Backends to Breakthroughs

From frictionless checkouts to AI-powered inventory, retail’s digital backbone took center stage at the CIO Summit. In a standout panel, top CIOs and tech leaders revealed how integrated, agile tech stacks are not simply supporting growth but accelerating it.

With Adam Docrat, Head of IT (UAE and Ireland) at Chemist Warehouse UAE, moderating, conversations focused on real-time data, automation, and predictive systems. 

“When you think backend to breakthroughs, it sounds like a bad IT project, but today we’re flipping that script. We’re here to talk about the real breakthroughs and how our esteemed panelists turn messy backends, stubborn systems, and change the mindset of those working around us,” Adam said.

Sedat Firat, Chief Digital Officer, FLORMAR, opened the discussion, “One of our goals in the past year was to be a more data-driven company. This meant streamlining decision-making through data-driven processes. We have an executive committee, a board, and talented people, but ultimately, the data must drive the decisions.”

FLORMAR’s most significant achievement was implementing SAP’s Integrated Business Planning (IBP) solution. “Our goal with IBP was to create a no-human-touch process to optimise our supply chain operations. We manufacture all our products in Turkey and distribute them to over 70 countries, with more than 100,000 touchpoints. At this scale, the demand for precision and consistency is immense, it’s simply impossible to manage manually,” Sedat explained.

Further on, Bappaditya Banerjee, Director, Business Transformation, BFL Group, emphasised the critical nature of response times. He said, “In the world of brands and bulk purchasing, speed is everything. We receive deals and offers from suppliers and brand principals across the globe, often involving 10,000+ items per offer sheet. If we don’t respond within 24 hours, we lose the deal to competitors.”

To respond to this challenge, he said, “We’re building an AI-powered offer management tool that automatically scrapes product attributes, retail prices, and supplier terms. It generates data-driven counteroffers in real time, ensuring a response within 24 hours, keeping us competitive. Losing an offer means losing business, and our profitability depends on turning these deals around fast.”

On cost optimisation, Darine Sabbagh, General Manager E-commerce and Omnichannel, Chalhoub Group (FACES), shared her insights, “It’s part philosophy, part business discipline. Alignment is everything. Our approach is simple, fast ROI—every tech investment must unlock revenue quickly, often within 12 months. We focus on incremental scaling, ensuring each move pays for the next. While executing fast, we also roadmap the ‘make-or-break capabilities’ needed in 2–3 years.”

Additionally, Debdatta Bagchi, Head of IT, Ajmal Perfumes, emphasised, “They say technology has entered the boardroom, and while that’s true, adoption alone isn’t enough. The real challenge is alignment. Technology must serve business goals. Value comes first from process efficiency and second from tangible ROI. Today’s AI-driven world offers endless choices, but not every solution fits your business. The key is selecting what’s right, not just what’s new.”

In the context of tech in retail, Mohammad Noohu, Associate Director – IT, Union Coop, provided a compelling transformation example, “In 2014, we at Union Coop launched a traditional ‘earn and burn’ loyalty program. But we recognised that to build deeper customer relationships and stand out in today’s competitive market, loyalty needed to become a complete digital ecosystem.”

The transformation from program to platform included an integrated e-commerce app, a sophisticated gamification system, and enterprise intelligence tools called “Hawkeye” and “Edge.” Results within two weeks were dramatic,

• Customer engagement jumped 17%
• Session durations lengthened by 20%
• Gamification features saw 40% participation
• 8–9% of users emerged as unique customers
• E-commerce sales grew 20%
• Daily sales saw consistent 5% uplift
  

“These tools became our competitive edge. Hawkeye provides comprehensive performance analytics across all categories, while Edge gives our marketing team real-time offer optimisation capabilities, we can literally see what’s driving profit as it happens,” Mohammad explained.

Being a tech-first company, Ahmad Yousry, Co-Founder and CEO, Rabbit, represented a different perspective, “We’re actually the opposite of most panelists here, as a tech company that’s now transforming into a retail business. At Rabbit, whether it’s groceries, fashion, or cosmetics, we deliver in under 20 minutes. This means every part of our operation is measured in seconds.”

Their foundation is a technology platform where “every product is tracked via live inventory systems. We know exact stock levels across all locations in Egypt and Saudi, and we measure every second wasted in the process—whether human or automated,” emphasised Ahmad.

Additionally, he highlighted their AI transformation, “As a four-year-old company, we’re undergoing our first major reboot, and AI is fundamentally changing how we operate. It’s turning 1x employees into 10x performers, and 10x stars into 100x assets. It’s revolutionising our marketing, demand planning, and forecasting.”

