Powering Walmart

A tech centre in Bengaluru is building software and solutions for the US retail giant’s global network

- Harichandan Arakali

Close to two years ago, Walmart reorganised its technology teams to bring them closer to their business colleagues. They also created three positions for chief technology officers (CTO), each reporting to his head of business: The one working on US commerce was put in charge of all the tech platforms, a second CTO was working on international businesses and a third looked after the tech needs of Sam’s Club, a subscription-based membership service. Besides, a chief information officer (CIO) looks after the internal tech needs of the enterprise such as back office systems, HR, finance etc. A tech centre in far-offBengaluru works for all of these sections, marking its presence in the entire tech landscape of the US retail giant.

“It’s a fairly well kept secret in some sense,” says Hari Vasudev, a Walmart vice president and country head for Walmart Labs India, as the centre is called. Internally, the centre is referred to as the India Development Centre. “Walmart as a company is generally very reticent, we don’t like to talk about the work we do and that’s true in India as well.”

Walmart Labs India builds software and solutions for some 5,000 stores in the US and a total of 11,000 worldwide. Work includes solutions for Sam’s Club in Mexico, for the Asda and George brands in the UK—including in online groceries—and the Best Buy stores, some of which are in India as well.