Karenann Terrell, EVP and Chief Information Officer at Walmart, sat for an interview with the Diplomatic Courier at "Talent Mobility & the Future of Jobs: The World in 2050".
[Diplomatic Courier:] How important are IT skills to talent development at Walmart?
[Karenann Terrell:] So, when you look at technology-related skills, there’s a continuum. The highest level of skills come in the technology department and in the engineering organization. We have a very engineered supply chain, which is how we deliver everything that we do in retail at the lowest costs, we take price out of our supply chain. A lot of industrial mechanical engineers, from that side of things to the IT organization, which is the one that I manage globally. The need for the best technologists and the highest skills, because of the scale of Walmart, is just critical. Our ability to both manage really really large scale IT, as well as develop the innovation for current and next generation—whether it be in the area of e-commerce, whether it be in the area of big data, or just improving on cloud and mobile capabilities for our customers—it is just absolutely critical. But it’s this continuum. So that exists for pure technologists, the very best in the world that work at Wal-Mart. But think about the need for technology infused merchants who are our buyers for items in retail. Think about the need for store managers who understand technology. Because what you don’t see underneath the skin in a store is a very very strong compliment and portfolio of technology capabilities. So we need technology-infused capabilities both in our stores and our distribution centers as well as in our IT departments and engineering organizations.
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Karenann Terrell of Walmart: IT Skills and Talent Development at Walmart
February 28, 2014
Karenann Terrell, EVP and Chief Information Officer at Walmart, sat for an interview with the Diplomatic Courier at "Talent Mobility & the Future of Jobs: The World in 2050".
[Diplomatic Courier:] How important are IT skills to talent development at Walmart?
[Karenann Terrell:] So, when you look at technology-related skills, there’s a continuum. The highest level of skills come in the technology department and in the engineering organization. We have a very engineered supply chain, which is how we deliver everything that we do in retail at the lowest costs, we take price out of our supply chain. A lot of industrial mechanical engineers, from that side of things to the IT organization, which is the one that I manage globally. The need for the best technologists and the highest skills, because of the scale of Walmart, is just critical. Our ability to both manage really really large scale IT, as well as develop the innovation for current and next generation—whether it be in the area of e-commerce, whether it be in the area of big data, or just improving on cloud and mobile capabilities for our customers—it is just absolutely critical. But it’s this continuum. So that exists for pure technologists, the very best in the world that work at Wal-Mart. But think about the need for technology infused merchants who are our buyers for items in retail. Think about the need for store managers who understand technology. Because what you don’t see underneath the skin in a store is a very very strong compliment and portfolio of technology capabilities. So we need technology-infused capabilities both in our stores and our distribution centers as well as in our IT departments and engineering organizations.
