When people think about the technology at Starbucks, free Wi-Fi, the loyalty program, mobile payments, or remote ordering usually come to mind. But it all started in a far less sexy way. Here’s why your company’s tech transformation starts with the backend. Most major technology overhauls start with a company’s backend—the tech running behind the scenes that keep the business functioning. Why do companies need to address backend changes before revamping their consumer-facing tech and how you can start a transformation at your company. Updating Technology from the Inside Out In my role as CIO at Starbucks, I thought we needed to be sequential in our new technology rollout.