Home Depot renovates tech C-suite, names new CIO

Dive Brief:

The Home Depot elevated SVP of IT Fahim Siddiqui to the role of EVP and CIO the company announced Tuesday. Siddiqui will now lead all aspects of the company's enterprise technology strategy, including infrastructure and software development, the company told CIO Dive.
Matt Carey, a 14-year vetaran of Home Depot who most recently served as EVP and CIO, will take on the new of EVP of customer experience.
The changes in tech leadership at Home Depot come less than two months into Ted Decker's tenure as CEO. Siddiqui and Carey will report to Decker, who became CEO March 1.

Dive Insight:

The new appointments at the home improvement brand further link customer experience and technology, nearly five years after it announced "One Home Depot," a push to interconnect the digital and physical sales channels.

The company's customer-centric approach is paying off, according to its most recent earnings report. The Home Depot posted earnings of $16.4 billion for the fiscal year 2021, up 27% from the previous fiscal year. Decker, speaking during the January earnings call as president and COO, said digital platform sales had grown over 100% in the past two years.

"Our focus on delivering a frictionless, interconnected shopping experience is resonating with our customers as approximately 50% of our online orders were fulfilled through our stores in fiscal 2021," said Decker.

The new leadership appointments will allow the company to build solutions that "make home improvement faster and more convenient" for customers, a spokesperson for Home Depot told CIO Dive.

With big changes to digital operations in the last two years, CIOs now touch more critical components of a business, bringing them closer to customer experience. Home Depot is one example of a company that has centered the customer in its tech building strategy.

"Under Carey's leadership, they've done a very good job of accelerating the pace of change for interaction with customers," said Bobby Cameron, VP and principal analyst at Forrester. Under the executive's guidance, Home Depot built a technology stack designed to increase specialization for the customer while reducing the impact on back office systems.