Many of my projects and programmes are technology-enabled, and I have worked both inside and outside of IT in many organisations. My ability to bridge the gap between IT, business and customer proposition helps be create solutions to business problems that help customers, whilst exploiting technology and delivering pragmatically. Here are a relevant selection of clients, case studies, references and articles about this work.
“I supported the board with a demerger of the business, refinancing and plans for expansion” I supported this family owned business to manage the practicalities of a demerger of their business that they had agreed to carry out. Once complete, I supported the CEO, new board and investors to develop an ambitious new strategy including[…]
“I supported the board with strategy development and planning” I worked with the board of this B2B retailer of tools and other equipment and suppliers, to develop a turnaround and growth strategy, together with leadership development and coaching. Having completed a series of workshops and parallel strategic planning, I worked with functional teams, in particular[…]
“I led the GO Outdoors IT function and Business Change programme through acquisition by JD Sports.” I joined the GO Outdoors executive board in 2016 as part of the team preparing the business for exit from its founders and private equity investors. Following a lengthy sale and due diligence process, including a post-sale strategy definition[…]
I led the GO Outdoors IT function and business change programme through acquisition by JD Sports. In this article, the Financial Times confirms the CMA’s decision to approve the acquisition.
“I have helped the Co-op on a number of occasions across a variety of their businesses and functions.” 2 major assignments with the Co-op were leading their supply chain transformation programme following the acquisition of Somerfield and leading their cultural change programme to support the relaunch and rebranding of the group. Programme Director – Supply Chain[…]
“I consulted with this online retailer, supporting the restructure of their transformation programme.” With nearly £1 billion turnover across over 20 multi-channel retail brands, N Brown is one of the largest online retail operators in the UK. When new senior management joined the business in 2014 they engaged me to support the review of their £100m technology-enabled business[…]
“I’ve supported Arco, the B2B safety products retailer, on a number of assignments including a period as interim Change & IT Director” Arco is the UK’s number one provider of workplace safety products & services. With over 60 stores and sales offices across the UK, this family-owned B2B retailer turns over around £300m each year (as at 2015).[…]
Iain joined the Arco operations board at a critical time in our business development process. His ability to quickly assess the organisations complexities and make sense of the key priorities is truly impressive. He is able to blend strategic insight and operational requirements to develop business strategies that differentiate and deliver real value. I really[…]
Iain did a superb job for us, far exceeding our expectations. He was engaged for 9 months to help us 1) formulate an IT strategy, 2) lead the IT/Change function with over 50 colleagues and land the required organisational change, 3) support the E-commerce Director and 4) support/develop his permanent replacement in the role. This[…]
“I consulted with Morrisons on a variety of digital initiatives, including leading the design & delivery of a major CRM programme.” Morrisons is the 4th largest supermarket in the UK with a turnover in excess of £15bn pa and around 500 stores. Following acquisition of Safeway in 2004 and the ensuing integration and changes in[…]
Iain has remarkable energy and tenacity. He created an excellent foundation for me in Morrisons, building the CRM capability. His knowledge and expertise in these matters is very strong, he served Morrisons well. I was very worried when he said that he had been consulting for us rather too long (over 2 years) and would[…]
I created and led the Morrisons CRM programme which built a world class capability for managing customer data. In this article, Marketing Week discusses the scope of the CRM capability.
Iain is a real pro, one of the brightest thinkers I’ve worked with in any company. Very strategic and disciplined in his thinking, but also a real operators ability to put the ideas in to practice. An absolute wealth of knowledge and experience across many industries, I have personally consulted with Iain over the last[…]
“What started as a consulting brief focused on growth quickly turned into a turnaround-focused restructuring assignment.” With over €12 billion turnover through over 120 multi-channel retail brands, Otto is one of the very largest online retail operators globally. Otto acquired a number of retail catalogue brands in the UK in 1999, including Freemans and Grattans,[…]
“I was engaged as an associate to consulting firm Xansa to lead their transformation programme for MyTravel” Prior to its acquisition by Thomas Cook Group, MyTravel Group plc was a major retailer and operator of package holidays, with 16,000 employees, 700 travel agent shops and over £1bn turnover. Prior to its acquisition by Steria, Xansa PLC[…]
“Following a 10 year career in a variety of senior management roles, I’ve continued to consult with Asda on occasional projects.” Asda is the second largest supermarket retailer in the UK with annual sales of around £20 billion and almost 200,000 employees. The business became part of the largest retailer in the world, Wal-mart Inc, in[…]
I developed a customer data and CRM vision and strategy to create a single view of the customer across Asda’s multiple channels, product & service lines. This case study provides more detail.
Building Asda’s multi-channel retail business across web, call centre, catalogue, CD-Rom and interactive TV is no mean feet. We explain how we achieved it in a little over 12 months.
I led the programme to build Asda’s online technology platform, one of the largest online retail propositions in the UK. Iain Spence was the featured Information Age interview discussing what it takes to develop such large scale platforms.
I led Wal-Mart’s integration of Asda’s back office and financial operations – the largest change programme in UK retail history. This case study provides more detail.