Latest news with #CraigStanley
Techday NZ
a day ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Exclusive: Craig Stanley on SAP-driven enterprise architecture transformation
Organisations are shifting their IT investment mindset towards reinvention, with artificial intelligence emerging as a key catalyst, according to Craig Stanley, Head of EA Alliances at Kapish. Speaking exclusively to TechDay during the SAP NOW AI Tour Australia & New Zealand in Melbourne, he said the balance between managing costs and driving growth was tilting towards transformation. "Definitely a lot of focus on the reinvent side of things," Stanley said. "Organisations are trying to accelerate their growth, their transformation, for sure." Stanley, whose role at Kapish includes working closely with SAP customers, argued that too many digital strategies fail in execution because of weak alignment between business objectives and technology initiatives. "Any sort of transformation needs to be aligned to the goals of the organisation," he explained. "It's the lack of alignment, but it's also the lack of shared vision. Everyone needs to understand where they're driving to and be part of that journey." He stressed that transformation itself is not the final objective, but a process towards a continually evolving end state. "The no BS way to get there is having a plan," he said. "But it can't be immutable. Some things are going to fail, some will succeed, and some will have unexpected outcomes." Working with SAP-aligned tools such as LeanIX and Signavio, Stanley said Kapish helps customers visualise alternate pathways and keep projects outcomes-focused. He illustrated this with a cloud migration example, where decommissioning a server is just one step towards a broader strategic goal. "Strategy versus tactics is key," he said. "Some tactics might fail, but we want our strategy to still succeed." While not every organisation needs a fully defined 'Plan B', Stanley said the ability to pivot is crucial. "They should be able to identify an alternate path. Fail fast, fail early, but always stay aligned with your strategic goals." Transforming enterprise architecture from a purely planning function into a growth engine requires broad participation, Stanley said. "We talk about the democratisation of Enterprise Architecture - the contributors and consumers of EA should be distributed across the organisation," he explained. "It's the opposite of an ivory tower, where decisions are decreed but not communicated." On governance, Stanley argued that it can either slow progress or become a competitive advantage, depending on its application. "We talk about just enough governance," he said. "Go slow to go fast. Set the guardrails so everyone knows where they're going, without blocking progress or overreaching." Metrics, he added, should always align with strategic objectives and customer outcomes. "What gets measured is what gets done," he said. "Whether it's more customers, reduced hardware spend, or faster solution deployment - it has to connect to the reason you're transforming." Stanley also shared an unexpected business win from implementing LeanIX within SAP customer environments. One client reduced enterprise architect onboarding time from up to six months to just weeks. "They had a knowledge base being maintained," he said. "Within a week, a new starter was effective - far more efficient than the old model." When it comes to legacy systems, Stanley acknowledged the challenges of replacement. "I'd like to say detonate, but the reality is there's so much corporate knowledge in these systems that it's very hard to do," he said. "The business rules are often only documented in the code itself." Looking ahead, he sees enterprise architecture - particularly in SAP landscapes - playing an elevated strategic role. "The future of quality enterprise architecture is a pragmatic outcome, but with clear trust and insights at the C-suite level," he said. Asked what differentiates successful EA leaders, Stanley pointed to vision, communication, and empathy. He highlighted practices like design thinking, where professionals immerse themselves in the environments they serve. "Whether you're wiring networks or doing enterprise architecture, you need to understand the problem you're solving," he said. "Being able to see yourself in other people's perspectives is really important."
Business Wire
17-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Favor Delivery and Thoughtworks Revolutionize the On-demand Shop & Deliver Experience
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Thoughtworks, a global technology consultancy that integrates design, engineering and AI to drive digital innovation, today announced that Favor, the Texas-based on-demand delivery app owned by H-E-B, has launched a new 'Shop & Deliver' platform – an innovative B2B (business-to-business) service that expands capabilities to enrich the shopping experience for customers and delivery fulfillment. 'Together with Thoughtworks, we are excited to release this innovative platform to meet the growing demand for fast and convenient delivery service for both customers and Runners across Texas,' said Steve Romney, CTO, Favor Delivery. Share 'Together with Thoughtworks, we are excited to release this innovative platform to meet the growing demand for fast and convenient delivery service for both customers and Runners across Texas,' said Steve Romney, Chief Technology Officer, Favor Delivery. 'The new 'Shop and Deliver' service is part of our continued commitment to providing exceptional customer service, quality and convenience.' Favor's 'Shop & Deliver' offers features such as real-time inventory updates and streamlines data flow to manage simultaneous shopping and delivery tasks. The 'Shop and Deliver' platform provides a scalable technology, which increases Favor's capacity, flexibility and speed to serve a network of over 100,000 Runners (contract delivery drivers) and customers in more than 400 communities across Texas. "Favor Delivery's vision of delivering superior service and growth, sets them apart in the market. We're excited to partner on this initiative,' said Craig Stanley, Executive Vice President, Thoughtworks Americas. 'Leveraging our expertise in software engineering, Thoughtworks helped Favor co-create and scale a digital platform that delivers extraordinary customer experiences and measurable business impact.' Supporting resources: - ### - About Thoughtworks Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy that integrates design, engineering and AI to drive digital innovation. We are over 10,000 people strong across 48 offices in 19 countries. For 30 years, we've delivered extraordinary impact together with our clients by helping them solve complex business problems with technology as the differentiator.
