“I’d advise anyone thinking about taking a journey to invest in a sturdy pair of shoes – for us, that solid foundation is Salesforce, and we’ll be reaping the rewards for years to come.”

Rory O’Connor, CEO and Founder, Scurri

A career path starting with Waterford Wedgwood ceramics and ending at ecommerce may not seem like an obvious trajectory, but Rory O’Connor knows the secrets of giving customers a luxurious experience. We spoke to the CEO and Founder of Scurri, the delivery management platform helping retailers navigate the world of shipping, about customer-centricity and empowering the workforce.

Tell us more about your journey from the luxury goods sector to founding a leading tech start-up

I started in sales and marketing at Waterford Wedgwood and learned that selling luxury goods is so much more about the experience than the actual product. I fell into IT by accident when I implemented a CRM platform and a sales manager asked me to take charge of getting colleagues to use it. That went well so my next project was to implement an ERP solution, and I ended up getting certifications and working alongside technical teams, which gave me good insight into how business and tech can work together.

User adoption can be a big challenge. How do you inspire colleagues to help encourage adoption and streamline change management?

It’s important to make sure you keep repeating your vision, and even better if you can work on that vision together and make sure the team feels represented. I didn’t realise the power of repetition at first – I just assumed if I said something once people would remember, but you really need to keep talking about what you’re trying to do and why to keep that discussion alive. If you can show people how the change you’re trying to make will make their life better or the impact they have on company success that’s key.

Finding better ways to do things is clearly important to you. How is Scurri disrupting the industry? 

I always wanted to start my own company, and I noticed there was a lot of excess capacity in the shipping world. Retailers found it hard to access services because they don’t have visibility of where that capacity is. I decided to build a platform that acts as a network to connect excess capacity with people looking to ship products. That sounds really simple but it gets more complicated when you look into it! What’s important for me is to make sure that about a quarter of our sales come from new products every year. The world is evolving at a rapid pace, if you don’t think about what’s coming then you can’t stay ahead of the game. It’s essential to listen to your customers and give them what they want – in my opinion if you’re not a disruptor then you’re lagging behind.

How is Salesforce helping you to be a disruptor?

Loving our customers is one of our top values, and that means getting to know them, understanding their challenges, and using data to spot trends. To be truly customer-focused, you need the best possible CRM platform, and Salesforce is the world’s #1 solution. What I like about Salesforce is that we’re only using a small proportion of it so as our needs evolve we can always find the right functionality or an app to plug in to meet our latest needs. It’s grown with us and will continue to do so, and I’m still finding new features that make life better every day! Those incremental changes are part of our culture of continuous improvement.

Tell us some of the biggest wins you’ve had since implementing Salesforce

Personally, I was thrilled when I walked over to the sales team and saw Salesforce on every screen! That’s when you know you’ve put in a system that’s working well, and I’ve had plenty of experience over the years of systems that don’t deliver. The visibility we’ve got across the whole company now has been invaluable as well; we can see the pipeline, get more predictive about revenues, and collaborate better. That transparency also helps to build trust and accountability as everyone can see the impact their role has on our company goals.

How does it feel to be a Trailblazer?

I’ve always loved doing things differently, it’s incredibly satisfying to do something difficult – whether that’s learning to swim so I could take part in the Ironman Triathlon or starting my own business. In the right environment and with a bit of luck you can empower people to do anything, and that’s really exciting to be a part of. Being a Trailblazer is about trying something without knowing the outcome. There may be obstacles but there’s fun in finding a route, and it’s about the journey as much as the destination. I’d advise anyone thinking about taking a journey to invest in a sturdy pair of shoes – for us, that solid foundation was Salesforce, and we’ll be reaping the rewards for years to come.

To find out more about how Scurri is putting customers at the heart of operations read the full story here.