"Technology companies are people companies. The ability to attract talent is our critical point; salary is a commodity, it must be competitive in the market, but it is not the only thing that tips the scale. Talent also values objectives, the challenge you pose to them, and the technologies and projects they will work with, in addition to other elements of emotional salary such as flexibility, a work culture based on values, and more democratic decision-making." Guillem Vila Palau, director of the technology center that the British multinational Ocado Technology has in Barcelona's 22@ district, expresses himself with this clarity. Currently, 190 people from 28 nationalities work there, developing online supermarkets for large international distribution groups.
"50% of the team we have in Barcelona are foreign professionals; they come from all over the world, especially from the rest of Europe and Latin America, with an average age of 34," explains Vila, who this summer saw his work at the head of the Barcelona development center rewarded by also being appointed director of the four technology centers that Ocado has in the United Kingdom (3) and Sofia (Bulgaria). In total, the software group for e-commerce, robotics, warehouse automation, and delivery logistics or last mile has eleven R&D hubs located in seven countries: the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria, Poland, Canada, and the United States. The company employs 2,500 people, of whom 1,300 are in the United Kingdom, 190 in Barcelona, and 150 in Sofia.
Guillem Vila will be one of the speakers participating on November 30 in the Barcelona Talent-ed Summit, a conference on the talent attraction potential of the Catalan capital organized by The New Barcelona Post and the Barcelona City Council. The executive anticipates that the goal is to increase Ocado Technology's staff in Barcelona by 40 people in the coming months, reaching a figure of between 220 and 230 professionals. "We are looking for highly qualified people," explains Vila, offering them the possibility of being part of a growing company where they will be able to work "on the challenge of imagining what the e-commerce sector will be like in the future." "How will we shop in 2030? Will we have a refrigerator connected directly to a farm that will know in real time what food needs to be produced?" he exemplifies.
Ocado Technology is structured into three divisions: e-commerce (the reference area for the Barcelona center), warehouse automation and robotics (which includes both software and hardware), and last mile experience, which are solutions to optimize delivery routes for orders and improve customer satisfaction in the final part of the purchase process.
In addition to a high-level professional project, Ocado Technology prioritizes offering its employees an attractive work environment and model offices that have been designed to help staff achieve their goals, although there is also a lot of flexibility for remote work. "We conceive the office as a tool," says Vila. In this regard, Ocado inaugurated last April a new corporate headquarters on Badajoz Street, in 22@, with an area of 2,443 square meters and characterized by having up to three terraces where employees can relax, eat, work, or even play ping-pong or foosball. According to Ocado, having these spaces is important in the strategy of attracting and retaining talent, as are measures to promote work-life balance and other services that generate community and a sense of belonging to the company, such as yoga classes, paddle tennis matches, and even contests to see which employee can make the best tiramisu.
Guillem Vila highlights that the pandemic has been a great opportunity for Ocado Technology, as it has allowed them to test their technological solutions at a time of strong growth in e-commerce worldwide. "We have learned a lot. We have been able to verify that our technology is scalable, that it works and offers a good user experience. In five months, we learned what we would have seen in ten years because everyone has now made an online purchase. E-commerce has come to stay," he reflects.
One of Ocado Technology's clients is the Catalan distribution group Bon Preu, for whom they have developed their entire online sales platform. Recently, the group has also signed a contract with Alcampo, which will increase the volume of work at the Barcelona center in the coming years. Thus, from 22@, the Ocado team will develop the new virtual store for the hypermarket chain, a project that also includes the construction of several intelligent warehouses (Customer Fulfilment Centre) where the firm's robotic and management technology will be applied.
"Unlike other companies, we are the only ones who can develop an end-to-end technological solution, meaning that the entire process is integrated, from the start of the online purchase to home delivery, including the management of intelligent warehouses. Alcampo is our second client in Spain and the tenth major distribution group we work with globally," he explains.
While the Sofia hub is more focused on robotics, Ocado professionals in Barcelona focus their functions on the development of the web and mobile parts of online supermarkets, platform usability, payment systems, data management, and integration with the Internet of Things (IoT), with applications that allow, for example, making purchases through virtual assistants like Amazon's Alexa.
"In five months, we learned what we would have seen in ten years because everyone has now made an online purchase," says Guillem VilaThe origin of the Ocado group, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, is Ocado Retail, the first online supermarket born in the United Kingdom and a leader in the sector. With the strong experience accumulated with this company and all the development of its own technology, the group decided to create Ocado Technology to make it available to other operators in the distribution sector. To avoid conflict with other international chains, Ocado Retail made the strategic decision to limit its activity to the United Kingdom and not expand to other countries.
Ocado's center in Barcelona was launched in 2016 on Avenida Josep Tarradellas. Guillem Vila joined the company in the midst of the pandemic, in May 2020, and has led the process of moving to the new 22@ headquarters and the growth of the technology center. Previously, this computer engineer trained at the UAB had worked at Telefónica R&D, HP, and TBSCG.