Vincenzo Giummarra of Italpepe “The context of an innovative product, always starts from the knowledge of your company’s data”

Vincenzo Giummarra of Italpepe “The context of an innovative product, always starts from the knowledge of your company’s data”

We reveal day after day all the professionals who will participate with their speech in the most important event of data management. For the first time, a forum seeks to focus on data management as a whole, from governance, security, cloud, machine learning, data virtualization, and more. Today we present Vincenzo Giummarra from Italpepe.

Tell us a bit about your career

I was born in Ragusa and started my career in 1985 in Motta Alemagna. Later I joined Palmera where I consolidated my experience in the retail food sector and then moved to San Pellegrino, also in the commercial area. In 1994 I joined Riso Gallo in Gdo sales, where I was able to develop important category management projects. After twelve years of experience, I accepted a new challenge following the marketing and commercial development in Apicoltura Casentinese and La Collina Toscana. Since 2018 I have been in Italpepepe as sales and marketing director for an important development project of the historical Italian spice company. Fascinated by the Italian family of spices, I wanted to dare with an innovative project that would upset the way of thinking about these products usually seen as a commodity. Thus was born Tasting Rainbow that proposes spices as emotions, “sensory nuances” for everyday dishes. The idea is that they become “a little luxury” that everyone can afford. It is an ambitious project born from the collaboration with the professors of important research centers, such as the University “La Sapienza” of Rome and the Niko Romito Academy. We have designed an exhibitor that would dialogue with the consumer, meeting their needs. One of Italpepe’s values is precisely “innovation”, so after this project, we did not stop, but continued to work hard to modernize the company thanks to the digitalization of data. My motto has always been “The context of an innovative product, always starts from the knowledge of your company’s data”.

What are your challenges, what you like to do with data?

In the present, our challenge is to enhance more and more the historical data, collected in various formats since 1969 in Italpepepe, for the use of the digital historical archive created for an innovative integration in a context of CRM food sentiment. In the immediate future, my goal is to integrate the commercial activity of the Rainbow Tasting data collected in IoT/AI, directly on our displays in stores.

Do you think companies have an adequate culture to handle data in a different way?

At this point in time, many companies are perhaps a little afraid of the change that innovation of this kind can bring. The focus is more on the difficulties of having to combine the way people work and experience with technology and little on the enormous benefits that innovative data management can bring. In order to create the appropriate culture there is a need to explain change as an opportunity and benefit for all parties involved, and training that allows everyone not to feel controlled and overwhelmed by technology, but to be one with it.

What are the most important challenges for CIO, CDO, CTO in 2021?

CIO, CDO, and CTO have the difficult task of becoming facilitators of innovation within the organization so that there is a synergy between technology and people. For this reason, in Italpepe we have started a training activity that aims to enhance people starting from their emotional intelligence. The goal is to make the company increasingly cohesive and with a strong shared identity, in the context of new innovative technology. This will lead to become more agile and consequently lead to an advantage for the business.  

What do you want to talk about within the Data Management Summit?

Thanks to Pragma Etimos we are creating a new way to innovate. We would like to testify how it is possible for a company over 50 years old to innovate from its roots and tradition. Digitizing all the data collected over time will allow us to treasure our past, focusing on the future. We are also in a historical moment, the Covid crisis, which is leading to several changes in the way we work, buy, communicate, and in general live. Having the Date at the center helps us to manage the different challenges we face in an agile way. 

Did you support the event from the beginning, why?

Innovation is one of the values that distinguish Italpepe, so it is important for us to be able to share our testimony and compare ourselves with other realities present during the event. Sharing is at the basis of growth.