There are very few consumer enterprises that are not being impacted by the digital transformation and the dramatic increase in data available to them. The companies that are able to capitalize on the newly available data to drive new business growth are positioning themselves well in the new digital economy. Pilot Flying J, a travel center for the trucking industry, is one of the companies embracing the digital transformation, according to Mike Rodgers (pictured) senior vice president, chief strategy and information officer at Pilot Travel Centers LLC (known as Pilot Flying J).

“We wrote a lot of our own applications that were very disparate and silo’d, and of course there is a lot of technical debt that goes along with them. When I started with the company, we started an evaluation process and picked Infor as our partner to replace all of our financial systems and all of our human capital management systems,” Rodgers said.

He shared his story on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, hosted by Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Rebecca Knight (@knightrm) during the Inforum event in New York. (* Disclosure below.)

Using data to influence consumer behavior

In a highly competitive consumer commodity market, such as diesel fuel, companies are looking for any competitive advantage available to gain market share.

“Our strategy is making it a great place to shop, and we want our customer to come back. We sell a commodity; you can buy diesel down the road. We want to take care of our guests like nobody else takes care of them,” Rodgers said.

As more of Pilot Flying J’s data streams are moved to the Infor cloud platform, its information technology organization is better able to capitalize on trends in their customer behavior.

“We are a data rich company, especially with regards to the professional driver. They scan their loyalty card whenever they come; we have a 92 percent swipe rate on things like food or showers. That data provides us with the ability to solve needed utility along the customer journey,” Rodgers said.

So how does Pilot Flying J take advantage of that data? One way is by catering to a driver’s on-the-road needs. For instance, by knowing when a driver needs a shower, thanks to loyalty card usage, it can offer the driver an extra fuel-buying advantage by providing them with a free shower for fueling at a particular location.

“On the customer side, we are be able to use our digital platforms to take the data and drive behavior and loyalty,” Rodgers concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Inforum 2017 event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Inforum 2017. Neither Infor Inc. nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE