Debenhams Multichannel innovation presentation for Ecom UK

1. The innovation struggle
Delivering disruptive technologies in large organisations
Ashley Payne
Head of Digital Operations, Debenhams

2. Debenhams: founded in 1778, 2nd store opened in 1818
• 2011/2012:
– 240 stores in 28 countries
– £300m sales online (+40%)
– Website delivers to 67 countries
– German language website
– Mobile and apps, in-store ordering
• 2013 and beyond
– More online growth
– More stores, modernisation
– Continued international expansion

3. Debenhams extended estate launched over 2 years
IPAD APP IPHONE APP
• Dedicated apps and m-site
• Touch-screen in-store kiosks
• Websites for ROI, Germany
ROI WEB STORE KIOSKS M-SITE

4. Technology is disruptive, the goalposts are moving
• Customers are migrating to new technologies as they are released
• Traditional ‘online’ teams are being pushed to innovate
– Adopt more channels
– Increase range
– Better, targeted marketing
… grow sales!!
Entrepreneurial mindsets being encouraged and developed

5. Standard project delivery has a certain pace…
• Medium sized project development @ 6 months
– Requirements / Build / Test
• Project initiation can add 3+ months
– Proposal, funding, requirements, partner selection, contracts
• In flight projects will take priority over new ones
• Legacy systems always slow down project delivery
Agile methodology is not the silver bullet

6. Business and systems teams have conflicting approaches
• The business want to adopt new technologies quickly, cheaply
• Systems want to build solid systems and robust architecture
• Customers adopting new technologies faster than we can deliver
Innovation drives sales, loyalty and other benefits – PR, city buzz

7. 2010 - Debenhams faced barriers to innovation
• We were migrating platforms, all development declared throwaway
• No obvious architectural buttons to push for new channels
• E-commerce development broadly through partner agency
• All teams fully engaged on migration
• A full programme of work planned for the next year
But we had a wishlist of apps, m-site, and international ambitions to fulfil

8. The business decided to produce an iPhone app
• Agency engaged who proposed a lightweight integration
– Project was driven by the business
– A set of lightweight requirements were used
– Systems involvement was light
• Project delivery in 8 weeks, and the app paid for itself in a fortnight
This proved it was possible to break out of the existing dev model

9. We reviewed what else could be delivered tactically
• We met with more agencies and looked at lots of products
• Wanted a mobile website next, ‘throwaway’ cost the biggest barrier
• Front end developers started to come up with bright ideas
– The scope of these ideas was unusual, and needed hardware
We jumped on the ideas and in 3 months delivered a mobile website

10. Debenhams Direct has developed an agency-like culture
• We test and innovate on a small scale, it is low risk, cheap
• Low key internal platform and partner selection for project ideas
• ‘Can do’ team - we like to think we can do anything in 3 months
• Business teams solution and challenge e-commerce architecture
• Development resources asked to stretch their skills and innovate
Transforming perceptions of what is achievable and timelines

11. Devolution of development presents new challenges
• Tests and experiments evolve into business critical systems
• Small teams and partners asked to provide 24/7 support
• The business short-cut IT processes for change and deployment
• A fragmented architecture develops, no clear owner
• Innovation is at the expense of business tooling and flexibility
• Systems team need to be on board but sometimes feel marginalised
Our best resources are bogged down in support and maintenance

12. Sustainable innovation needs governance and process
• Technology marches onward – platform fragmentation increases
• A process for innovation that incorporates systems teams
• Balancing maintenance, merchandising, support vs new projects
• What resources do we recruit in the new world?
We’ve evolved... It’s time to invest in a strategy for innovation