Big data and consumer products companies Challenges amidst the opportunities Denis McCauley Director, Global Technology Research March 2013
Definition Volumes Varieties evaluation
Context Extent to which executives say big data has improved overall performance in past 3 years 26% Extent to which they think it can improve performance in next 3 years 41% EIU survey, 2012 (all industries)
Context -making Firms which emphasise decision-making based on data and analytics perform 5-6% better in output and performance than those relying on intuition and experience. numbers: How does data-driven decision-
Context Why the consumer products sector? Volumes Varieties evaluation
Customers Monitors consumer sentiment Twitter, Facebook posts, etc Retail environment Daily PoS data highlights patterns & trends Data from specialists eg, local weather feeds Operations Yield rates, product quality KPIs Supply-chain info approach projects to see how we can link big data end-to-end, so perhaps taking point-of-sale information and referencing that all the way through our supply chains and ultimately into our forecast Mindy Simon, VP, Information Technology
Main findings Opportunities beckon, but significant hurdles for CP firms People and skills Organisation and processes upside down the role of data from responding to business problems to providing new Culture Rasmus Wegener, Partner, Bain & Co
People & skills What are the key challenges your firm faces in utilising data more effectively (top responses) Data scientist required! Able to work with highly diverse data sets structured and unstructured Top mathematical skills needed to create models Excellent computer science skills Deep understanding of consumer products industry Strong ability to influence others 41% 39% 38% 32% We do not have the right skills in the organisation Delays caused by validation and scrubbing the data No formal processes around data management We lack the necessary technology EIU survey, 2012 (all industries)
People & skills the 21 st - Harvard Business Review Only 1 in 3 IT data jobs will be scarce, valuable commodity - Gartner CP talent challenge: High-tech Financial services Biotech Deep pockets Re-skill existing managers Look to IT function Professional agencies
Dashboard monitoring >1,200 SKUs in urban & rural markets Data flow back to 1,500 salespeople via handhelds, tablets Sales data integrated with local demographics on digitised maps A dedicated data team Across functions Senior sales people with tech background available to us in real-time. When an order is booked, we know what the demand pattern is according to geographies and localities, which product and SKU sells more, and which stockist Sunil Duggal, CEO, Dabur
Organisation & processes Big data Diverse data sets across firm, horizontal Traditional data Vertical niches, product lines Long-established processes, resistant to change Silos Needed: Centralised data function? Report to CFO or CEO? Incentives to share Rasmus Wegener, Partner, Bain & Co
Challenge Reduce reliance on powerful regional distributors Market directly to local retailers Use of unstructured data 10,000 salespeople - 2 photos/shop/day Couple with inventory and order data Analysis conducted at head office Every meeting, we written reports, which is the standard Chinese way of management, but instead show graphs and analysis to support decision-making. Data teams Large one within central marketing department Data specialists within each functional team Patrick Hoo, Chief Information Officer
Culture There is not enough of a "data culture" in the organisation, where the use of data in decision-making is valued and rewarded Strongly disagree 3% Disagree 26% Don't know 5% Strongly agree 11% Data culture? Liberate from silos Asking the right questions Trusting data & their insights Compromise on precision? Agree 55% Seeing bigger picture EIU survey, 2012 (all industries)
Conclusion Courage The skill is knowing to ask for things that you never thought were Mindy Simon, VP, Information Technology, ConAgra
Questions?