INSIDE IMS: Meet Uros Ivovic

Uros has been with IMS Evolve for six years, and his journey has certainly been a memorable one so far. After studying Computer Science at University in the UK, he joined Tesco head office within their system admin department. His time at Tesco spanned across seven years, with Uros’ roles staying well within the facilities management and maintenance departments. Working within these roles meant Uros was adjacent to many technological projects, which is how he initially came across IMS, who was monitoring the machines across the Tesco estate. After seeing the value in the work that IMS did and the potential the technology had, he decided to make the move and join the company at a pivotal time. 

“I joined IMS just as they were commencing a pilot with a huge US retailer. I took on the role of Project Manager for this exciting new project, and to ensure the success of the pilot, it made sense for me to spend a lot of time in the States. Because I had previously worked with IMS as a customer, I understood the needs and requirements of the retailer and put my skills and expertise to good use.” 

Uros was able to support the team in demonstrating the IMS capabilities and prove why the solution was a perfect fit. “We wanted to make sure that the customer could see how great IMS is at extracting and making sense of the vast amount of data coming from the stores. I was now representing IMS and was able to use my knowledge to its best advantage. I know what retailers want, and I know exactly how to present it to them in a way that they will clearly understand it.” 

The initial eight-week pilot was a resounding success and IMS won the contract to roll out across the full estate of 5,000+ stores and, swiftly after, opened a US office to oversee the roll-out and effectively nurture the new relationship. This was IMS Evolve’s first ever US based office that has now been established for over four years and is home to a great team of people. 

At the time, Uros was travelling back and forth from the UK, but he eventually made a permanent move to the States. This proved life changing in many ways, as Uros subsequently met and fell in love with Robin, his now-wife, whilst on a night out in a local bar. They moved in together with her two wonderful children, and they are now very happily married! (IMS can obviously not take any credit for that…ok maybe a little). 

Since then, Uros’s role has continued to evolve, and he is now leading multiple projects for our various US customers. 

“My favourite part about my job is interacting with customers and showing them things that they didn’t know were possible, and seeing it dawn on them that there can be a better and more efficient way of operating. I ensure they are getting the most from our product and I feedback requirements or new challenges to internal teams to make sure the customer’s needs are being met.” 

Through speaking to food retail customers on a daily basis, Uros gets a real sense as to what matters to them most right now, which helps IMS to provide a better product, service and partnership to all its retail customers. 

“As the world begins to go back to work, people are expending more energy, there is more traffic, and as we all know, the cost of living is rapidly rising. Because of this, consumers are spending much more time online, and supermarket footfall is decreasing. Retailers got very used to their store capacity being at a certain level over the years, and the pandemic has changed that completely. Now, with energy prices going up, the biggest thing retailers want is for us to save them energy and reduce their consumption. IMS is able to help them with this, but we have to remain flexible and agile in order to meet their ever-changing needs and areas of focus. Our customers are constantly presenting us with new challenges and demands, and as a technology partner it is up to us to solve these alongside them.”

When he isn’t solving problems for the world’s largest retailers, Uros has a lifelong love for motorsport and live music events and uses his passion for them as an excuse to travel the world. He also loves spending time with his wife and family, and pops back to the UK any chance he gets!