Business Wire
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Simon & Schuster Teams with Thoughtworks to Revolutionize Language Learning for Greater Innovation and Business Alignment
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Thoughtworks, a global technology consultancy that integrates design, engineering and AI to drive digital innovation, today announced a significant advance in its long term collaboration with Simon & Schuster, a globally recognized publishing leader. Together the companies have future-proofed the digital capabilities of Simon & Schuster's rapidly expanding Pimsleur Language Program to further enhance the learning experience for its global language learners. 'By continuously iterating to optimize performance and user experience, Thoughtworks helped us achieve significant growth in user volume and revenue,' said Tom McLean, SVP Pimsleur Language Programs. Since the partnership's inception in 2017, Thoughtworks and Simon & Schuster have strategically co-created a series of transformative digital enhancements across the Pimsleur digital experience. This includes the relaunch of even more intuitive mobile and web apps with improved accessibility and engagement features, alongside a scalable backend system for streamlined customer management, learning progress tracking, B2B sales and seamless platform integrations. Building on this robust foundation on AWS, AI-powered innovations like Voice Coach for pronunciation and engaging Mini Lessons have powerfully augmented the language-learning journey. 'By continuously iterating to optimize performance and user experience, Thoughtworks helped us achieve significant growth in user volume and revenue,' said Tom McLean, SVP Pimsleur Language Programs. 'For more than 50 years, Pimsleur Language Programs has remained true to the Pimsleur Method that has helped millions of people learn to speak a new language while also continuing to leverage digital platforms and innovative subscription models to meet the needs of modern learners,' said Craig Stanley, Executive Vice President, Thoughtworks Americas. 'We're excited to be partnering with Simon & Schuster as it continuously enhances, elevates and augments the value of its digital assets, such as the Pimsleur Mobile app, to drive tangible results while improving operational cost and efficiencies.' More recently, the integration of advanced Thoughtworks Digital Application Management and Operations (DAMO™) Services has begun to streamline processes and is showing early signs of enhanced collaboration between maintenance and delivery teams supporting the Pimsleur platform. This has initially resulted in seamless performance and efficient product updates, even as functionality and the Pimsleur user base continues to grow. These optimizations help ensure users receive faster, more accurate responses, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and engagement. Supporting resources: - ### - About Thoughtworks Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy that integrates design, engineering and AI to drive digital innovation. We are over 10,000 Thoughtworkers strong across 48 offices in 19 countries. For 30+ years, we've delivered extraordinary impact together with our clients by helping them solve complex business problems with technology as the differentiator.
Business Wire
29-04-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Zones Unveils Global Integrated Platform to Fast-Track Onboarding and Enhance Customer Experience Press Release
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Thoughtworks, a global technology consultancy that integrates design, engineering and AI to drive digital innovation, today announced launching a global customer integration platform for Zones, a leader in end-to-end IT solutions. This platform supports Zones in significantly improving performance as it scales its business globally. Thoughtworks also streamlined onboarding, transforming the platform into a strategic advantage by accelerating time-to-value and simplifying global transitions for Zones' customers. As a highly nimble organization with a global footprint and a vibrant history of embracing change, Zones prides itself on being a trusted advisor to its customers. Building upon the successful digital transformation partnership announced in 2022, the companies co-developed the customer integration platform to provide Zones' B2B customers with faster onboarding with real-time progress tracking and considerably less manual effort. The new self-service developer portal also addresses the challenges of lengthy onboarding processes by significantly reducing time to completion and live transactional productivity from weeks to a few days. 'At Zones, human relationships and expertise are at the core of our approach, with people and technology pushing business forward. So providing our customers with efficient and seamless integration experiences and a best-in-class onboarding experience is paramount,' said Vikas Sachdeva, Vice President – Enterprise Applications, Zones, LLC under whose leadership the global customer integration platform was architected and launched. 'With this new global customer integration platform, developed in partnership with Thoughtworks, we have unlocked new business opportunities, streamlined global operations and positioned Zones as a digital leader across 100+ countries with the agility to scale and exceed customer expectations in the future.' Built on a scalable microservices platform on Microsoft Azure, the global customer integration platform is designed to handle high-volume transactions across multiple regions, including North America, EMEA and APAC. By providing seamless integration through APIs for order details, shipping notifications, product catalog information and inventory queries, the platform enables more efficient operations. 'Zones' commitment to continuous improvement and elevating the customer experience is driving real innovation," said Craig Stanley, Executive Vice President, Thoughtworks Americas. "This strategic partnership, fueled by Thoughtworks' unparalleled expertise in evolutionary architecture and cloud-native microservices, has delivered a powerful global platform that not only delights Zones' customers today but also strengthens the foundation for Zones' future growth through engineering excellence." Looking ahead, this platform will continue to evolve, enhancing agility and responsiveness by streamlining order management and inventory tracking and adding partner integrations to further optimize the customer experience. Supporting resources: About Zones Zones is a global provider of end-to-end IT solutions and services with an unmatched supply chain. Positioned to be the IT partner you need, Zones, a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) in business for over 35 years, specializes in Digital Workplace, Cloud & Data Center, Networking, Security, and Managed/Professional/Staffing services. Operating in more than 150 countries, leveraging a robust portfolio, and utilizing the highest certification levels from key partners, including Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Lenovo, Adobe, and more, Zones has mastered the science of building digital infrastructures that change the way modern organizations do business. About Thoughtworks Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy that integrates design, engineering and AI to drive digital innovation. We are over 10,000 Thoughtworkers strong across 48 offices in 19 countries. For 30+ years, we've delivered extraordinary impact together with our clients by helping them solve complex business problems with technology as the differentiator.
