Accenture organised “Masters of Change”, a digital transformation symposium, in association with Network18 and MoneyControl on the topic “Ready for Breakthrough Growth? Grow away from the core”, to discuss the trends and developments in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) sector and the establishment of a recovery roadmap for the sector. The roundtable discussion featured esteemed panellists, including Ms Annie Mathew, CIO, Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt. Ltd.; Mr Vineet Sharma, VP – Marketing, South Asia, AB InBev; Mr Harishankar Krishnan, VP – Digital Core Transformation DTS, Kimberly Clark; Mr Gautam Garg, CIO, PepsiCo India; Mr Manish Gupta, MD and Lead – Products, Accenture in India; and Mr Anurag Gupta, MD and Lead - Strategy and Consulting, Accenture in India.
Using technology to address supply chain challenges and dynamic customer preferences
According to Manish, one has to rethink traditional business models through compressed digital transformation that impacts the entire organisation, instead of siloed, sequential steps. Annie held that Mother Dairy uses an array of technology solutions at each stage of the supply chain. She noted, “Automation in daily pouring, cattle fit sales, ration balancing, animal health interventions, entire consignment visibility of fruits and vegetables are some of the ways technology has helped Mother Dairy in establishing a robust and agile supply chain”.
Harishankar emphasised that realising the purpose of an enterprise's existence and alignment of the business ecosystem towards that purpose is essential. Leveraging customer insights through targeted consumer databases and connecting with consumers directly according to their customised preferences is also becoming a mainstream approach to grow businesses in a customer-centric manner. Digital technology aligns the business, product portfolio and communications strategies.
Leveraging digital technology to explore new avenues and markets
Vineet further explained how data is at the core of MarTech for creating meaningful communications and understanding consumers' pulse, saying, "We have used performance data to make decisions on campaigns, consumer sentiment analysis, especially in the times of COVID-19. We have gained a lot from social listening to spot mega-trends and curated our marketing campaigns and product innovations”.
Speaking about how PepsiCo is leveraging technology to facilitate omnichannel service capability, demand sensing, improved warehouse operations, and greater market penetration to build agile and resilient supply chain, Gautam said, "The traditional marketing days are gone, we are investing in new digital marketing capabilities where we listen to the voice of the consumer”. He emphasised that changing the operating mindset with a bi-modal strategy – focusing on both offline and online business streams- is the way forward.
Also, noting how important data insights are for demand sensing, Harishankar emphasised, "Digital manufacturing is a true opportunity to effectively address the twin challenges arising from volatile consumer demand and asset-intensiveness”.
Finding the right partners and strategies to drive innovation
For Manish, the definition of partner is dramatically evolving with changing times. According to him, “Partnerships bring in a large set of capabilities – industry expertise, best practices, upskilling the workforce, in addition to the use of technology to implement digital transformation”.
Anurag held that efficient, agile, and resilient supply chains are a post-pandemic necessity. He shared, "In today’s fast paced world, the variability in supply chain could come from any source, and any part of the industry.”
Addressing skill gaps
Today’s dynamic supply chains require organisations to train their workforce with unique capabilities. The panel noted that having a change agent within the organisation who can challenge the status quo can also help.
The panel signed off the insightful discussion by emphasising that a two-pronged strategy by CPG companies - building a holistic transformation mindset and digitalisation of internal processes and external touchpoints - is indispensable to derive long-lasting benefits from digital transformation.
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