L'Oréal's CIO explains how the company unified fragmented e-commerce systems with Salesforce to become the world's first beauty tech company. AI and customer data now power personalized experiences at scale, with no finish line in sight for digital transformation.
First there's a Swim, which is 2.4 miles, then there's a 112 mile bike and you finish it off with a marathon. And so in total, it's 140.6 miles and a very long day. Competing in triathlon, you're constantly having to deal with setbacks and having to come up with ways to overcome those. There's no question that that has spilled over into the workplace. You know, it's all about discipline and pacing yourself. In this world where things are changing very quickly, the market is changing super fast, consumer habits are moving at the speed of light. It's all about immediacy. I think in today's environment, with the way that technology can create and augment new customer experiences, the bar has been set much higher. And customers expect us to know them and to serve them. We have no choice. The customers are always looking for technology. If you as a brand you see this siloed approach from digital and physical, it's going to be a very challenging future. L' Oreal obviously has a legacy and a history of innovation. Our ambition is to be the world's first beauty tech company. And that puts technology at the center, at the core. What I really appreciate about Michael is that he approaches technology from a business perspective. We don't do technology for the sake of technology. We've adopted this test and learn approach to ensure that the things that we are doing are truly having an impact. And the Salesforce platforms enable us to, you know, connect the dots. Before the implementation of Salesforce, we had a fragmented approach to E commerce with different solutions across various countries, which was a big challenge. I think the customer journey today looks different for literally every single consumer. Salesforce allows us to really understand who we're talking to and what's important to them. And so what we're able to do is stitch together all the individual moments of interaction into one cohesive, connected customer experience. AI allows us to provide great experiences that consumers want and do it at scale. And I'm convinced that this rich data will help us to really fulfill all the customer needs and expectations so we can provide them more personalized solutions and build a long term relationship. The thing that I care about most being a CIO is people. And that has to lead you. You know, I have so much passion for beauty and for l' Oreal and this industry and creating these great experiences. Athletes tend to be really good team players and Michael's an athlete who's a really great team player. We're just finishing the first mile of the marathon, and I think we're happy with the pace of that first mile, but we know there's still 25 plus miles to go. There's no finish line for us at l'. Oreal.