Rajesh Garg, Group Chief Financial Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer, Landmark Group, provided an enterprise perspective on AI maturity, “At the front, our entire content creation is heavily impacted, the speed and the cost. We’re witnessing a complete transformation of our studios. In the middle of the enterprise, there are many changes across the company on the entire stack of generation of reports, dashboards. The ability to play with your data is just phenomenal.”

He noted, “The AI agent can now understand the context of a document, which was never there before. All OCR was junk, never worked right. Now we can really make that happen, whether it’s contracts, leases, invoices, or SOPs. So now, any problem, we first think of it as ‘can AI solve this’.”

Rushikesh Bhatt, Head – Information Technology & Business Excellence at Eros Group, shared insights from migrating to S4 HANA Cloud, “I’d divide the challenges into three sections. First is securing commitment because finding time for a project like this requires tremendous effort to get everyone on board. Second, managing the learning curve when adopting new systems means unlearning old ways. Finally, reskilling teams requires empowering people with the right information and training.”

Rahul Mehta, Digital Energy Vice President of Middle East and Africa, Schneider Electric, highlighted the evolution of sustainability in retail, “Five years ago, sustainability was just a checkbox for companies, today, it’s accelerated dramatically. This shift comes from three key drivers, government commitments like UAE’s 2050 net-zero target, consumer demand, and companies asking ‘How does this impact our bottom line?’ Technology has made sustainability profitable. Payback periods have dropped to 18–24 months.”

He cited concrete results, “Take UAE retail, we manage 200+ Carrefour sites, achieving 10–15% energy savings and 30% fewer equipment failures. Sustainability now delivers triple wins, a healthier planet, reduced costs, and enhanced customer experience that builds brand loyalty.”

Taking the conversation a notch above, Darine outlined their future-facing strategy, “We’re focused on two priorities, seamless customer experiences and better use of customer data. We’re building experiences where, for example, a male user sees a completely different catalog. If you’ve browsed something before, the site guides you back to it, nudging you toward a purchase. This experience needs to connect with our CRM and in-store teams, so our Beauty Advisors know you the moment you walk in.”

Agreeing to this, Sedat said, “Hyperpersonalisation is no longer optional. You can’t rely on outdated tech, you need real-time customer insights. Buying patterns often defy assumptions, so you have to follow the customer journey closely, and GenAI helps us do that. It’s not enough to personalise online. If your sales staff doesn’t have access to the same dynamic data, the experience breaks.”

Moving on, Rushikesh reflected on the comprehensive dynamics of tech and emphasised inclusive implementation, “While steering committees with board members are important, true success comes from an inclusive, ground-up approach. We appointed micro-project managers from each function: supply chain, finance, and others, giving them ownership of their specific processes. This makes tech teams focus on delivery without getting bogged down in business context, while business units lead implementation from the front.”

At the same time, Rahul cautioned against data for data’s sake, stressing the need for actionable data, “While dashboards are great, they often just become boardroom wallpaper. The real challenge is making data actionable at both strategic and store levels. Basic functions like store lighting and temperature remain untouched by automation. Bronze for Less implemented our smart facility platform and now has centralised, zero-touch control of all stores, real-time monitoring of energy use and maintenance, and enterprise-wide savings from local actions.”

On yet another important note, Bappaditya stressed the complexity of seamless operations, “When we talk about real-time inventory and seamless checkouts, we’re addressing several critical use cases, real-time replenishment, available-to-promise inventory for online customers, and accurate stock visibility. The key insight is this doesn’t work with piecemeal solutions—you need an entire supporting ecosystem.”

He added, “This includes end-to-end RFID tracking from source to store, with perpetual stock counts. While customers want seamless self-checkout, retailers must balance this with loss prevention, managing hard tag removal, maintaining camera surveillance, and staffing assistance stations during the transition.”

Ahmad shared their startup approach, “We break projects into small, testable chunks and prioritise based on strict cost-benefit analysis. We build all technology in-house for agility. While search helps users find products quickly, it also short-circuits discovery and revenue. We invest heavily in enriching data and search experiences but add just enough friction to encourage discovery without creating frustration. We’re experimenting with moving the checkout just far enough away that people see more of our ecosystem, but not so far that they abandon the cart,” he said.

Finally, Debdatta concluded with practical wisdom, “Technology should enable, not drain, the business. Cloud adoption can help manage costs through an OPEX model, but only if used wisely. Be analytical. Don’t pay for what you don’t use. Always pilot first. A solid cost-benefit analysis is key to staying on budget.”

The session underscored a shared call for purposeful innovation, disciplined tech investment, and mindful leadership. While buzzwords like AI dominate conversations, the real impact lies in strategic execution and retaining business value. Successful tech leadership is about clarity, adaptability, and guiding organizations through change with intent and insight.