How to implement digital transformation strategy?

Andrea Marks, Vice President of Digital Transformation at Walmart

Andrea Marks joined Walmart in 2021 as vice president of digital transformation. In this role, Andrea is responsible for clinical data and analytics, interoperable care delivery technology, and health consumer digital experiences. She is also responsible for evaluating and developing strategic plans for gathering health and wellness data and technology resources to implement the broader Walmart health and wellness strategy and deliver results.

Andrea has 30 years of healthcare experience with a focus on clinical analysis and reporting. Prior to joining Walmart, she served as vice president of the Center of Excellence for People Analytics at United Health Group and spent eight years at OptumRx, where she served as senior vice president and chief analytics officer, responsible for analytics development, outcome modeling measurement and integrated accounts for the company’s PBM services. Report. Andrea has also served as Chief Information Officer for Blue Health Intelligence and held senior clinical analytics positions at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, CVS/Caremark, and the University of Chicago.

Below is our conversation with her.

As Vice President of Digital Transformation for Health and Wellness at Walmart, what are some of the key roles and responsibilities you perform at Walmart every day?

Digital transformation serves as the connective tissue across the entire Walmart Health & Wellness organization, helping us become more digital and scalable and supporting various lines of business including pharmacy, vision and omni-channel care. With this in mind, I continually prioritize our technology development roadmap and work to ensure we have the right team in place to deploy scalable solutions. I’m responsible for ensuring we have the right profile structure, our systems are interoperable, and our consumer digital experiences are built in the right way to ensure positive outcomes and engagement at scale. I am responsible for maintaining communication and connections between all of our business leaders by connecting people, building relationships and removing ambiguity from the roadmap.

What are the challenges for leaders looking to digitally transform their organizations, especially in retail healthcare?

One of the biggest challenges for leaders entering this space is balancing delivery of short-term needs with the long-term vision of fully integrated capabilities that drive value at scale. Moving away from paper-based processes or siled experiences is at the heart of any digital transformation journey. These journeys are long, and making the right decisions on the front end is critical to long-term success. There’s a constant balance between time and resources – deciding how much you want to invest, how quickly to build capabilities, and deciding which investments will help you scale. While you may be inclined to adopt a solution that meets your short-term needs, you must still focus on long-term scalability. There is always a balance between today and the future.

As for retail healthcare, we are in the early stages of approaching health issues from different angles. But Walmart goes all out! By leveraging the trust we have with consumers, we are using our digital transformation efforts to solidify their trust in the health and wellness services we deliver. Getting all digital transformation activities right from the start is critical to building trust and long-term loyalty.

Can you provide us with more details about the digital transformation project you are implementing at Walmart? How is your organization leveraging digital transformation to make strides in retail healthcare?

We have been focused on building new capabilities across omnichannel services, such as our health centers and virtual health, as well as modernizing our core pharmaceutical and vision businesses to deliver new innovative services that drive measurable growth in the market. the value of. This requires expansion and interoperability of core functionality while supporting flexibility to meet local market needs. Healthcare is local and our services need to meet the needs of consumers, whether they are physical or virtual assets. Creating omnichannel experiences has been our focus, while ensuring that all experiences are connected in the way consumers expect.

“By leveraging the trust we have with consumers, we are using our digital transformation efforts to solidify their trust in the health and wellness services we deliver.”

One of the most high-profile projects last year was working with our pharmacy operations team to develop technology for delivering COVID-19 immunizations and creating digital vaccine records, which impacts the health of millions of consumers. It’s amazing to see someone being able to quickly access their vaccine records from their phone through the Walmart app, rather than remembering to carry a non-digital paper record with them. Healthcare needs these digital advances, and I’m excited to see them expand. The solutions we provide are not just COVID-19 specific, but are designed to be scalable to meet the needs of other areas of the business. Again, meet today’s needs with an eye on the future.

What advice do you have for your colleagues and leaders?

At the core of digital transformation is a clear understanding of the experiences and outcomes you want to deliver. From here, work backwards to derive detailed data elements and structures. Data is a critical part of the equation and is often an afterthought. Make it front and center of your entire digital transformation strategy. I also encourage my colleagues to continue to think long-term. Once investments are made, they are difficult to reverse, so focus on making the right decisions around technology and operational processes, and ensuring the scalability of these solutions aligns with your overall strategy.

Finally, like anything in life, focus on building relationships and listening to your customers’ needs. A strong relationship will lead to deeper conversations and ensure you have the right understanding of your long-term goals to approach digital transformation in the right way.