Interview: Compass Group, UK IT Industry Awards finalist
Digital as a competitive advantage
"Compass are using data and insights to drive innovations that improve the customer facing experiences, ensuring they focus on personalisation and are as friction free as possible."
Information technology has only grown more important over the last decade. No longer seen as a cost centre, it's now widely accepted that people can use IT to improve their creativity, productivity and knowledge.
The UK IT Industry Awards are the largest and most well-known event in the technology industry calendar. Owned and operated by Computing and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, the awards enjoy a level of professionalism and industry knowledge not seen at other shows.
This year's winners were announced at a live awards ceremony on Wednesday, 9th November.
One of the finalists was Compass Group UK & Ireland, in the running for the Emerging Technology of the Year.
Before the awards, we caught up with Pete Waugh, Digital & Data Director at Compass Group, to find out what makes his company different from other technology firms.
Peter is an experienced and recognised leader in the digital experience, CRM and data & analytics space. He's credited for his transformational contributions to world-class businesses including British Gas, Odeon Cinemas Group, Vodafone Group, Telefonica O2, Sky, British Airways, Avios and BBC.
Previously recognised in the DataIQ 100, Peter is the Digital and Data Director at Compass Group UK&I. Compass uses data and insights to drive innovations that improve the customer facing experiences, ensuring they focus on personalisation and are as friction free as possible.
Computing: Please provide some background on your company for our readers.
Pete Waugh: Part of the FTSE international entity Compass Group, based in Chertsey, Compass Group UK & Ireland is the UK's leading food and support services provider, operating in over 6,000 locations. We are the people behind the food, hospitality and services operating in sectors such as education, business and industry, healthcare, government and defence, as well as sports & leisure. From outstanding restaurant and dining experiences in amazing venues and stadiums, to feeding students, patients, workers and military personnel - we serve thousands of meals across the UK every day.
How is your company different from its peers?
In a Digital & Technology context: Digital provides us with a real competitive advantage and differentiates us from our peers. The COVID pandemic allowed us to speed up a lot of our digital transformation and this momentum has continued, at pace across our business.
We are becoming recognised for our thought leadership and first-to-market digital innovations in the food service space. An example of this is our frictionless store concept first launched in Ireland and now being rolled out across other sites in the UK. Importantly, we use quantitative data to prove these innovations drive game changing growth and real value to the customer and client experience via digital technology.
We pride ourselves on collaboration and world class partnerships, with our clients and suppliers. These are critical for Compass to bring digital transformation that delivers against what our clients want - creating change and ongoing improvements that matter.
What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?
We are on a mission to transform the UK&I food services industry; it's all about delivering real value and growth for our business, clients, and end customers. I am most proud of the fact that we were the first to market in UK&I (and Europe!) for the Computer Vision AI checkout-free solution in multiple formats and environments. We're seeing great success with these concepts.
What are you working on this year?
To continue to create and drive adoption of a world class suite of scalable omni-channel digital food ordering products and experiences. This will deliver value for our clients and drive efficiencies for our business.
Why are events like the UK IT Industry Awards important to the IT industry?
They recognise, celebrate and give insight into innovative technology across all industries and businesses.