Stefan Matzelle has been responsible for IT in areas including bricks-and-mortar retail, logistics and governance for around a year. We spoke to him about the challenges facing IT in bricks-and-mortar retail, the cooperation between REWE Systems and the specialist departments and his plans for 2022.
Mr Matzelle, you took up the position of CGO and CCO of REWE Systems twelve months ago. To start with, what are the tasks behind these abbreviations?
Stefan Matzelle: As CGO - Chief Governance Officer - I am responsible for ensuring that the IT services and products fulfil the legal and regulatory requirements. The abbreviation CCO stands for Chief Commercial Officer. Behind this is the IT responsibility for stationary retail, logistics including supply chain management and the supply chain. REWE Systems provides all the necessary applications and infrastructure for retail and warehouses for these areas of REWE Group in Germany.
You previously worked in a different industry and in a DAX company. From your perspective, are there any major differences in the corporate culture?
Stefan Matzelle: The differences to the German Armed Forces and the airline are not particularly great. I also find the corporate culture at REWE Group to be extremely appreciative and open. I have been particularly impressed by how approachable all colleagues are, right up to the Management Board. I also perceive a strong commitment from the Management Board to internal IT. It should be part of the whole and make its contribution to the overall success. This view of constructive collaboration is an important part of the corporate culture for me. And as I have a great team with a great deal of expertise, mutual trust and openness to new ideas, I am very confident about the collaboration.
You are responsible for stationary retail, logistics including supply chain management and IT Governance. Let's start with retail: What are the future challenges from an IT perspective when it comes to supporting the stores?
Stefan Matzelle: I see three main areas of focus for bricks-and-mortar retail: Employees, market and customers. For our employees, the aim is to make processes more digital, more mobile and faster. One example of this is the Smarter Work project in the store, which includes an app for employees and e-learning applications. If we look at the markets, we are receiving more and more requirements from our stakeholders - retailers, for example. Our first task is therefore to provide a scalable, secure, future-proof infrastructure that meets these requirements.
It is equally important to respond to the wishes of our customers. In addition to the omnichannel strategy, this also includes topics such as self-checkout or individualised offers that customers receive in the store. We also need to address the question of how IT can help to fulfil customer wishes such as greater Sustainability and locality.
To date, REWE Systems has primarily been perceived as a service provider. One aim of the transformation was to develop Systems into a technology partner. What exactly does that mean?
Stefan Matzelle: We work closely with the business units and specialist departments to develop optimal solutions for the entire REWE Group. But our image of customers has expanded: customers are the people who come to our stores and pay for their purchases at the checkout. Figuratively speaking, they have a seat at the table when it comes to further developing REWE Group's business. We are now looking at these needs together. We have also developed a coordinated roadmap with the specialist departments and SBUs, which we regularly put to the test at short intervals. This means that REWE Systems is now an agile partner on an equal footing with REWE Group.
Another important step towards becoming a technology partner is that, together with REWE digital, we have decided to work more closely together in future and bring together the best of both worlds - bricks-and-mortar and online retail. It has already been announced that this will happen under the new IT Divisional Director Christoph Eltze. We are very much looking forward to working with our colleagues at REWE digital.
Finally, the new year is still quite young: what are your plans for 2022?
Stefan Matzelle : The regions were the last to be aligned with agile working methods as part of the Symphony project. If the pandemic allows, I would like to travel to the regions to get to know the local employees better. I am convinced that there is a lot of knowledge to be learnt there that we should use for product development, for example. My regional colleagues are very close to the markets and local processes. They are the contacts and implementers when we roll out new applications. They are simply the face of REWE Systems in the regions and stores.
Mr Matzelle, thank you for talking to us.
As Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and Chief Governance Officer (CGO), Stefan Matzelle has been responsible for the specialist domains of over-the-counter retail and logistics, SCM and production in the managing directors of REWE Systems for just under a year. He is also responsible for governance issues at REWE Systems.
After studying economics, he spent a good decade in paratrooper battalions of the German Armed Forces before joining Lufthansa Systems AG in 2002.
There he was appointed CTO & Senior Director Professional Services in 2011. in 2014, Matzelle moved to Deutsche Lufthansa AG as Senior Director IT Architecture & Innovation Management, where he set up Group-wide IT architecture management and standardised the existing IT landscapes, among other things. From 2016, he was Chief Information Officer at Austrian Airlines AG in Vienna, where he transformed the IT division and linked it more closely with the business units.
