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Hy-Vee is expanding – in India.
However, not with supermarkets, but by more than doubling the space of its technology office there, a company spokesman admitted.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, an English-language publication in Delhi, Hy-Vee will relocate its technology office in Bengaluru from over 2,000 square meters to a 51,500 square meter space.
Hy-Vee spokeswoman Tina Potthoff told the Des Moines Register that the company will open the Helpful Smiles Technology Global office in 2023 to create a 24/7 IT operation. The time zone in Bangalore, a technology hub known as India’s Silicon Valley, is currently 10 1/2 hours ahead of Central Time.
The Bengaluru office complements the work of another Helpful Smiles office in Grimes, Potthoff said, and allows the unit to troubleshoot technical issues around the clock.
“Having a presence in India allows our employees to work 24/7 on our apps and mobile and website presence, so we can continue to best serve our customers in the U.S. as we continue to grow,” she said. “This way, there is no start/stop on our digital services.”
She noted that the team in Bangaluru was ready when an outage at cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike occurred shortly after midnight on July 19, crippling everything from airlines to banks to telecommunications companies and also hitting Hy-Vee.
“Our employees in India began identifying the affected areas of our operations and implementing a solution so that our team in the U.S. could minimize the impact and ensure that all of our stores could open on time and continue business as usual,” she said.
West Des Moines-based Hy-Vee, the largest employer in the greater Des Moines area, employs about 200 people in Bangalore. The larger office will provide them with “more appropriate accommodations” with spacious conference rooms, she said.
She said Hy-Vee has about 1,700 total engineering employees and the India office expansion will not impact plans to hire more employees at the Grimes office.
In recent years, Hy-Vee has increasingly relied on technology in its business. Last year, the chain launched RedMedia, a new B2B advertising subsidiary. Many Hy-Vee stores have installed video screens in the aisles to promote products.
Philip Joens covers retail and real estate for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at 515-284-8184, [email protected] or on Twitter at @Philip_Joens.
