Galip Onar is the Strategy, Innovation & Commercial Solutions Director at Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company. In an interview to Banks.am Galip Onar spoke about innovation policy at Coca-Cola and why the company decided to take part in WCIT-2019.

Why WCIT is important for Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company and what do you plan to achieve during the event?

We’ve been here [in Armenia] for almost 25 years. We know the dynamics of the Armenian economy, we know the potential of people and we know how capable they are.

Organizing an event of this scale is important for the hosting country, because it provides an opportunity to showcase local companies and really highlight their potential.

I think Armenia has that potential, especially in the ICT industry, really good infrastructure and competitive professionals. Technology is a key component for success in every country.

What does it mean to be the Innovation Director for a big company at this new age?

Innovation requires a lot of empowerment within the organization. As technology grows, so does the potential, great ideas come from all across. As a company, we really allow our employees, our stakeholders to think out-of-the-box, to be creative and innovative. Technology is the platform to allow that. The only challenge for us is to really make sure that we prioritize our innovation.

Innovation is all across, and we really need to prioritize by understanding the business needs and the impact of the innovation on the business from the top line to the bottom line. It is a challenge indeed, but a very good challenge, to be inseparable part of this technology innovation.

What do you think is the most important and the most interesting innovation in your company over the past five years?

We have had many innovations, and one of the key things we do at Coca-Cola is the fact that we’ve been working on turning connected cooler data into valuable business insights. We have invested a lot of efforts into this.

We have four million connected coolers around one point within our markets and we will reach a number of around 500 000 connected users by the end of this year.

This will allow us to really interact with our consumers, really do proximity marketing. When you are in proximity, you can see our product portfolio. But not only that - it will allow us to get insights from the assets that we have in the market to make sure that we serve our customers with the optimum assets and optimum pool.

This is a great technological innovation. We have huge new technologies in the pipeline like the voice assistant, the blunt chain technologies, the last mile delivery through robots, robotic process automation. The technology is really exciting in the future, and at Coca-Cola we are working together with our stakeholders, with our strategic partners within the markets such as Armenia to really innovate.

There is a legend that Coca-Cola’s taste is different in different countries. Is it innovative PR or the truth?

This is actually true. However, the basic ingredients and process used to make Coca-Cola are the same in all countries, although people perceive taste in very different ways.

It is possible for the same soft drink to vary slightly in taste due to other factors such as the temperature at which it is consumed, the foods with which it is consumed, or the conditions in which it is stored prior to consumption.

New services and products are born every day - how do big companies adapt themselves to these challenges?

We innovate every day. We innovate technology, products. Every day we have to think about how to better serve our consumers. We are a selling organization. We sell beverages to our consumers day in, day out. We do focus on ensuring the understanding of our consumers’ needs. That understanding comes with the data, and the technology helps us validate that data, creating those insights.

There is a really good blend of technological innovation and product innovation, where we truly need to understand the consumer insights, consumer needs across all the markets that we operate in and develop our products to meet those needs.

Lusin Mkrtchian talked to Galip Onar

Photos by Emin Aristakesyan