C.H. Robinson makes unconventional C-suite changes to accelerate strategic planning and innovation

In an unusual move, C.H. Robinson's No. 2, its chief operating officer, will become chief strategy and innovation officer.

Why? C.H. Robinson has leveraged its investments in technology and innovation to become the world's largest third-party logistics company. But to maintain its position at the top of the logistics industry, the Eden Prairie-based company must maintain a strategic focus on innovation and continuous technology improvements.

As Dave Boseman completes his first year as CEO, COO-turned-CSIO Arun Rajan sees his role as a disruptor, always looking for new ways to solve problems.

“Any industry can be disrupted, and I've spent my entire career with disruptive companies,” Rajan says. “I now feel I'm in a unique position to use all the knowledge and strategies I've honed while working with disruptive companies to create disruption within incumbents.”

Rajan joined C.H. Robinson as chief product officer in 2021 after holding executive roles at Whole Foods Market and Zappos, both of which were owned by Amazon.

Rajan became COO in 2022 and began solidifying the company's foundation and aligning its business objectives with digital investments. Now, in his new role, he is preparing to take over some of Robinson's digital operations and integrate them into the company's core business. The right mix of automation and technology will make trading more efficient, he said.

“When I joined C.H. Robinson several years ago, I knew the industry was in the midst of transformation and the potential for innovation was huge,” he said. “This is very similar to the journey of some of the consumer companies I've worked with since the advent of the internet, which have significantly transformed customer experience and disrupted the status quo.”

Below is a transcript of our interview with Rajan, edited for length and clarity.

Q: What prompted you to change your role and focus at CH Robinson?

A: This signals that we are at a critical point in our transformation journey, where we can take our amazing people and unique value proposition to the next level. We want to stay healthy, agile and focused in everything we do. That's what this role is about.

As CH Robinson adopts a new operating model as One Robinson that increases accountability, discipline and collaboration across functions, I will help evolve our operating model to achieve our strategic objectives faster and deliver the innovation and capabilities our customers require to navigate increasingly complex global supply chains.

This change will allow me to focus on accelerating strategy and innovation to move the company and the industry forward.

In my new role, I am really looking forward to leading the strategy process, operationalizing the mechanisms to track the progress and implementation of strategic initiatives, and accelerating progress towards our strategic objectives. I will also be responsible for driving research and analysis to inform key company decisions related to portfolio, mergers and acquisitions, and organizational transformation, all of which will accelerate the strategic path we are on.

Q: What metrics will you use to measure success?

A: Our corporate strategy has clear goals, initiatives and metrics to measure success and remains focused on delivering excellent service and value to our stakeholders and providing a great place to work.

We continually measure productivity gains through the number of shipments that can be processed per person per day, profitability gains through ways to optimize volume growth and margins, and most importantly, customer satisfaction scores.

Behind each metric — productivity, volume growth, margin growth — there are inputs that help you achieve the desired outcome. For example, to improve productivity, we use technology to reduce the number of manual steps in every step of the logistics order lifecycle, including price quoting, order entry, carrier booking, and pick-up and delivery scheduling. This increases efficiency, enables us to respond faster to the changing needs of customers, carriers, and a dynamic freight market, and frees up our employees to focus on higher-value work.

What will change with my new focus is the speed at which we can make progress on improving these metrics. Part of that will come from being more rigorous as we continue to implement a new operating model that includes lean methodologies (CEO Bozeman's specialty) that bring continuous improvement, accountability, and tracking of metrics across the organization.

Q: What areas will you be focusing on?

A: Thanks to Generative AI, we are diving into exciting new opportunities in the supply chain and logistics space. We have already implemented some new technologies that are proving popular with our team and customers. Gen AI is a game-changing technology that handles mundane, repetitive tasks that were previously difficult to automate. For example, it can process unstructured quote requests via email and respond to them just as our staff would. It can be trained for unique customer needs and integrated with our core machine learning, dynamic pricing, and revenue management systems. This is a win-win for everyone: our customers are better served and our team can take on more interesting challenges by removing mundane tasks to help them navigate increasingly complex supply chains. Plus, we can provide our customers with fast, consistent, and accurate answers anytime, 24/7.

Going forward, our science, machine learning and GenAI know-how will lead to a series of innovations that make digital brokerage, dynamic pricing and revenue management even smarter.

Q: How long will it take to see results?

A: We are already seeing results in the quality of our work improving and making it more exciting for our team. The digital investments we've made over the past 2-3 years are now maturing and producing solid results. For example, our investments to reduce manual work and increase productivity are producing visible results. Productivity increased by 17% last year and is expected to increase by 15% this year, with further increases expected in 2025.

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