Technologists need to focus on people: John Cox Coles CTO

Chief technology officers can’t just be technologists, it's always about people and the relationships that they build according to John Cox, CTO at Coles.

During the Salesforce Retail Consumer Goods Summit 2022 in Melbourne, Cox explained to delegates why it is important for CTOs to understand that the role incorporates the relationship between people and technology.

He said, “You have to always get the basics right. Using a psychology analogy, it's like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You've got to have food and shelter before you do integration.

“You've got to get that right and then it's that true understanding of the business and bringing new ideas.”

Cox said since working at Coles for the past 11 months, the supermarket giant is in the middle of its technology strategy in conjunction with the rest of the organisation.

“You start to see you can do pretty much anything you want to do with the technology but what matters is your imagination and your ability to realise the potential of technology,” he explained.

“The role has changed. It's not about keeping the lights on, but it is keeping the lights on. But it's much more than that. I feel like I've had the benefit of doing company strategy and dealing with government, communicating that helps you to actually make sure that the technology [gets implemented].”

Cox said people love people, so the brand doesn’t want to take them away and would rather emulate in-person experiences online.

“[With] online, you can delight people in surprising ways. For us, you'll get free products online and in-store and you'll get a sample. It's a similar thing that we that we do online, I think loyalty is another part of it.

“But more broadly, loyalty is another opportunity for people, whether it's additional value that we created for them, whether it's your ideas and recipes, that inspiration side that we talked about,” he added.