Home Depot Inc. is doubling down on online shopping, curbside pickup apps and other digital efforts that helped propel sales during the Covid-19 pandemic, shifting its veteran chief information officer to a new full-time executive role overseeing customer technology.
The home-improvement retailer was an early winner during the pandemic, when locked-down consumers turned to do-it-yourself projects around the home.
Amid the lockdowns and social distancing, customers flocked to its physical and online stores, spending savings gleaned from staying at home and government stimulus checks on home-improvement projects.
The new customer-facing technology leadership role is aimed at helping the company maintain that momentum.
Home Depot last week named CIO Matt Carey as executive vice president of customer experience. Fahim Siddiqui is stepping in as CIO, overseeing technology strategy, infrastructure and software development.
Mr. Carey joined Home Depot in 2008 as executive vice president and CIO, and Mr. Siddiqui served as the company's senior vice president of information technology since 2018.
"We created a new role that reaffirms our commitment to make shopping at Home Depot a truly interconnected, easy experience for our customers," Paul Mayer, a company spokesperson, said. Mr. Carey and Mr. Siddiqui weren't available for comment.
Home Depot said both positions will report to chief executive Ted Decker, who started in his new role in March, after serving as chief operating officer and president.
Mr. Carey, who started as CIO in 2008, contributed to the company's efforts to accommodate Covid-19 lockdowns and other restrictions by deploying digital tools to manage limited-capacity store operations, curbside pickup and online transactions.
In his new role, Mr. Carey will be responsible for the vision, design and development of customer-experience technologies. Mr. Siddiqui will direct technology strategy, infrastructure and software development for retail stores, supply-chain facilities, offices and online systems, the company said.
"I have seen several CIOs make the move to a more customer-focused role and away from traditional IT," Tim Crawford, CIO strategic adviser at Los Angeles-based enterprise IT advisory firm AVOA.
He said it makes sense to have a CIO oversee the underlying technology for customer experience tools, "in terms of understanding the tools, capabilities, integrations and requirements."
