Global technology consulting and software development with ThoughtWorks Robin Copland (VP of Retail for North America) and Dianne Inniss (Retail Principal for Customer Experience) of ThoughtWorks, a global technology consultant and software development firm, join Pavan Bahl, Rob Sanchez and Marc Raco on the floor of the Innovation Center of the 2016 eCommerce Show USA in Atlanta, GA. This interview is sponsored by Alert Tech, a powerful tool for retailers to understand the performance of their retail stores and make better business decisions. A discussion of the shift away from technology as a support utility to a strategic mainstay driving shareholder value, the push to connect consumers in new ways as consumer tech changes, and helping retailers think about the full customer journey and a seamless front to back experience. Plus, a huge steak-related announcement! Copland and Inniss touch on understanding intent, being craftsmen, designing solutions with full experience and understanding of user in mind, service design, ambitious challenges that excite you, getting clients to think differently and even about fundamentally change a business model, designing an organization to allow for continuous innovation of business models, and retooling an organization’s processes to deal with an environment in which change is constant. Working with courageous executives with vision and passion, how the brick and mortar store is still the ultimate expression of a brand’s ethos, and the move toward the Internet of Things and the connected home. The split between the millennial consumer and everyone else, limited buying power vs. a new type of engagement, retooling the thinking on reaching customers to change mindset and think differently about technology, helping retailers getting ahead of the game, and thinking about reaching Gen Z customers who only know a digital world. Trendsetting benchmarks, the example of Sephora in connecting touch points with customers, thinking about loyalty, pushing boundaries, and creating a magnetic pull on customers. Building relationships, when a client interest doesn’t match the vendor’s perspective, when it makes sense not to build something, and when saying no makes sense. And ThoughtWorks’ R and D for evolving technologies, their innovation lab, a focus on IOT, block chain, and sensor technology, Technology Radar, and Hacklab Night. The culture of the company, its three pillars of running a sustainable business, a tech core value proposition, and advocating for social and economic justice, and the culture’s impact on client perception. How social and economic justice is part of the company DNA and the cultural aspects results in work around the world. Thepursuits of candidates and clients with a full open mind of a bigger mission, the focus on healthcare, and the Island of Misfit Toys. Off the Grid Questions reveal a fashion a background starting with Willi Wear and Chess King, a career at Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan, Lotus 123 with Wysiwyg, the home of Rihanna, a two room schoolhouse, planning for Hamilton, a 1940s film noire tough dame, Remington Steele vs. Jonathan Hart, and summer day camp and Chariots of Fire inspired piano entrepreneurialism. References: Whole Foods UNICEF Girls Who Code Andela Ben and Jack’s Steakhouse