Ralph Smith Email & Phone Number

Bellevue, Wa, Us

New York, New York, Us

Contracted to assess and document current state of Digital and Retail eco system. Tasked with proposing future state architecture and related projects / phases. Areas / domains of focus include: Customer, Product, Inventory, Transaction History, Pricing & Promotions, etc

Working with several retailers and software companies who are looking to enter / expand into the omni-channel retail space.Activities include, but are not limited to:- Advising an established regional Construction Supply / Rental company who is expanding into Safety equipment sales via a fleet of mobile sales vans (with a mobile selling device), online commerce web site and physical store fronts.- Advising software product vendors who are aiming to expand their client base in the omni-channel retail segment- Advising an investment firm interested in funding technology firms which target the omni-channel retail space

Neuilly Sur Seine, Ile De France, Fr

Lead the Architecture Discovery, Roadmap definition and Design to implement Sephora's Omni-Channel strategy. Oversaw the program from conception through implementation for: BOPIS, Ship from Store, Same Day Delivery including Contact Center Support for the new capabilities.

Pittsburgh, Pa, Us

Built and managed a matrixed enterprise architecture team, developed architecture best practices and promoted concept of enterprise architecture company-wide. Led design of numerous high visibility business initiatives and introduced key architecture artifacts and processes with focus on high-quality and timely solution delivery. Established and socialized several multi-year strategic roadmaps and cultivated relationships and partnerships between business units, corporate IT, and the digital unit.

Richfield, Minnesota, Us

Governed solution architecture, application architecture, data architecture, integration architecture, and reporting architecture, as well as subset of security architecture across all geographies, brands, and business units. Tasked with re-building in-house, architecture team and coordinated knowledge transfer process. Balanced international needs with North American business strategies and introduced non-traditional retail capabilities to Best Buy brand, including software subscriptions, digital movie and game downloads, cloud and mobile-based customer solutions, activation of internet capable devices on several networks and in-home services. Ensured new capabilities were adopted by all brands and geographies by designing with multi-language, multi-currency, and local flexibility in mind.

Richfield, Minnesota, Us

Served as executive in International arm of Best Buy, and led architecture, infrastructure and IT operations for all International entities. Transitioned Best Buy IT organization from in-house IT shop to heavily outsourced IT organization in partnership with Accenture and Wipro (plus a few smaller niche providers). Launched Best Buy brand in China, Mexico, Turkey, and United Kingdom. Set foundation for future International efforts aimed at expanding Best Buy into Europe via 50/50 joint venture with major retailer in Europe. Managed IT contracts and budgets daily and acted as enterprise head of IT security (prior to CISO appointment).

Worked closely with the Senior Leadership teams of the Business and IT to define a strategic vision for IT which is in line with the future direction of the business. Areas of responsibility included: Application Architecture, Data Architecture, Integration Architecture, Security Architecture and portions of the Infrastructure Architecture. I also acted as the primary liaison between the Best Buy US and Best Buy Canada IT organizations and had direct responsibility to ensure that all new Canadian Business and IT initiatives were vetted against the Enterprise Blueprint. My knowledge of the business and IT was instrumental in allowing the Business to quickly bring the Best Buy brand to Canada. The Best Buy brand now includes brick and mortar stores, a transactional website (bestbuy.ca) and a Customer Call Center, all of which operate in both French and English.

As Chief Architect for the leading Electronics retailer in Canada, I was responsible for building a team from the ground up while defining and implementing a sustainable architectural framework and related standards that were leveraged by all departments and projects within the IT division. This framework formed the foundation which allowed the company to rapidly expand nationwide by retiring the majority of legacy applications and replacing them with a highly integrated combination of ‘best of breed’ applications and custom built applications which could support the rapid transactional growth.