REEDS Jewelers

Arthur Phidd, the chief information officer (CIO) at Reed Jewelers, brings over 25 years of global executive-level experience in driving digital transformation in diverse industries like banking, retail, e-commerce, and more. In the course of his career, he has led prominent global and national brands like Avon Products, Ann Taylor, 1800flowers, BNB Bank, and Cable & Wireless International in over 10 countries. Furthermore, as a faculty member at the University of the West Indies, he shares his knowledge in areas such as innovation, change management, and IT economics. 

In an exclusive interview with Retail Business Review, Phidd shares his valuable insights on the importance of implementing cybersecurity strategies in retail.

Can you explain your key roles and responsibilities at the organization?

As the Chief Information Officer at REEDS Jewelers, I oversee various critical areas in the company’s IT ecosystem, including cyber security strategies, risk management, E-commerce digital infrastructure, and all business support applications. My responsibilities also include overseeing the company’s ERP platforms, HR payroll, point of sale, work management, and inventory management systems. 

Additionally, I oversee responsibilities related to the integration partners, such as Amazon, the Amazon marketplace, Google, and various cloud service providers. Furthermore, my strategic responsibilities include driving innovation, initiating change, and leading the digital transformation enabled by the IT transformation program.

What are some of the challenges that you encountered as the CIO at Reeds and what measures are you taking to address them?

One aspect of the dynamic IT landscape is the constant risk associated with cyber-attacks. A substantial part of my focus is dedicated to strategizing and orchestrating numerous projects that aim to facilitate the transition of a company from its legacy technology stack.

Another priority is the data architecture that will allow the company to meet its goal of being a data-driven organization. This entails establishing a data lake that brings data in from all of our channels—be it the retail sector comprising 89 brick-and-mortar stores, Reeds.com, or the Amazon marketplace, both fulfilled by Merchant and Amazon. This data is enriched with key performance indicators to drive our marketing strategies, aligning with our customer acquisition and retention objectives.

It is also important to practice servant leadership focused on nurturing future leaders within your IT team and cultivating an environment that fosters innovation and creativity.

Another factor is to create new IP organizations, a process that's currently underway. Initially, our IP team functioned more like a help desk, focused on basic maintenance for innovation or challenging established processes. A shift from this approach required educating team members about the expectations of a 21st-century IT organization, emphasizing the diverse skill sets, and expanding services beyond traditional infrastructure upkeep.

I spend a lot of time working with our legal team, looking at contracts and agreements with our various Software as a Service (SAS) partners, and implementing an essentially hybrid cloud framework. As part of this transition, we have relocated most critical services from our on-site computer facilities to purpose-built cloud hosting centers, manned 24 hours a day by specialized personnel trained in system maintenance and support.

How do you implement these changes within your organization?

The company's IT department lacked a center of excellence or practice focused on the program management office, quality assurance, and IT capital expenditures management. To address this, we have established a center of excellence within IT, aimed toward planning and administration. Within this framework, we have implemented best practices in project management, including vendor selection processes, request for proposal (RFP) assessments, requirement analyses, and crucial decision-making regarding partnerships. These checkpoints now serve as gates for vendors seeking to engage in service agreements with us.

I have also established what we term the Strategic Planning Committee with me as its chair, a high-level C-suite group that meets monthly. Our primary function is to empower business leaders to develop business cases for their IT investments. This move has shifted the responsibility for crafting these cases from IT to the respective lines of business. By implementing this checkpoint, business owners present their cases to the committee for expenditure approval. While decisions may vary, we evaluate the return on investment and duration and conduct post-implementation assessments to verify the claims made in the business case.

The established frameworks, methodologies, and protocols are designed to minimize the inherent risks associated with failed IT implementations, including the wrong vendor selection.

What advice would you give to your fellow peers and young professionals in the field?

The advice I would give is that you cannot be a successful Chief Information Officer without identifying your key internal partners and customers. It is essential to establish effective change management strategies to gain support from your staff, peers, and superiors including the Chief Executive and the Board of Directors.

It is also important to practice servant leadership focused on nurturing future leaders within your IT team and cultivating an environment that fosters innovation and creativity. Additionally, it is essential to garner the support of the chief executive and board of directors for success in this role.