Andy and Brian are joined by Andy Goodfellow, SVP and Chief Technology Officer at Zoro, to discuss why there has historically been friction between the IT departments and eCommerce teams at so many companies.
Goodfellow shares how Zoro turned this dynamic on its head by aligning everyone on a singular goal – creating value for the end customer. Plus, he gives some great advice about not confusing internal stakeholders with external customers.
Q: Why do IT and eCommerce teams often clash?
A: They are measured on different outcomes.
IT is rewarded for stability, security, uptime, and risk reduction. eCommerce is rewarded for speed, growth, experimentation, and revenue.
These goals aren’t wrong—but they create friction when not aligned.
Q: Is this really a technology problem?
A: No. This is a people, process, and governance problem, not a platform problem. Most conflicts come from unclear ownership, misaligned incentives, and poor communication.
Q: What is the biggest root cause of conflict?
A: Different definitions of “success.” IT defines success as no outages, no security incidents, no surprises. eCommerce defines success as faster launches, better UX, higher conversion. Without shared KPIs, each team believes the other is blocking progress.
Q: Why does eCommerce feel “stuck” waiting on IT?
A: Many organizations still treat eCommerce as a back-office system, not a revenue channel. When eCommerce is governed like ERP:
Release cycles are slow
Change requests pile up
Innovation gets deprioritized
Q: Why does IT resist rapid change?
A: IT teams see security risks, performance risks, integration complexity, and compliance issues. They are protecting the business—but often without understanding the commercial urgency.
Q: Who should own eCommerce?
A: Business should own strategy. IT should own architecture and guardrails. eCommerce must be a shared business capability with clear decision rights.
Q: What governance model works best?
A: A product team model, not a project model.
That means: Cross-functional squads (IT, eCommerce, UX, data); Ongoing roadmaps, not one-off projects; Business outcomes tied to technology decisions
Q: How can companies reduce friction immediately?
A: Start with three actions:
Create shared KPIs (conversion, revenue, uptime, deployment speed)
Align business and IT roadmaps
Establish clear decision rights
Q: What role does leadership play?
A: Executives must force alignment.
Leadership must define: Who owns digital growth? How success is measured? How tradeoffs are resolved?
Q: Is this problem unique to large companies?
A: No. Small and mid-sized manufacturers and distributors face the same issues—just with fewer resources and less structure.
Q: What is the right relationship between IT and eCommerce?
A: “Partners with different jobs, but the same destination.” When both teams understand the goals, risks, and customer impact, conflict turns into collaboration.
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