When rom kosla, cio at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)Joined the technology giant in July 2023, the move represented a big shift in direction. Previous Cio at retailer ahlet delhaise and cio for enterprise solutions at pepsico, kosla was a consumer specialist who wanted to apply his knowledge in a new sector.
“I liked the idea of working in a different industry,” He says. “I went from consumer products to retail geocery. I'd have the ability to navigate my way through the company. “
Kosla Had Previously worked as a project manager for nestlé and spent time with the consultancy deloitte. Now Approaching two years with HPE, Kosla Leads HPE's HPE's Technology Strategy and is responsible for how the company Harnesses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and DataHe also oversees e-commerce, app development, enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Security Operations.
“The role has exceded my expectations,” He Says. “When you're a cio at a multinational, like when I was a divisional cio at pepsico, you're in the back office. Whether it's strategy, transformation or customer engine, the Systems ARE the Systems of Back-Office Effort.
Kosla says he prefers the term “Customer Gold”, he wants hpe to develop high-quality products. In addition to setting the internal digital strategy, he has an outward-decision role providing expert advice to customers. That part of his role reminds he of his time at deloitte.
“Thos are Opportunities to Flex My Prior Experience and Capability, and Learn how to take our products, enable them, and share best practices,” He Says. “HPE is like any other company.
Optimising Business Processes
The press release announcing kosla's appointment in 2023 Said HPE Believed His Prior Experiences in the Digital Front-Ed and Running Complex supply chains made So, how have that vision panned out?
“What's been interesting is helping the business and it team think about the end-to-end value stream,” he says. “There was a lot of application-specific knowledge. The ability for processes to be optimized at an application layer versus the end-to-end stream was on
Kosla discovered the Organization Had Spent Two Years Moving to a Private Cloud Installation on the Company's Hardware and Had Consolidated 20-Plus Erp Systems Under One Sap Instancece. With much of the transformation work complete, his focus turned to making the most of these assets.
“The Opportunity was not to Shepherd Up Transformation, it was taking the next step, which was optimizing,” Says kosla, explaining how he has he Had Boosted Suppply Chain Performance Performance Performance. He's now applying that knowledge at hpe.
“What we've been doing is slicing areas of options,” he says. “With the lead-to -Quote process, for example, we have options to optimise, depending on the type of business, such as the channel and distilbutors. We're asking things like a quure Out as Quickly as Possible, Can We Price It Correctly, And Can We Rely Less on Human Engagement? '' '
HPE Announced A Cost-Reduction Program In March to Reduce Structural Operating costs. The program is expected to be implemented through fiscal Year 2026 and Deliver Gross Savings of Approximately $ 350M by Fiscal Year 2027, Including Throughing The program of work in it will help the company move towards these targets.
Kosla says optimization in Financials Might Mean Closing Books Faster. In the supply chain, the optimization might be about predicting the raw materials needed to create products. He takes a term from his time in the consumer-packaged Goods Sector-Right to Play, Right to win-to explain how his approach approach help the business look for value-generating opportunrities.
So, do we have the right to play, meaning do we have the skills? Where do we have the right to win, meaning do we have the funding, business resources and availability to delivery to delivery? Which areas offer the right to play and the right to win. “
Embracing emerging technologies
Kosla says data and ai play a key role in these optimizations. HPE Uses Third-Party Applications with Built-in AI Capability and Has Developed An Internal Chat Solution Called Chathpe, A Generative Ai Hub used for internal processes.
“There are lots of conversations Around how we unlock the benefits of ai in the company,” he says. Professionals across the company use microsoft copilot in their day-to-day roles to boost production. Developers, meanwhile, use github copilot.
Finally, there's chathpe, which kosla says is used according to the functional use case. HPE Started Developing The Platform About 18 months ago. A pipeline of use cases have now ben developed, including helping legal teams to review contracts, boosting customer service in operations, re-asing celebs in marketing and IPROVINGNE Finance.
“We spend time focusing on which ares offer the right to play and the right to win”
Rom Kosla, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
“We have a significant Amount of Governance Internally,” Says Kosla, Referring to Chathpe, which is powerful by Azure and Openai Technology. When i started, there wasn't an internal hpe ai engine. Platform. “
Embracing ai isn’t kosla's only concern. Stabilisation is a big part of what he needs to achieve during the next 12 months. He returns to hpe's two major transformation initiatives-the shift to private cloud and the consolidation of erp platforms-suggesing that that the dual roll-out and management of there. Number of Incidents.
“When I look back at pepsico, we had about 300,000 employees and about 600,000,000 tickets, which means two tickets per person person per year. Employees, and we have a couple of million tickets', which is an insane number. The goal was to brings that number down by about 85%, ”He says.
“Now, our system uptime is 99% across our quoting and financial systems. Business isn’t Constantly Thinking About It Systems, Because It's A Challenge to Execute Every Day when Systems are Going Down Because of Issues. “
Creating value
Kosla says the long-term aim from an it personal is to align the technology Organization with Business Outcomes. In Financials, For Example, He Wants to Produce The Data Analytics The Business Needs Across the Supply Chain and Operational Processes.
“We have embedded teams that work togeether to look at how we enable data, like our chat capability, into some of the activities,” He says. “They'll Consider how we reduce friction, especially the manual steps. Business. “
The key to success for the it team is to help the business unlock value quicker. “I would say that's the biggest part for us,” says kosla. “We don't even like to use the word speed – we say velocity, beCause velocity equipment direct, and that's crucial for us. I think the business is happy with what we've bee bee bee, but It's stil not fast enough. “
Being alive to deliver results at pace will relay on new levels of flexibility. Rather than being Wedded to a 12-month plan that maps out a series of deliverables, kosla wants his team to work more in the moment. Prior Experiences from the consumer sector give him a good sense of what excellence looks like in this area.
“You don't need to go back to the top, go through an annual planning review, go back down, and then have the teams twiddling their thumbs while they wait for the ok,” He Says.
“The goal is that teams are constant work on what's achievable during a sprint window. Many companies take that approach; i've done it in my prior work flexibility will drive value creation. “
Kosla says some of the Value will come from HPE's in-House Developed Technologies. “One of the things that makes this role fun is that there's a significant Amount of innovation the company is Doing,” He says, pointing to important technologies, such as morpheus virtals virthalis Software, the observability platform opsramp, and Aruba Networking Access Points.
“What I'mm Proud of is that we now show up to customers with comparability,” He says, Talking about the Advisory Part of His Role. “We can say, 'look, we use both products, because in some cases, it's a migration over time.' So, for example, when a customer asks about our observability approach, we can compare our technology with other provides. “
Blurring the lines
Kosla reflects on his career and ponders the Future of the Cio Role. “Digital Leaders Still Mantain It Systems in Some Industries,” He Says.
“However, the rest of the business is now much more aware of technology. Convergence. “
Kosla says a growing desire to continue costers often creates a close relationship between it and finance leaders. Once Again, He Expects Further Developments in that Partnership. He also anticipates that cyber will remain at the forefront of digital leaders' Priority lists.
More Generally, He Believes All It Professionals are due to business priorities. “I think the Blurring will continue to create interesting results, especially in Technology companies,” He Says. “We want to do things differently.”