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Interstate Batteries
Revenue: $700 million
Tech Exec: Merv Tarde, CIO
Business Colleague: Carlos Sepulveda, President and CEO
Working Together: Seven years
IT/Business Challenge: To push beyond traditional wholesale business into retail and uninterruptible power supplies
Upshot: Supply chain automation and CRM have enabled a foray into new markets.
When Merv Tarde, an IT veteran in the telecom industry, took over as CIO at Interstate Batteries in 1998, the Dallas-based company had one line of business: wholesale distribution of batteries for automotive, marine and industrial use.
But a lot has changed in seven years. While battery wholesaling still accounts for roughly 80% of Interstate's annual revenue of $700 million, President and CEO Carlos Sepulveda is pushing hard into new lines of business. And he knows expansion won't work without using IT to service a group of customers new to Interstate: consumers.
In 1998, Interstate's growth spurt began with the purchase of a small chain of battery retail stores. After a half-century operating in a business-to-business (B2B) capacity, the company -- striving to increase revenues -- found itself in the midst of a consumer market .
Two years ago, Interstate stepped in-to yet another market: uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries, which it sells through B2B channels. And in October, the company announced a franchise program to triple its retail stores (which today number about 50).
On a 101-degree day in Dallas, Tarde and Sepulveda discussed how IT factors into this ambitious expansion.
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