Business Opportunity
After a 20-year run with a fully matured IT platform, it was time to replace the recreation and attractions ERP / CRM enterprise system. As Director of Customer, Analytics and Digital Transformation, Nathan was assigned accountability to lead the transformational change, as well as the governance and ongoing operation, of the new enterprise system.
This would prove to be no small task as a full modernization was required in the space of customer experience, automation, data management and service monetization. Moreover, the system would need to facilitate $70M in annual revenue, support approximately 10 percent of the City's workforce, operate across 38 point-of-sale (and administrative) locations, convert hundreds of thousands of customers through an e-commerce platform and integrate with other ERP systems (such as SAP).
To manage alignment and effective implementation over the 5-year project, Nathan partnered with senior contractors (project manager, change manager and business analysts) as well as collaborated extensively with C-suite executives (CEO, COO and VP of the global technology provider), business partners (information technology, finance, procurement, legal and human resources), corporate stakeholders and his own very talented technical / operational teams.
Mr. Walters was also the corporate spokesperson, engaging news media as part of the communication strategy.
Taking an agile approach that enabled customers to help shape the solution, the enterprise platform successfully went live with core functionality (minimum viable product) in January 2019 with the full suite being introduced in May 2020; following direction from customers and operational lines of business, as well as priorities identified within the branch Customer Experience and Relationship Management Strategy and e-Commerce Monetization Strategy.
MoveLearnPlay.edmonton.ca | e-Commerce Component of the ERP / CRM Platform
Actions + Outcomes
Point-of-Sale Deployment
1,100 staff trained with the point-of-sale module successfully deployed across 37 recreation and attraction facilities, as well as at the City of Edmonton 311 contact centre. Deployment was core to the operation and service delivery of these locations with functions, such as admissions, membership sales, program registration, facility bookings, tee time reservations, customer account management and financial reporting / pass-off, all being successfully developed, tested and launched across bricks and mortar locations.
e-Commerce Transformation | MoveLearnPlay.edmonton.ca
Mr. Walters developed the monetization strategy, user experience, web analytics approach and design direction that shaped the e-commerce platform MoveLearnPlay.edmonton.ca.
As the dominant sales channel, hundreds of thousands of customers have used this online platform to buy admissions and memberships, register for recreation programs, look-up drop-in schedules, reserve golf tee times, purchase merchandise and book sport, as well as public, spaces.
The web analytics engine integrated behind the platform, was strategicly configured to manage campaign performance, customer conversion and value per transaction, among other performance measures.
Nathan also led the planning and release of newly accepted forms of digital payment exclusively available through the platform.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Automation
The CRM approach to customer engagement was also formalized, where personalized digital interaction has become the primary means to support customer communication, insights and conversion. This involved introducing account notification functionality, as part of the digital transformation, as well as developing a Customer Experience and Relationship Management Strategy to structure innovation, implementation and adoption.
These notifications, majority automated in nature, were strategically introduced along the customer journey to provide timely communication, support conversion, gather real-time insight and drive loyalty.
Data Management and Business Intelligence
An end-to-end data management and business intelligence pipeline was established to effectively capture, store, process and report big data, while at the same time optimize system performance. This involved formally establishing a data dictionary as well as multiple environments solely for storage and processing. This work sets the foundation for a further structured approach as the BI environment continues to evolve based on business needs.
Inventory Management Restructure
This transformational initiative also included extensive collaboration to restructure the inventory management framework and align it to best practice. This included the adoption of a centralized purchasing, shipping and receiving model where merchandise sold across 37 facilities are now ordered and deployed from a newly established single distribution location. New performance measures and controls were also introduced to better manage inventory turnover and sales performance.
Workforce Planning and Design
As the Director responsible for both delivery and operation, Mr. Walters led workforce planning and design to introduce a new business unit to manage, configure and lead the governance of the enterprise application. The business unit provides ongoing oversight, which includes leading application configuration, roadmap development, training, industry collaboration and vendor management.
Nathan also collaboratively established an Online Customer Service Unit (OCSU) that solely caters to the emerging digital customer experience and unprecedented growth in online customers. The OCSU supported over 20,000 customer inquiries in the first year alone.
Brand Strategy and Activation
Internal Brand Strategy: As part of the change management strategy to encourage a sense of ownership and facilitate adoption, an internal naming convention for the platform (known as the Recreation and Attractions Management System - RAMS) was established, including logo design and registration of the trademark. The name and logo is leveraged across all internal touch-points, including the point-of-sale user interface, which is exclusively navigated by staff within the platform.
External Brand Strategy: As part of the process to introduce a new e-commerce platform and leverage value propositions around recreation (being active), education and social engagement, Nathan led a strategic planning workshop among stakeholders to brainstorm, prioritize and establish positioning and naming of the site. As an outcome, MoveLearnPlay.edmonton.ca was brought to life, including variations such as MoveLearnPlay.com and MoveLearnPlay.ca, as an intellectual property investment.
Moreover, Mr. Walters established the creative strategy and design direction of MoveLearnPlay.edmonton.ca; placing emphasis on creating visually-rich content that reflects the customer-base while ensuring an intuitive visual experience that aligns with the corporate brand.
News Media
Global News Article
Global News Segment
