When Pick n Pay committed to a turnaround strategy in February 2024, the role of IT was clear: support the business and deliver results without unnecessary complexity. For CIO Mark Tudor, that meant focusing on practical innovation and measurable value.
Pick n Pay CIO Mark Tudor describes the role of IT as a “supporting actor” rather than a lead, shaped by a very clear strategy around becoming future fit and more profitable as a business overall.
“We are comfortable in that role. Our job is to be the most efficient and effective technology partner to the business,” Mark notes. “Transforming a retail business is a slow process, requiring consistent improvements in performance, price perception and service delivery to drive customer behavioural change. I believe we are on the right track.”
He began his career in consulting, working for companies like SAP and HCL-Axon. This experience has proven critical in navigating the challenges of building and executing a technology strategy for one of South Africa’s largest retailers. As part of the turnaround effort, his team established a new function to bridge IT and business.
“We have created a function in IT known internally as business optimisation. It is led by someone with more of a business background, rather than pure IT. Their role is to align technology decisions and solutions to business outcomes,” he explains.
That function has helped shift the mindset in the IT team from simply being technologists to enablers of positive business outcomes according to Mark. “The business outcome is what matters and the wins with the technology implementation do not count if the outcome is not there, which can initially be a challenging mindset for techies to adopt,” he adds.
Innovation with purpose
At Pick n Pay, innovation isn’t always about chasing the next big idea, at times it’s about using the available tools better. “We try to innovate in ways that create a more efficient and effective business. There are huge opportunities to spend money on ideas that don’t create value. The real challenge is to make the most of the capability you already have,” Mark says.
That focus has led to targeted improvements across the enterprise.
In addition to this focus there are also targeted investments being made in key areas that are critical to any retailer. One example is the investment in demand forecasting. “If you get your sales forecast wrong, you overinvest in working capital, you risk high wastage and lower your product availability in stores. Improving sales forecasting is a big efficiency win.”
His team has also been challenged on how data and analytics is delivered – not by adding new platforms, but by driving more value from existing data. “We’re changing how we consume data and trying to get better value out of what we already have.”
When it comes to emerging technology, Mark sees potential in generative AI for the future. “There are not too many references in the core application set we use where generative AI has been productionised successfully, but we are experimenting with smaller use cases internally that help us learn. There are opportunities to fundamentally change historically challenging areas like master data maintenance. The challenge is knowing when to build the solution yourself or let others innovate.”
He believes it is more practical to watch where others are succeeding and to learn from them. “We prefer to let someone else pay the school fees and then shamelessly plagiarise where it makes sense for us,” he says jokingly.
Making a positive impact
Mark is clear about what keeps him motivated, and it isn’t the technology but it’s rather the people. “The people aspect is probably my favourite part of the job, I enjoy motivating people to perform in the roles they have been given. This remains a management challenge but it’s one I enjoy and I believe it matters.”
Pick n Pay’s scale and legacy add weight to the work Mark does and continues to underscore the importance of ensuring the business continues to thrive. “We employ over 30,000 people directly and we are all committed to making a positive societal impact as a business.”
On high-pressure days, Mark relies on his team. “I am not the person who fixes everything. My job is to make sure the right people are in the right roles, they are the ones on the ground who resolve the challenges.”
Despite cost pressures, investment in skills development continues as a critical investment. He adds that training needs to align with business strategy and value. “We need to ensure that we continue to have the right people, in the right roles with the right skills,” he explains.
“This requires a continuous focus in the team to ensure we understand the impact of our strategy on our current skills base and have an eye on planning for the future by investing in our people.”
Building a successful IT career
For Mark, future tech leaders will need to focus less on the tools and more on the value they enable. “The key to building a successful career in the future will be to understand how value is created – and work out how to create more of it. That is the heart of any career.”
Looking back, he credits his progress to showing up and taking opportunities as they came. “I think it’s important to work hard at the opportunities you have and to treasure every relationship you build along the way. You shouldn’t see your career or roles in isolation, but as opportunities to build a network of people who can support you throughout your career.”
Outside of work, Mark enjoys spending time with his family, riding mountain bikes and, while reading has taken a back seat to work and life, he still manages to find the time. The last book Mark read was an autobiography by Peter Moll who had been a conscientious objector in the 80s. “I generally also try to listen to the Alec Hogg podcast when I can, along with some content from Moneyweb.”
Looking ahead, Mark sees a shift in the future of technology roles. “I don’t think IT will exist in 10 to 15 years’ time as the traditional central standalone function that it does today in most organisations. I believe that over time more and more of this central function will move into the business it serves as the criticality of aligning business and technology increases,” he says.
“There should be no gap in a function between the leadership that manages it and the technology that supports it. This will challenge our current organisational structures and thinking.”
