Hibbett Sports

Ronald Blahnik is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Hibbett Sports since joining the team in 2016. He is responsible for all things related to Information Technology including; Enterprise PMO, Business Solutions, Solutions Delivery, Infrastructure and Operations, Security, Quality Assurance and IT Compliance. He is also responsible for Corporate Strategy, Innovation and Retail Analytics. Prior to joining Hibbett, Blahnik had an IT consulting business, been SVP and CIO for Hudson’s Bay Company and VP Information Technology Architecture & Infrastructure Services for Lowe’s. Raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Blahnik studied Computer Science earning a degree in Information Systems. He is a veteran of the United States Army having served for more than 20 years both active and reserve.

What are some of the challenges impacting to the RPA space?

Today folks getting into any organizations   are not concerned about how much work they are doing for the organization rather they're only looking for a real payback. This makes organizations to pay them more to perform a task that will be necessary in the next stage of corporate expansion. Moreover, shortage of skilled labor is a constant challenge that organizations are confronted with. In order to overcome these issues, one can leverage RPA, which can work almost around the clock and which can be of huge benefit for organizations.

"Due to the increased investment in RPA, employees are constantly facing internal challenge that RPA may leave them unemployed"

Due to the increased investment in RPA, employees are continually confronted with the possibility that RPA will displace them. I feel it's critical for employees to get over this soon as possible and sell themselves on the benefits that RPA gives them by freeing them time to focus on other crucial business tasks. Moreover, the RPA space is rapidly changing. When I examined RPA three years ago, the available tools and technologies were just gaining a foothold on the market, but now there are numerous tools with impressive track records. However, now due to this quick evolution, one of the challenges we have is getting these tools updated and bearing the cost of it.

What are some of the trends impacting BYOD space?

The automation of retail outlets is one of our primary focuses. We operate 1100 locations around the country with the help of 10,000 sales staff interacting directly with customers. As it is believed the longer the staff’s members spend time with their customer, the greater number of sales they make. Therefore, automating anything like this and execute that consistently across 1100 locations without experiencing any failure, is extremely valuable. In order to achieve it, one of our most important initial goals, which we are now working on, is figuring how to automate the price adjustment process. 

When it comes to merchants who run supply chains or stores, doing so requires a significant number of people working together. In addition to automating business systems, we are looking forward to automating this aspect of the business and working toward that end.

What is your piece of advice for budding professionals in the field?

RPA is expanding rapidly. To be disruptive in the market, one must understand  the business processes they are trying to support and any potential issues they  want to encounter rather than focusing just on what the a tool itself can do. Becoming an expert in processes such as re-engineering, automation, and re-engineering enables one to become extremely useful to a company. These skills are highly valued across the board.