Enzo Bertolini, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. To start off, could you please tell us what the main IT issues that keep you awake atnight are?
Company transformation is a huge issue for us, so I’m really pleased to be giving this interview to a magazine that carries the concept in its title (laughs)! The important thing about transformation, at least in our case, is how to make changes without negatively affecting everyday life in the company. My business colleagues told me to do whatever I wanted as long as I didn’t harm the business. That’s a real challenge – to keep transformation processes on track without disturbing the running of the business.
For a family-owned company engaged in the business of making candy, one would assume that tradition is more important than innovation – true or false?
Innovation is very deeply embedded in our company’s culture. In fact, it’s one of the central statements that our owner has insisted on following since the company was formed in 1946. We’re talking here about process technology, but really the concept of innovation is spread throughout the company, in every department. As a family company, we may be more traditional, but since the very beginning we’ve always looked on technology as a way to gain a competitive edge.
How important then are computers for a company like Ferrero?
It all goes back to the support of business processes. We’re trying to help enable the different groups within the company to take advantage of the best business practices available, in order to improve our ability to play in a globally competitive environment. In 1946, when the company was founded, our strategy was – and it still is today – to grow, by launching new products and developing new markets in new countries. We’re now present in more than 30 countries, with 16 plants, and are achieving gross sales of more than six billion euros. We’re competing against world giants.
Does IT technology actually impact your products directly?
A few years ago, we decided to start a website for our Kids’ Eggs product. As well as the little gifts kids have always loved to find, we now hide magic codes in the eggs too, which give the kids access to play on the website, online. This is just an example of how we’re always trying to implement our important strategy of growing the consumer community around our products. There are currently websites for more than 50 Ferrero products.
What makes your role at Ferrero Group different from that of most CIOs?
Apart from having lots of sweets to eat when I’m on the road (laughs)? No, seriously, the CIO’s job was only established fairly recently at Ferrero. I was appointed in March 2003, and this gave me the chance, for the first time in our corporate history, to lead the entire IT organisation, throughout the group. The fact that as CIO I have a clear central responsibility mirrors the way we’re transforming ourselves from a confederation of sister companies to a multinational group – something that many of my CIO colleagues probably went through years ago.
What was the biggest IT project you undertook in 2007?
We’re currently implementing SAP worldwide, which we expect to take about six years. As you know, SAP isn’t an easy tool to manage, and the company is moving forwards all the time, so it’s a bit like changing the wheel while you’re driving a car. We started in mid 2003, and at the moment we’re working hard in the area of planning, as well as implementing a commercial template in different markets and countries. Two of our biggest projects are related to CRM implementation both in Italy and Germany, where we have the two biggest business units, and the worldwide demand and production planning system. This is a project that affects all national companies and all scheduling plans within the group as a whole.
How is HP supporting you in general?
HP is one of our long-term partners in these developments, and is playing an invaluable role in helping us implement data centre architectures. We recently brought our entire worldwide IT infrastructure together into two large hubs, one based in Italy and the other in Germany. On the service side, they’re helping us manage control systems for the Ferrero Global Network, and we recently signed a big contract with them for our disaster recovery facilities.
How important is IT automation today?
Automation is absolutely crucial if you need, as we do, to guarantee your business 24x7, year-round service everywhere in the world. We’re investing heavily in this area in order to increase our efficiency.
Making automation work calls for lots of highly specialised expertise – and that is something you can’t automate, can you?
We have a good team of people working very closely with the experts from HP to ensure that we achieve the best possible results. We have a policy of not outsourcing essential parts of our business, and the same goes for IT: we prefer to keep crucial knowledge and skills in our company, drawing on external support only when we need it.
How do you cope with the constant pressure to innovate while at the same time concentrating on your “real” everyday job?
That’s always a dilemma – but on the other hand, it’s what makes the job so interesting. Our mission is to be able to perform effectively while looking ahead to what the world of technology will have to offer us in the future. I believe very strongly that we have to do all we can to assist our business units, but it’s also essential to consider new technologies that are potentially disruptive, forcing us to conduct our business in new and better ways.
Does that leave you any time to unwind? How about hobbies or sports?
I usually get to work around eight and I often don’t get home till nine in the evening. As you know, the company is based near Turin – which hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics – so it’s a great place to live if you love skiing, like me. In the summer I try to find time to go hiking. I also love reading and am a great fan of South American literature. This year, I hope finally to get the chance to go to Patagonia and see the wonderful landscape there.
Of course, Piemont is a paradise for people who love fine food and wine. Plus you work for a candy company. Any problems keeping your weight down?
You have to be really careful (laughs)!
Are there any questions you’ve always wanted to answer that nobody has ever asked you?
You could ask me if the people in the company are enjoying working with me through this big, ongoing transformation process. My answer would be yes: I have a really strong and committed team, operating in a new global dimension. After all, we come from a regional culture, and it’s interesting to see how we’re becoming more and more international as we go along. My people are proud of what we’re doing, playing a key role in the transformation of their company and gaining multicultural experience which will bring improvement to us as individuals and as a group. Nobody can change a company on their own – it takes a team to do it.
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