BEST BUY
“What we delivered to the enterprise doubled during the initial couple of years”
ANNA BAREJ, VICE PRESIDENT OF PROCUREMENT, BEST BUY
‘ what was your biggest challenge?’. The answer was people’ s reaction to and embrace of change.”
The transformation initially triggered some major shifts, with some team members who weren’ t aligned with the new vision opting to depart Best Buy.
While challenging, Anna views this as ultimately beneficial for both the individuals and the function.
She continues:“ We had significant turnover during the first two years of the transformation, primarily because many individuals didn’ t necessarily believe in the future or they weren’ t comfortable with the approach, so they self-selected themselves out of the organisation.
“ Ultimately, I think that was a good thing – for them and for us.”
Successful change management required a dramatically different leadership approach, focused on keeping team members informed and involved in decision-making, as well as providing them with genuine ownership of the transformation journey.
Anna adds:“ The approach to change management required a very different way of working on my part and on my leadership team’ s part. We focused on ensuring our team played a role in the transformation, leading change versus being expected to only react to it.”
Technology as a transformation enabler Best Buy’ s procurement transformation has been heavily enabled by technology, with solutions from multiple partners, including SpendHQ, playing crucial roles.
A particularly challenging aspect was consolidating data from dozens of disparate legacy systems into a unified view.
10 bestbuy. com