easily, recommended the wrong products and didn't even know what we had in inventory. Worst, the company had overpaid for it.

Fed up with the status quo I set to changing it. I began by mapping out all of Best Buy's digital tools, focusing on emphasis overlapping concerns, gap areas and cost. I was fortune to have a supportive leadership team who enthusiastically supported me. Then came the hard part of getting people outside of my organization on board.

Delivering a project of this magnitude in a large corporation requires both diplomacy and persistence. The delicate part is helping outside teams transition from a state of caution, or even opposition, to being supportive by demonstrating how their work and objectives align with the outcome and business benefits being pursued. At the same time, tenacity is needed as the teams that need to support the project have competing priorities and may be stretched thin.

Lessons Learned Getting People On-board