As part of the tenth annual Leeds Digital Festival, Codurance partnered with techUK to host a dynamic panel discussion on ‘Modernising Retail: Driving Innovation Through Digital Transformation’. The event brought together tech leaders and IT professionals from leading UK retailers. The conversation cut through the hype to focus on a crucial truth: digital transformation is about solving core customer and business problems.
Chaired by Dr Esther Pugh from The Retail Institute at Leeds Beckett University, the panel featured Steve Lydford, UK Managing Director at Codurance, alongside retail leaders Peter Laflin, Data & Analytics Director at Morrisons, and Andrew Adam, Head of Technology at Cinch, part of British Car Auctions .
In this article we provide the key takeaways from the event using the expert experience and advice from these leading technology experts in retail to support your own modernisation journey.
Retailers looking to embark on a journey of digital transformation must justify this investment in the language of the board. The panellists unanimously agreed that all modernisation initiatives must connect directly to four core business priorities of increasing revenue, increasing profit, reducing costs and mitigating risks.
This means the focus for retailers must be on finding the tactical, high-impact use cases that drive these metrics and demonstrate value. For Cinch, this means solving the ‘friction’ in the digital end-to-end car-buying journey, such as handling finance and part-exchange, and digitalising the operational world to reduce the cost of returns.
Peter Laflin of Morrisons reinforced this, stressing that their focus is on enabling the broader business to do better by improving processes and growing internal capabilities, and not adopting AI for AI’s sake. Steve Lydford has discovered from his experience in working with private equity backed companies that AI is reshaping every stage of the investment lifecycle. For sellers, AI represents both an opportunity and a threat. It can help teams build and deliver products faster, automate documentation, and strengthen decision-making. But investors are increasingly wary of ungoverned AI adoption, data risks, and intellectual property uncertainty.
One of the themes discussed by the panel was the changing relationship between applications and data. Historically, apps ruled the data, often leading to unstructured silos that frustrated any attempt at innovation. However, today data is paramount, and must be set apart from the application layer. Peter Laflin explained how agents (like personal shoppers) can only function if data is well structured. Separating data allows the facilitation of digital and AI innovation and enables better omnichannel experiences and personalised offers for customers.
Personalisation must start with defining what offers retailers want to present to their different customer segments, then working out how to deliver them safely and successfully. With the recent proliferation of cyber attacks in the retail sector, the security of customer data has become the priority. The risk of personalisation having a negative impact, such as getting suggested products wrong, can quickly become a PR disaster. This is why the adoption of complex tools, such as conversational AI chatbots, need to be thoroughly and rigorously tested before release to ensure that safety and PR controls are in place. Rigorous testing is essential to ensure their security, reliability, fairness and effectiveness. The risk of exposing sensitive data increases with the use of advanced tools like conversational AI chatbots, however through extensive testing these tools can be deployed safely and securely.
With Codurance’s Data and AI Readiness Assessment, retailers can get clear, independent recommendations to evolve their data strategy and kickstart AI adoption.
A major misconception about retail modernisation is that it's a massive, costly undertaking that forces a halt to business as usual (BAU). Steve Lydford from Codurance addressed this directly, championing the principle of software craftsmanship and building systems that last.
This means focusing on quality software. High-quality technology is what ensures that improvements actually align with the board's priorities, by making systems easier to modify, more resilient against cyber threats, and cheaper to maintain over time.
Instead of a ‘big-bang’ replacement, the focus should be on building bespoke capabilities that differentiate the business from competitors. The panellists agreed that transformation can, and should, happen iteratively, always checking back to see: Are you solving a customer problem?
Codurance’s Software Quality Assessment gives technology leaders, clear, in-depth and independent expert analysis of their bespoke software products, people and processes to inform your strategic business decisions.
Retail technology has moved forward a lot in recent years, partly down to the rapid evolution in AI. Customers can now find products easier than ever before, they can do virtual clothing try-ons, and receive personalised offers based on their past shopping behaviour and interests. But what’s next for the sector?
We asked the panel to look ahead a decade and forecast their thoughts on what they believe will be the biggest shifts we can expect to see in the retail landscape. Whilst there are many opportunities to innovate and improve the customer experience, safety must always be balanced with opportunity.
Here are some thoughts on future retail advancements from our panel:
The panellists' insights revealed that a successful modernisation hinges on aligning technology quality with clear, profit-driven board priorities, whilst putting the customer, and their data, first.
Whether you're a legacy enterprise or a digital disruptor, the journey of retail modernisation begins by understanding the problem, committing to software quality, and focusing on the customer experience from the digital front-end to the operational back-end. We have worked with leading retailers to help accelerate innovation and enable their next stage of growth. You can explore our retail case studies here.
Codurance helps retail technology leaders define and build high-quality, adaptable software that makes change easy and drives long-term value. If you’re struggling to align your software modernisation efforts with your key business drivers, get in touch with our team of expert consultants.