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Meanwhile dive in to the next recipe with our Master chef Breno Gentil, Senior Director at Heineken.
Breno Gentil is a senior director at HEINEKEN®, where he leads Digital and Technology across Europe. Born in Brazil to an engineering family, his father encouraged him to take up coding in early childhood. He studied Computer Engineering at university, did a master’s in Design, and later an MBA. Reader’s Digest was his first job after university and he helped establish and grow its business in Brazil from zero. This experience gave him the taste of working for a startup, as he was only the fifth member of a national team that rapidly grew to more than 100. Prior to joining HEINEKEN® in 2022, Breno worked at Mondelez and 15 years at British American Tobacco (BAT), rising to CTO for the Group. HEINEKEN®’s global IT landscape has evolved in the past via the implementation of different local ERPs in response to local business needs. Now, in order to achieve harmonisation, speed and
efficiency, the IT group started a Digital Backbone strategy, consisting of a lean single SAP ERP,
called digital core, combined with several modern cloud business platforms. Breno believes any future ERP system should be slimmed down in size and functionality, so that it can enable greater
organisational agility. This approach supports a fast and flexible response to continuous evolving
business conditions.
Monolithic ERP implementations are tricky to transition. The end result of such an approach over time is often spaghetti rather than neatly fitting Lego bricks. Breno is convinced that the simplest and most effective approach to a future ERP landscape is to select niche SaaS business platform offerings that complement the digital core. But, he also recognises that a cloud-first strategy has risk in costs and benefits if not carefully managed. He advises caution and advocates a hybrid approach to the cloud.
As a consumer-focused organisation, HEINEKEN® follows a market-centric model which translates to empowerment of its operating companies, which are the local markets. IT has a structure that consists of a central group in Amsterdam and Hub in Krakow and lean regional units that operate close to the national operating company businesses. Breno’s European team includes about 400 staff, with 90% or more based in the country of the operating company to which they belong. IT managers in these countries report to Breno and the local businesses. He reports to the group CIO
and European business President.
Breno believes and practises the principle of ‘autonomy with consistency’, which in IT means adoption of common platforms providing underlying data and foundational features that are used to develop digital products which can be scaled and re-used by many. Examples of these are robotics automation platforms and automation bots. IT has introduced Agile ways of working globally and continues enhancing its adoption across multiple functions and geographies. Rather than focusing exclusively on processes, Breno believes Agile is a mindset that can be applied to any area of a business.
Breno has three guiding principles that have enabled him to rise to the top of his profession. The first is to be inclusive. He believes everyone on his team has talent; his role is to provide the space and conditions for them to shine and develop. The second is purposeful communication. IT is at the centre of transformation, so people need to understand the story and their role in simple and meaningful terms. The third is to combine empowerment with action orientation. Being impatient
by nature, Breno is keen to see rapid progress towards outcomes.
Having lived and worked in different parts of the world, Breno is acutely aware of cultural differences and the part they play in any transformation journey. Breno is friendly, creative and adaptable to different cultures. He listens carefully to his staff and makes time for them. Much of his professional satisfaction is derived from constructive dialogue.
Breno believes “our thoughts make up our lives”. He uses meditation to monitor his thoughts. This approach provides a valuable sixth sense about work and helps him to avoid problems and reach goals. His advice to next-generation CIOs is to follow their passions and believe in themselves.
