EXCLUSIVE: Behind the Scenes at SpartanNash’s Immersive IT Event
A band kicked off the event, jamming under a tent on a sunny afternoon. Attendees could check out live sessions held across multiple stages. The vibe was electric, with a spirit of camaraderie.
It may sound like a summertime music festival, but this particular happening in Byron Center, Mich., was actually geared for IT professionals, more likely equipped with laptops than concert-ready knapsacks. From Sept. 23-25, food solutions company SpartanNash is hosting its first IT Training Palooza, a three-day event that brought together nearly 300 company associates from around the country.
The inaugural IT Training Palooza stemmed from the leadership team’s efforts to leverage customer-centric innovation to enhance its technology paradigm. After reviewing engagement surveys from associates, the leaders determined that in-person training programs would be viewed as valuable.
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“We had multiple leader sessions in technology where we did a pulse check, and the engagement survey feedback came loud and clear: We have to carve out time as a community of contributors to come together as a group and we have to make it fun,” explained Masiar Tayebi, EVP and chief strategy and information officer, who sat down with Progressive Grocer ahead of the event to talk about the inspiration and goals behind the program. “One of the themes was that associates wanted more training and development – they said, ‘I want to interact with people and I want some level of community and engagement.’ When you’re trying to innovate, sometimes you have to get in a room and whiteboard – you have to just talk and riff.”
The agenda for the IT-focused event includes a variety of hot-button and emerging issues. “We’re bringing together these leading-edge tech companies. On one of the days, we’re going to have training sessions across all of these topics and at any given hour, you’re doing to have six ‘stages’, or conference rooms, where people can rotate through. It’s an immerse experience,” Tayebi said.
Almost a year of planning went into this first-of-its-kind event with a theme borrowing from the music industry. “Instead of rap and country, we’re going to have cybersecurity,” noted Tayebi with a laugh.
The 15-plus hours of programming covers AI, automation, time management and supply chain innovations, among other subjects. To Tayebi’s point, major tech companies like Microsoft, Snowflake and BMC are sharing their training and insights to spur solutions within the grocery sector.
Associates will also engage with company leaders. “One of the other themes that came out of the survey is people want to talk to the executive leadership team. So every ELT member is spending an hour doing a fireside chat with about 15 to 25 IT associates, just talking about their vision for their respective areas, talking about what they see in the future, and then listening,” Tayebi reported.
At the kickoff of the event on Sept. 23 – and following a set by SpartanNash’s in-house band known as “Out of Office “ – CEO Tony Sarsam underscored that customer-focused immersion in strategic inventiveness across all functions, including the increasingly important IT group. “We are in a relatively competitive, relatively low-margin industry, which means you have to be on your game. You have to do things extraordinarily well to win and to live that part of your overall core behaviors. And then you think about the role that the IT organization plays and the tools we use, you think about how important that is,” Sarsam told the audience of IT associates. “We have to take our role and be proud of the fact that we are the guardian, we are the servant to the servant of the customer and we need to figure out how to make that work. No one's going to do better than we do and we don't want to outsource that.”
Tayebi echoed that sentiment. “The thing that gets me most excited is that we're going to help people. I know we'll come out of this better and we'll be able to help our associates and our shoppers more than ever before. We'll be sharper. We'll be focused, we'll be energized. And so that gets me super excited,” he shared.
IT plays into the customer experience in many ways, he added. “We’ve found that you have to be thoughtful on what the use cases are. How are you going to actually make someone's life better?”
Also at the kickoff event, SpartanNash presented a donation to the local nonprofit group Bravo LT that is teaming with the company to create the next generation of IT talent in the West Michigan community.
With 17,000 associates, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based SpartanNash operates two complementary business segments: food wholesale and grocery retail. Its global supply chain network serves wholesale customers that include independent and chain grocers, national retail brands, e-commerce platforms, and U.S. military commissaries and exchanges. On the retail side, SpartanNash operates 147 brick-and-mortar grocery stores, primarily under the banners of Family Fare, Martin's Super Markets, and D&W Fresh Market, in addition to dozens of pharmacies and fuel centers. The company is No. 45 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. SpartanNash is also among PG’s 2024 10 Most Sustainable Grocers.
