Technology transformation and organizational change are a matter of diversity. One company, Magento Inc., a commerce platform that powers one-third of digital transactions (over $50 billion in gross merchandise volume) across the globe, decided to execute and deliver diversity.

“We put a focus on diversity and inclusion, and by doing that we’ve increased the percentage of women in all roles across the company by 50 percent,” said Andrea Ward (pictured), chief marketing officer of Magento Commerce.

Ward spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick) host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, during the Professional BusinessWomen of California Conference about the role diversity plays in commerce.

Executing a plan for diversity

Magento Commerce attached numbers and goals to execute its vision of diversity. According to Ward, this allowed the company to expand the pool of applicants and consider a wider range of people. Since commerce is one of the key industries to move rapidly into the digital transformation, she noted that diversity is essential.

“Transformation and change mean that you have to consider other perspectives, you need to learn from new ideas. I think diversity plays a big part in that as well. I think that by bringing that into our own company — because we are supporting that broader industry — is important,” she explained.

As a marketer, Ward believes that businesses need to offer customers individual experiences that reflect their brand. As with most technology, consumers are adopting it first and expecting to see it in the workplace next. The most significant change for Magento is with the business-to-business relationships.

“Seamless conveniences you have in everyday life online, people want to see that in the workplace too. We are seeing the biggest changes in those types of business models,” Ward said.

Her overall marketing philosophy is that technology is shifting the effort from trying to attract customers to come to business to bringing business to the customer. However, she warns that using the latest technology, such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, appear to be gimmicky unless there is a brand rationale to go with it.

“Marketers want to create relationships with their brands, and all of these tools are giving us better access and a better chance to create that fantastic experience,” Ward said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the PBWC Conference.

Photo: SiliconANGLE