Leadership & Consulting
Driving digital transformation, mentoring engineering talent, and shaping global AI research through technical leadership
Authority Magazine Interview
In this Authority Magazine interview, Arunkumar discusses how he uses data-driven leadership to modernize enterprise platforms, strengthen operational resilience, and turn complex technology challenges into measurable business impact.
The conversation highlights his approach to building scalable systems, mentoring teams, and shaping strategy across retail, cloud, and AI-driven transformation initiatives.
📄 Interview SummaryHome Depot — Emergency Visibility & Freight Tracking
As a Technology Consultant with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), I partnered with The Home Depot for over five years, applying specialist expertise in enterprise data engineering, cloud architecture, and real-time analytics to modernize critical supply chain operations. I led the design and delivery of an end-to-end GPS freight visibility solution for The Home Depot's Emergency Command Center, replacing static shipment reporting with real-time location intelligence. Working closely with business and technology stakeholders, I transformed operational decision-making by enabling teams to proactively reroute vehicles, prioritize critical deliveries, and respond rapidly during hurricane events. To ensure successful adoption, I developed training materials and trained more than 50 Emergency Command Center associates, enabling them to effectively utilize the new platform and embed real-time, data-driven decision-making into daily operations. This consultancy engagement strengthened organizational resilience, improved supply chain responsiveness, and demonstrated how innovative digital solutions can transform enterprise operations through strategic technology leadership.
Impact Summary
The project was completed on schedule before peak storm season, giving the team a fully operational, battle-tested tool when it mattered most. It was the first real-time freight visibility capability of its kind at Home Depot and established the tracking patterns, workflows, and command-center integration model that later supply chain programs built on.
Home Depot Certificate
Scrum Certification
During my consultancy engagement with The Home Depot, I played a leading role in introducing Agile delivery practices within the Supply Chain and Emergency Visibility programmes, which were among the first initiatives in the organisation to adopt this methodology. Recognising the need for effective transformation, I became a Certified Scrum Master and championed Agile principles across distributed teams. I established Agile delivery processes, facilitated sprint planning, backlog management, and iterative delivery, while working closely with client stakeholders to embed Agile ways of working. To ensure successful adoption, I developed and delivered Agile training for more than 50 TCS offshore engineers, equipping them with Scrum practices, collaboration techniques, and continuous delivery principles. This enabled globally distributed teams to deliver high-quality solutions more efficiently, strengthened collaboration between The Home Depot and TCS, and accelerated the successful delivery of business-critical supply chain capabilities.
Macy's — Omnichannel Platforms
Architected and delivered two connected technology platforms as a contractor, central to Macy's enterprise omnichannel strategy.
Architected and led the delivery of two connected technology platforms for Macy's while consulting as a contractor. The first, OCPH (Omni Channel Purchase History), consolidated each customer's purchase history across online and in-store channels into a single unified platform, enabling personalized service, loyalty and rewards programs, and seamless returns and exchanges across the entire business.
Alongside OCPH, I delivered an enterprise RFID inventory visibility platform that tracked merchandise at the item level in near real time. This supported a "pick to the last unit" fulfillment model, reduced store inventory carrying costs, and gave associates and online systems the ability to locate and fulfill available inventory anywhere in the network.
Macy's — Cloud Migration & Enterprise Data
Led Macy's migration from legacy on-premises systems to a cloud-native platform, delivering resilient availability and modernization for enterprise data and applications.
Macy's recognized that system availability was core to the business, not just a technical issue. After Black Friday 2017 exposed the limitations of legacy on-premises infrastructure, I led the migration to a cloud-native foundation, delivering 99.9% availability and modernizing the enterprise data warehouse from Teradata to BigQuery.
I worked directly with Azure and Google Cloud to re-architect on-premises applications for scalable, serverless operation, replacing fixed-capacity self-managed servers with resilient cloud-native systems built to stay available under peak demand.
Teradata Migration Diagram
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Leadership Philosophy
As a Senior Technology Leader, I believe in leading through technical depth, strategic clarity, and genuine investment in people. My approach to leadership is grounded in hands-on engineering — I stay close to the architecture and the teams building it, ensuring that technical decisions are pragmatic, scalable, and aligned to business outcomes.
At Macy's, I lead cross-functional data engineering initiatives touching every major business domain — from Merchandising and Marketing to Supply Chain and Finance. I work with engineers, data scientists, and business stakeholders to translate complex data challenges into intelligent, automated solutions.
Beyond industry, I extend my leadership into academia and the global research community — serving on Technical Program Committees for international IEEE and Springer conferences, evaluating cutting-edge research and helping shape the direction of AI and computing science worldwide.
Leadership at a Glance
Consulting & Advisory
Emergency Freight Tracking
End-to-end consulting for Home Depot’s Emergency Command Center, delivering real-time GPS freight visibility and operational workflows for severe weather response.
Cloud Data Strategy
Advisory on cloud-native data architecture, GCP ecosystem adoption, migration strategies (Hadoop to cloud), and multi-cloud platform design for Macys Inc Organizations.
AI & Automation Enablement
Guidance on implementing agentic AI frameworks, generative AI for operational efficiency, trustworthy AI systems design, and AI-driven data pipeline automation.