Exit interview: Amitabh Apte, Mars Petcare CIO

‘No change is just technical - you have to respect that’

Reflecting on lessons learned across five years and three transformations.

There's never a ‘right' time to leave a business, but for Amitabh (Amit) Apte, CIO at Mars Petcare, completing two major digital transformations and helping to kickstart a third marked a good turning point.

Amit has been with Mars for more than five years, and although it's difficult, he considers this the perfect time to move on.

"If you look at the industry cycle, the amount of innovation which is happening, I think it's quite a logical check point - not just for me, but for any of the execs."

He adds, "If there ever was a right time, this is probably it, so that I can allow the next leader to come in and then take over. It's an excellent opportunity to be what we call the single head on the horse."

Lessons learned

We're all an amalgam of our own experiences, and when we leave one position we take the lessons we've learned to the next.

Amit has worked in a range of industries over 25 years: finance, retail, technology, and of course CPG. His lessons are as varied as his career.

"The biggest lesson [I've learned] is that any change we're trying to do is not just a technical change. It's the change of key business processes. It's the change of key people and cultural aspects. It is a change to financial and commercial aspects.

"As a technology leader, if you don't respect that, it's a recipe for a lack of success."

All about the ecosystem

You also need to be aware of the link between people and ecosystems, especially in the modern world of work.

"In ‘ecosystem' I would include the analyst community, the researchers, the journalists, the partners, the tech players - all of them form the ecosystem."

The ecosystem plays a large part in making sure senior technologists can stay on top of the rapidly changing tech market.

"It used to be that a few years back, you'd just have a subscription from industry-leading analysts, and you're done. Well, that's no longer enough, because what's to say that that analyst actually knows [what they're talking about]?"

Events like Computing's, including the recent IT Leaders Summit, are "so important" now. Attendees can gain practical advice from peers, partners and industry problem-solvers on how to approach the modern technology sector's challenges.

Test and learn

One such challenge is adjusting to new buying habits. Amit's third lesson is summed up as "test and learn": rolling out programmes on a small scale and keeping contracts small and agile.

"Basically, it's not signing up for large programmes and large, multi-year corporate deals, and then once you start your contract's bad. I think the days for that are probably numbered or are already gone."

That's certainly the case for a company of Mars' size, operating across multiple regions and brands.

"One size doesn't fit all, so you need the awareness that maybe an emerging market demands a different level of sensitivity from commercial or from financial people than a market like Europe or North America."

Amit left Mars at the end of September, and has just started his new role as chief digital and business technology officer at Italian CPG firm Barilla Group. In that position, blending tech and business, he will focus on the traditional digital elements as well as a diverse portfolio encompassing demand generation, the supply chain and sustainability.

Could this role, blending inward-looking IT and external partnerships, be the model for the IT leader going forward?