By Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief
At the recent Oracle Industry
Connect event, I had the opportunity to learn about the digital
transformation of Casey’s General Stores
— the fourth-largest convenience chain in the U.S., with 2,000 stores across 15
states. It’s a small-town retailer based in Iowa: many of the stores serve
towns with fewer than 5,000 residents. The Casey’s case study is a good example
of a traditional retailer completing a digital transformation while maintaining
its focus on company culture.
Casey’s is a company with longstanding values focused on
employees: “The company doesn’t lay off people, and offers its own child care,”
noted Thomas McElroy, Principal, Deloitte Consulting, who worked hand-in-hand
with Casey’s during the transformation. It was not a culture focused on change
and disruption.
But with continued growth in mind, Casey’s needed to create
an infrastructure that could withstand multiple mergers and acquisitions.
Digital transformation became the goal. Plunging forward, the retailer had
“several early missteps with some tech implementations,” McElroy explained. “They
were thinking about it from the viewpoint of ‘What is the latest technology
people have been talking about?’”
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After bringing on Deloitte as a consulting partner, the Casey’s
executive team took a step back and started thinking about technology from the
standpoint of “what the customer wanted.” According to McElroy, “Casey’s became
people-first vs. technology-first.”
After reviewing several solution providers, Casey’s chose to
move forward with Oracle to implement Oracle Cloud and Oracle Retail.
With Deloitte’s help, Casey’s embraced an Agile development
methodology and abandoned the Waterfall approach they previously used. The
company managed organizational challenges involved with moving to the cloud,
including adding a Chief Digital Officer and a Chief Procurement Officer.
It’s a difficult decision for many companies to transform
their traditional ways of operating while engaging key company stakeholders in
the process. Casey’s developed an internal core steering committee that worked
closely with Deloitte and Oracle, while keeping the lines of communication open
with employees.
Poised for growth, the company is planning to expand east in
2018.
