“In a relationship‑focused business, it’s not just about efficiencies and automation.”
Chris Monery’s career began in the unforgiving world of online retail, where competition is intense, margins are thin and inefficiency is quickly exposed. That background shaped how he thinks about systems, execution and accountability. Moving into food wholesale brought him face to face with a very different kind of B2B industry, one built on relationships, routines and long‑standing ways of working.
In this episode of The B2B Experience, Chris tells Steve Borges what happens when a digital mindset meets a relationship‑led business. He reflects on the shock of entering an industry where technology adoption was limited, inefficiency could persist and workarounds had become normalised rather than questioned.
A central theme in the episode is inefficiency and how it becomes embedded in protected markets. Chris explains how businesses can continue to perform commercially without strong systems, reliable data or consistent processes. Over time this creates waste, fragility and hidden risk, even when everything appears to be “ticking over”.
Chris describes how doing the fundamentals properly became the real opportunity. Instead of chasing disruption, he focused on understanding how work actually happened day to day. This meant staying close to customers, suppliers and operations, and designing systems that reflected reality rather than theory.
The conversation explores the role of technology in enabling better execution. Chris shares how building ERP, sales tools and forecasting models in‑house allowed the business to remove friction, stabilise operations and improve availability. For him, technology only delivers value when it supports people rather than forcing them to work around it.
Leadership behaviour is another key theme. Chris argues that leaders who understand the work earn trust and see problems earlier. Getting involved, asking questions and observing firsthand creates insight that dashboards and reports often miss. Respect for people follows naturally when leaders understand the challenges they face.
Chris also challenges common assumptions about transformation. He questions the overuse of the term “digital transformation” and the tendency to prioritise rollout over reliability. Systems that don’t crash, processes people trust and tools that work consistently matter more than grand programmes or slogans.
The episode also looks ahead to the role of data and forecasting in reducing waste and improving outcomes across the supply chain. Chris explains how better prediction can support availability, lower costs and improve customer experience without undermining relationships.
This episode offers a grounded and practical view of transformation in B2B. It shows how combining digital discipline with relationships and execution creates progress that lasts. When organisations focus on how work really happens and improve it step by step, change becomes both achievable and sustainable.
Key topics covered in this episode
Digital discipline in relationship‑led B2B industries
Why inefficiency persists in protected markets
Doing the fundamentals properly before chasing disruption
Building systems that reflect how work actually happens
Leadership through proximity to customers and operations
Technology as an enabler of execution rather than a goal
Forecasting demand and availability in complex supply chains
Topics connected to this episode
Digital transformation in traditional B2B sectors
Operational efficiency and systems thinking
Leadership in relationship‑driven businesses
From instinct‑led to data‑led decision making
Building trust through reliable systems
Reducing waste through better forecasting
Experience‑led change in B2B
Topics covered
Bringing digital discipline into a relationship‑led B2B industry
Why inefficiency can persist in protected markets
Moving from instinct and workarounds to systems and data
Building technology in‑house when off‑the‑shelf tools fall short
Balancing automation, execution and human relationships
Leadership lessons from staying close to the work
Forecasting, availability and reducing waste in complex supply chains
Key moments
Why food wholesale has been slow to adopt technology
Chris’s perspective on entering a low‑tech, relationship‑driven market from digital
The moment he realised “doing the fundamentals properly” was the real opportunity
Building ERP, sales tools and forecasting models from scratch
How systems stability directly changed sales performance
Why understanding the work firsthand makes leaders better problem‑solvers
John Kelly has spent over 25 years navigating the realities of FMCG and Food and Beverage, an environment defined by operational discipline, complex routes to market and a low tolerance for risk.
In this episode, John reflects on his 15‑year journey at Heineken, where he helped scale a B2B digital ecosystem from three pilot markets to more than 30 countries, generating over €2.5 billion in digital revenue and fundamentally reshaping how the business goes to market.
John shares honest stories from the frontline of transformation, from failed big‑bet initiatives to the power of incremental innovation, agile ways of working and building belief market by market. He explains why early pilots should focus on adoption, not ROI, how to balance annual planning with sprint‑based delivery, and why customer centricity must come before technology.
The conversation also explores practical AI use cases, including dynamic sales routing and next‑best‑action models, alongside John’s framework for scaling digital capability through distinct growth phases without moving too fast.
Grounded, pragmatic and deeply experienced, John’s perspective is a reminder that successful transformation in FMCG is rarely about disruption for its own sake, it’s about patience, proof and bringing people with you.
Özlem Özümer has spent her career navigating the world of global trade, first through banking and later through credit insurance, but she’s clear that her motivation has always been helping businesses grow with confidence.
In this episode, she reflects on launching a greenfield operation in Turkey, the realities of building trust in an emerging market, and why credit insurance sits quietly behind so much of the world’s commerce. She talks about the human side of risk, the importance of being close to buyers on the ground, and the role people play in guiding clients through uncertainty.
Özlem shares the story behind Allianz TradePay, from early experiments that didn’t land to the breakthrough moment when co‑creation with a major client shaped the product’s future. She explains the challenge of innovating inside a large, established organisation, the resistance faced by a small new team, and why sponsorship, alignment and constant communication matter more than any single idea.
Her perspective is thoughtful and practical, a reminder that real innovation in B2B comes from patience, proximity to customers and the determination to keep going when the easy answers run out.
Maxim Gelmann didn’t set out to make edible spoons. He set out to change how people think about sustainability. His journey from strategy consulting to Burning Man to Dragons’ Den shaped the way he now builds his brand: with creativity, playfulness and a refusal to make sustainability dull.
In this episode, Maxim talks about building Stroodles as a brand from day one, not just a product line, and why fun travels faster than fear when it comes to behaviour change. He explains how edible tableware creates the kind of memorable, shareable moments that no carbon‑reporting framework can match, and why B2B hospitality and wholesale adoption requires more than innovation, it requires storytelling, patience and “pre‑chewed” ideas that help chefs and venues imagine what’s possible.
Maxim’s view is clear: sustainability only shifts when it becomes visible, tangible and joyful. And for B2B leaders wrestling with innovation, distribution complexity and customer expectations, his story offers a reminder that differentiation often comes from narrative, not novelty.
