Tesco Direct Sourcing

Ralph Behnke, Associate Client Partner at Change Management Group, led the change team to support the implementation of new direct sourcing systems at Tesco. 

“The scope of the project was massive. It covered the entire sourcing process, from initial product concept to final warehouse; it took in every retail discipline, and touched on a huge number of third parties.”

“We had to plan the change process in manageable phases, and align it to Tesco’s business goals at every step. First, they wanted to improve the management of their supplier information and then the collaboration between the commercial, sourcing and supplier teams. Next, they needed to tackle logistics: improve capacity planning and availability of stock, and simplify the communication chain.”

We worked with Tesco to define the business requirements for their systems and processes at every stage of the direct sourcing process. We took key personnel on a fact-finding trip to see different systems in operation at major retailers, so that they could make an informed choice to invest in new hardware and software.

We also identified the human resource challenges that the new systems would present in terms of role-change, training and recruitment. We organised appropriate training, and led the team through the testing phase. The systems went live in phases and over the span of the project, the Change Management Group team built up Tesco’s internal capability to deliver change. In the end, we successfully handed over to a strong change management team.

“Although it has the implementation of a new IT platform at its heart, the ultimate success of the programme depends on how we communicate. If you can prepare the ground, get ‘sign-up’ in advance, not only ‘sign-off’ at the end, then you’ll have truly embedded the change.”

Ralph Behnke, Associate Client Partner, Change Management Group