LATEST THINKING

Organizing, governing, sourcing and growing analytics capabilities in CPG

CPG companies can use an enterprise-wide analytics operating model to build a data and insights driven culture and improve business outcomes.

Overview

Watch our YouTube video on how CPG companies can use analytics to gain visibility in emerging markets.

Many CPG companies realize that Analytics capabilities are required to compete effectively in today’s marketplace. Yet, very few companies have succeeded in capturing the business value they wanted or expected from their Analytics investments.

Our recent research of CPG executives revealed that while companies have pockets of localized Analytics capabilities, less than half have ingrained analytics across their organization or believe it to be a differentiating capability. What’s more, companies continue to struggle with fundamental issues related to Analytics spanning data, methods and technology.

Accenture believes these challenges can be addressed if companies take the time to develop an enterprise-wide Analytics strategy and underpin it with an operating model designed to harness the power of Analytics.

Background

Accenture recently completed global research to understand how CPG companies are structuring analytics-driven organizations and “infusing” analytics into their decision-making processes.

We surveyed 90 CPG executives with responsibility for or oversight of analytics in organizations with revenues of more than $2 billion. The survey addressed the following topics:

Analytics challenges and priorities

Organizing and governing Analytics capabilities

Sourcing and deploying Analytics talent

Insights-driven decision-making

Key Findings

To achieve the desired business outcomes, an analytics operating model must meet three core requirements:

Infusing Analytics into the decision-making process: To embed an “Analytics first” philosophy into the organization, CPG leaders need to identify the business problems, define the appropriate key performance indicators and use analytics in their decision-making processes.

Organizing and governing Analytics capabilities across the organization: CPG companies need to define an appropriate Analytics organization construct based on the maturity and needs of the business, and allocate resources efficiently. A critical element in this strategy is the ability to effectively manage supply and demand for analytics services across the business.

Sourcing and deploying Analytics talent: It is hard to find the right Analytics talent and even harder to find analysts who have industry-specific experience. CPG companies need to revise their talent management processes to reflect clear decisions about sourcing, developing, rewarding and nurturing Analytics talent.

These business objectives are shared by most CPG companies, as well as organizations in other sectors, and can guide creation of an analytics operating model. While there is no single “right” operating model that works for every company, there are common foundational components that include:

Sponsorship and governance
Organization structure and talent management
Data to insights
Capability development
Insight-driven decisions
Outcome measurement
Information and data management

CPG companies can capture better return on investment on their analytics efforts by establishing a strong backbone of analytics across the organization. They can align their analytics efforts to solve several problems such as:

Getting closer to the consumer: Intense competition for consumer loyalty means that CPG companies need the ability to draw deeper consumer insights from Big data and make quicker and fact-based decisions.

Optimizing the supply chain: Increasing pressure to reduce costs while simultaneously increasing service levels is driving a need for improved decision making throughout the supply chain.

Strengthening relationships with the retailer: Retailers have direct access to the shopper, have a wealth of information at their disposal and continue to mature their analytics capabilities. They now expect the same level of sophistication from CPG manufacturers.

Better managing Analytics talent: Companies need to hire, manage and deploy the right talent across the business to meet global marketplace needs.