Want to flip 80% outsourcing to 60% insourcing: Cargill's Jennifer Hartsock

Hartsock spoke about her journey, flipping the firm's outsourcing ecosystem, and expanding its capacity centre

Jennifer Hartsock, executive vice president and chief information & digital officer, Cargill, has been driving the firm’s digital, technology and data journey. In an interview with Shivani Shinde on the sidelines of Nasscom Technology Leadership Forum, she spoke about her journey, flipping the firm’s outsourcing ecosystem, and expanding its capacity centre in Bangalore. Edited excerpts:

 

You have been at the helm of Cargill’s data and digital transformation since 2022. How has been the journey?

 

When I took on this role, the company was also undergoing leadership changes. We had one of the very well-planned CEO successions. In fact, from June 1, we transitioned to a new organisational structure, consolidating our focus from five business areas to three.

 

When we talk about digital strategy, it’s not separate from Cargill’s overall strategy. A key component of this is leveraging data to drive that transformation.

 

What have been some of the key initiatives that you've taken and their impact?

 

Like many companies, over the past decade, we significantly outsourced our technical talent. However, to enable Cargill’s strategy effectively, we need to be faster and more efficient — not just cost-effective. I emphasise that cost-effectiveness is not the primary driver here.

 

Many organisations initially saw outsourcing as a great strategy, but over time, they realised they had lost their in-house technical expertise and, with it, the passion for purpose. At Cargill, purpose is critical.

 

One of my team’s major goals is to shift from an 80:20 outsourcing model to a more balanced structure. Currently, 80 per cent of our technical work is outsourced. Our first step is to move toward a 50:50 model, and eventually, we may aim for 40:60, with 60 per cent of the work being insourced.

 

How do you intend to do this and what time frame are you looking at?

 

This transition will take time — approximately three years. One of our key strategies is reinvesting in our own technical talent. This includes revamping internship programs, launching university graduate programs, and redefining job architecture to support long-term technical careers.

 

We’ve already been working on this for over a year now. In fact, we started our first internship classes a year ago, and tomorrow, I’ll be meeting with our first batch of Bangalore interns. Rebuilding that talent pipeline is one of our biggest priorities.

 

What is making you take a re-look at your entire outsourcing landscape? Is it because it’s becoming expensive or is it because innovation has to be in-house?

 

It’s about managing complexity. Like any sourcing strategy, we must structure it in a way that works for our organisation. What we have learned is that outsourcing not only created dependencies but also added layers of complexities between the consumers of our services — whether internal or external. As a result, we lost track of our innovation and our technicality.

 

What does Cargill’s outsourcing landscape look like?

 

It’s a large number of partners that we work with.

 

How does your India capability centre fit into this?

 

We launched our India centre in 2015, and today, we have 3,000 employees across multiple disciplines. My focus is on the digital and data teams, which include data engineering, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, networking, and software engineering. We anticipate continued growth in these areas.

 

Our India team is fully integrated into our global operations. Sometimes, they work as part of a larger international team, while in other cases, they own end-to-end product development.

 

For example, one area where our India team plays a key role is traceability. Many of our B2B partners require insights into the origins of their products and how they align with sustainability goals. Our India team works closely with these customers to understand their needs and develop data-driven solutions.

 

Currently, we have over 500 employees dedicated to digital and data, and we expect this number to more than double in the next two-to-three years. However, we’re not aiming to build a massive centre. Our global workforce is around 9,000, much of which is currently outsourced. As we move toward insourcing, we expect that number to shift.

 

As you transition toward insourcing, what criteria will you use to decide which outsourcing partners to retain?

 

They need to have strategic capabilities, which I do not want to be part of or have to manage. I do think that there'll be some niche skills and ability to bring external perspectives into the conversation that we don't have.

 

How is Cargill making use of GenAI?

 

We see four areas where GenAI can create value for us. First is customer experience and how we improve it. Second is productivity, which we track. Third is decision support and knowledge management. Cargill is large and we would like to use GenAI to make a smarter brain for Cargill. Fourth one is innovation and how we use it to accelerate that. What underpins it is to have a responsible AI.