WHSmith Archives - Joshua Bellendir

Aptos Cloud: A Major Milestone in Our Digital Transformation at WHSmith North America

Joshua — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 21:51:00 +0000

I’m proud to share a significant milestone for our team at WHSmith North America: the successful launch of our new cloud-based merchandising, sales audit, analytics, and warehouse management systems. These platforms are now fully live across our business, marking a major step forward in our digital transformation journey.

Modernizing our retail technology stack has been a key strategic priority as we work to enable innovation, simplify operations, and support our store teams across more than 340 retail locations. This cloud foundation strengthens our ability to scale, respond quickly to business needs, and deliver exceptional experiences to the customers who rely on us every day.

This achievement would not have been possible without the dedication and collaboration of our teams and partners. I’m deeply grateful to our colleagues at Aptos Retail, Makira, and Atmosera, as well as the many individuals across the business who brought expertise, hard work, and persistence to this effort.

A special thank you goes to Vaishali Gupte, whose leadership was instrumental in guiding this project from planning through an exceptionally smooth go-live. Her ability to unify teams and keep the program on track was a major factor in its overall success.

I’d also like to recognize the outstanding partnership from our business stakeholders, including:
Sara Wyant, Chris Backhouse, Shelly Clausen, Richard Fortner, Melissa Turner, Greg Morgan, Chris Brooksbank II, Sophia Rossi, David Luashvili, Louise Sur, Janine Walton, Chris Burns, Terrie Phillips, and many others who played a vital role along the way.

And, of course, my deepest appreciation goes to our IT team. Their grit, determination, and technical excellence made this transformation possible. Thank you to Mackenson Emile, Ron Silverio, Bruce Field, Terence Robles, Robert Sellinger, Don Chaney, Gary Yu, Wayne Tiu, Raul Andrade, Steve Baltzer, Swathi Bangalore Rama, and the many others who contributed to this successful launch. Leading this team continues to be one of the great privileges of my career.

For more details, you can read the official press release here:
https://lnkd.in/gDcm2HZi

Onward and upward as we continue building the future of retail technology.

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A Major Step Forward: Our Oracle Retail XOCS v24 Upgrade Is Now Complete

Joshua — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 23:07:00 +0000

Major Milestone Achieved!

I couldn’t be prouder of my incredible team for successfully completing the Oracle Retail XOCS (Xstore Office Cloud Service) v24 upgrade! This cloud-based transformation not only strengthens our retail operations but also opens the door to exciting innovations.

The benefits are immense:

Reduced system maintenance, allowing us to stay ahead with targeted updates.
Seamless integration with strategic partners (e.g., Avalara).
Access to the latest POS features and enhanced user experiences for cashiers and customers alike.
Enhanced security and new selling capabilities, such as fully mobile stores, streamlined Self-checkout experiences, and additional tendering options for enhanced customer service.

Special thanks to Oracle Retail and our partner, BTM Global, for their support throughout this journey! Their efforts going above and beyond helped us complete this complex upgrade seamlessly, with no impact to our customers or stores. This upgrade positions us for even more success and agility in the future. Here’s to the next chapter of innovation!

Well done John Varcho and team!

A big shoutout and kudos to John Varcho, Raul Andrade, Giuseppe Greco, Vaishali Gupte, Robert Sellinger, Brittany Mulvihill, Trent Thomas, Istiaque Khan, Kimberly Berneck, Subramaniyan Ramakrishnan, Kyle Wittet for their incredible work on this project.

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Showcasing the WHSmith and Oracle Partnership at Oracle Cloudworld

Joshua — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 06:25:19 +0000

A big thank you to Rose Spicer and the Oracle Retail team! You guys did a fantastic job with the booth at Cloudworld, effectively showcasing our partnership and the recent solutions we’ve implemented at WHSmith North America (e.g., Oracle Cloud MFP and Oracle Cloud EPM).

Vaishali Gupte, John Varcho, and I, also had the pleasure of running into our Oracle System Integrator, BTM Global, while visiting our booth on the expo floor. Pictured are BTM’s CEO, Kimberly Berneck, and Co-founder/CTO, Andy Huynh.

BTM played a vital role in the successful rollout of Oracle Xstore across our North America business in just 100 days. Additionally, our partner RetSci supported the deployment of Oracle MFP in just 16 weeks. We’ve built an impressive track record with Oracle, achieving rapid deployments for our North American business!

Thanks again for the opportunity to showcase our partnership, Rose! I look forward to seeing you, the Oracle Retail leadership team, and our industry peers at Oracle #CrossTalk next month!

#WHSmith #Oracle #Cloudworld #Travel #Retail #Xstore #MFP

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WHSmith North America Soars with Oracle Cloud…Oracle MFP delivered in just 16 weeks!

Joshua — Sat, 13 May 2023 19:25:37 +0000

Thanks to the exceptional partnership and collaborative spirit amongst all teams involved, WHSmith North America delivered a cutting-edge planning system in just 16 weeks, and became one of the first customers on Oracle’s Retail Cloud Platform with AI Foundation. This achievement is a testament to the dedication and teamwork demonstrated by each member of the project team. Congratulations to everyone involved on this outstanding achievement!

A big shoutout to our talented #Merchandising and #IT teams! The success of this project was, without a doubt, a result of their combined effort, dedication, and expertise. And it wouldn’t have been possible without the invaluable partnership and unwavering support of the project teams at Oracle, RetSci, and Columbus Consulting International.

View the official press release here.

Is your organization ahead of the curve? Read more about Oracle’s MFP solution and what it can do for your organization.

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