Maison Birks

As a Senior Director of IT & Project Management & Innovation at Maison Birks, Sal Pugliese's role is to plan, coordinate, direct, design and support all IT operational activities of the organization as well as constantly enhances missioncritical business solutions. In addition, he is responsible for collaborating directly with all department decision-makers to identify, recommend, develop, implement, and support cost-effective technology solutions for all areas of the business.

Sal has served various roles over the years, from a developer, architect, business analyst, and quality assurance to VP of IT at a different organization.

What difficulties did you encounter as you moved away from a legacy system?

The biggest challenge companies’ face getting migrating to a modern data warehouse from a legacy environment can require a massive up-front investment in time and resources. You have to negotiate with the company. Aside from the project management team, we require a member of that group to successfully complete these initiatives. I believe that involving the business early in the process, securing their approval, and having the project management team support these efforts are essential to make sure the project is on track and that all needs are met. All of our old systems are currently being upgraded to new ones. Hence, we are looking at integrated solutions and partners to help us in this journey. Our e-commerce was successfully implemented and launched in July of last year. We are now transitioning to Microsoft Dynamics 365. We're in the discovery phase right now; after we review everything, we'll plan it out and begin the execution phase. Involving the business is important throughout the discovery phase. We require a capable project management team to support the business's relationship with the technology firm.

“I believe that involving the business early in the process, securing their approval, and having the project management team support these efforts are essential to make sure the project is on track and that all needs are met”

Are there any projects you're working on or have worked on where your team contributed and helped solve a particular problem?

We made sure that the organization was committed to and involved in the Salesforce Commerce Club project despite the fact that they had daily operations or schedules to manage. They agreed, and we saw to it that the plan was carried out. By adhering to a plan, you can know how things will turn out by a particular date and make any necessary adjustments to achieve success. The other component is that we must always backfill. We need to hire temporary staff if we don't have enough internal resources. Thus, obtaining that interim resource or backfill is the key.

What would be your single piece of advice to an upcoming professional in this field?

My only advice is to minimize the risks and doesn't take on every challenge by you. Make sure you're clear with everyone. Also, you have your executive committees where you may address any problems and make progress. Thus the notion is that you overcome your obstacles and advance. And make sure that happens if a choice needs to be made above the business through the steering committee.