Transformation chief leaves Asda amid Walmart divorce IT projects
- Reference: 1720527000
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/07/09/transformation_chief_leaves_asda/
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In an internal communication seen by The Register , Asda's joint owner Mohsin Issa said Mark Simpson, who has served as chief transformation officer, would leave with immediate effect.
Thanking Simpson for his 28 years of service, Issa said he had "been reviewing the executive team to ensure we have the right structure to support our strategic objectives and excellent delivery plans."
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An Asda spokesperson said: "We can confirm that Mark Simpson has left the business today by mutual agreement. We would like to thank Mark for his years of service with Asda and wish him well for the future."
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At the start of this year, [4]The Register revealed that Asda had extended its deal with Walmart to support backend ERP and other systems after a project to replace them was delayed.
The supermarket, which Walmart sold to Bellis Finco for £6.8 billion ($8.65 billion) in 2021, signed a contract with SAP to move the on-prem legacy ERP systems to the cloud and its latest S/4HANA software under the German company's flagship RISE with SAP program.
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In February 2021, the group embarked on a program called Project Future, designed to separate its IT systems from Walmart's, with an initial budget of £189 million ($240 million). At the same time, it created a "Transitional Services Agreement with Walmart for an initial period of three years," according to the annual report for the year ended December 31, 2022.
The business now aims to finish the transition before the end of the calendar year.
One insider close to the IT team told us Project Future was over-ambitious from the start, and said Simpson had a track record of completing projects successfully.
[6]Asda kisses Walmart goodbye with half a billion dollar tech breakup bill
[7]Asda IT staff shuffled off to TCS amid messy tech divorce from Walmart
[8]EMEA enterprise folks scrutinize deals more closely – and it's hurting Workday
[9]Walmart runs creepy 'advergame' on Roblox, where kids can make toy wish lists
Former CIO at rival supermarket Morrison, Matt Kelleher, joined Asda this month as chief digital officer. The leadership team said it planned for Kelleher to take charge of the Asda technology team on completion of the Future Project, but those plans had been brought forward. Carl Dawson, chief information officer, is reporting directly to Kelleher, who will take responsibility for the delivery of the remaining elements of the separation and transformation project.
The news follows [10]Asda's decision to transfer more than 100 internal IT workers to Indian outsourcing company TCS . A collective consultation for a staff transfer under TUPE – an arrangement by which employment rights are protected under UK law – kicked off in June and staff are set to transfer in September.
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Earlier this month, the annual report of Bellis Finco [12]said it had spent £430 million ($544 million) on its IT separation from Walmart – accounting only for the time period up until the end of December 2023. ®
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[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/01/asda_walmart_separation_costs/
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You do need some chiefs, unless you've just outsourced everything in which case you probably don't need any chiefs any more:
Last week: [1]Asda kisses Walmart goodbye with half a billion dollar tech breakup bill
Looking forward to the slow degradation of service that depending on outsourcing brings.
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/01/asda_walmart_separation_costs/
Per the article - the guy was there for 28 years. You'd expect a few titles to stack up. I'll bet he was the original Chief.
It's rarely the useless ones that are sacked first.
Over-ambitious due to a lack of understanding
"Project Future was over-ambitious from the start"
You can imagine the conversation:
PHB: You must have this finished by the year end.
BOFH: You really haven't a clue, have you? It's ERP. It's SAP. I've been telling you that It's not trivial, we need more people on the implementation and there is now no way to meet your unrealistic deadline that has no basis in the real world.
PHB: Just do it or we'll find someone else.
BOFH: Good luck with that then. Bye.
Unfortunately that's a conversation I had at one of my previous employers ... and they went bust a year after I left, still with no functional ERP system.
Still, at least Asda can keep overcharging for petrol to fund this mess.
Re: Over-ambitious due to a lack of understanding
I was visiting a large organisation which used the mainframe for most of its work - sub-second response time and 99.999(9?) uptime - across 2+ sites.
A new CIO came in who announced when I was there "We will replace the mainframes with commodity hardware (x86) and run our systems on that. It will reduce our IT bill considerably"
That afternoon it was very very quiet - disturbed only. by the rustle of people updating their CVs.
I had to go back a year later and they were struggling with the performance when using multiple sites.
They ended up running both system in parallel for a couple of year - doubling their IT costs.
And the new CIO had moved on to a new job!
chief transformation officer
chief digital officer
chief information officer
There is Asda's problem, too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
And, they all seem to have the same remit. How many pointy haired heads of IT do you need?