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Retail companies operate in increasingly complex environments, as large volumes of data concerning transactions like product information, financial data, and inventory details, must be integrated seamlessly in diverse platforms. More work, supply chain visibility, personalized customer experience, and predictive analytics are increasingly drawing on real-time data, making the apt management of data far more critical to success.
As they scale their digital operations, retailers do encounter difficulties associated with pricing inconsistencies across omni-channel platforms, discrepancies in article master data, and problems maintaining proper product assortments. The issues must be solved in new and scalable ways, providing data consistency, refining operations, and enhancing business performance.
Arun Chinnannan Balsubramanian has been working on solutions to these challenges as a practitioner in ERP systems, data governance and process engineering for over 20 years in Telecom, High-Tech, Retail, Discrete Manufacturing, and Pharmaceuticals. His work blends tactical creativity with strategic oversight and has made significant differences to operational performance.
Arun's perspective on data governance addresses pain points that consider pain points directly relevant to industry practices through master data profiling, common pricing, managing inventory accurately and engaging across channels with product assortment.
He also made a meaningful contribution by performing pursuit type activities to merge the SAP Master Data product lines with emerging capabilities, like Machine Learning (ML). As recently as our last conversation about "Machine Learning-Driven Data Quality Management in SAP MDG,” he explained the capability to help retailers on high volume transaction data improve accuracy, apply predictive analytic and real-time monitoring furthering the connectivity to improve trustworthy data.
In addition, his white paper "Lean and Green: Sustainable SAP Archiving for Modern Enterprises," established flywheels of innovation that potentially reduce performance bottlenecks, reduce compliance risk, and reduce storage costs. By organizing the declassification of data, standardizing the archiving process in the different business units and establishing automated lean processes, he provides an identifiable burden of operational efficiencies.
In retail serialization, projects like "Store Serialization Using SAP-IS Retail" have transformed legacy, non-serialized systems into robust serialized frameworks, improving inventory accuracy, reducing operational costs, and enhancing loss prevention strategies, thereby positively impacting profitability.
Recognizing the critical importance of cyber-security in increasingly interconnected supply chains, he has also been instrumental in implementing Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) strategies within SAP S/4HANA environments. The meticulous alignment of ERP functionalities with NIST cyber-security frameworks exemplifies his proactive approach to safeguarding retail operations from data breaches and operational disruptions.
With the innovative work in reverse logistics, including the integration of Intelligent Machine Vision systems with the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), he further transformed returns management. This approach significantly reduces manual inspections, accelerates decision-making for disposition processes, and improves value recovery from returned merchandise, reinforcing his forward-thinking approach.
One of the papers, "Repair Capitalization for Reverse Valuation in Supply Chain," earned multiple awards from Verizon Communications, delivering $42 million in financial benefits. This initiative underscores his ability to drive financial value through robust data governance and optimized supply chain processes.
Arun Chinnannan Balsubramanian’s extensive expertise in retail performance management, AI-driven analytics, cyber-security, and master data governance has made him a transformative force in modernizing high-volume transactional environments. His unique blend of technical acumen and strategic insight continues to set new benchmarks for innovation and operational excellence in the retail sector.
