Spring 2013 Tech Preview Guide
According to a recent report from IDC, the U.S. economy is expected to stabilize in the second half of 2013, leading to moderately strong IT spending growth in the manufacturing industry. To help CG executives stay informed about their investment options, CGT invited leading technology providers to showcase new solutions that promise to reinvigorate strategic IT initiatives in your supply chain, sales and marketing or innovation organizations.“Perfect Package” Industry Solution Experience
Dassault Systmes • Launched: February 2013Filling a Need: Today’s packaging design process is highly fragmented across internal and external silos resulting in a significant amount of rework and quality issues. “Perfect Package” integrates the package design process from “consumer insight to shelf.”
Unique Features: “Perfect Package” enables teams inside the company and external suppliers to concurrently design 3D packages and 2D artwork and labeling, conduct technical and manufacturing qualification virtually, test new designs with consumers, and link production specifications into your ERP system in a single environment.
Benefits: “Perfect Package” enables brand manufacturers and packaging suppliers to cut packaging development time up to 50 percent, reduce packaging material costs between 30 percent and 50 percent, and virtually eliminate the chance for costly packaging-related recalls and quality incidents. “Perfect Package” also drives packaging reuse. Instead of redesigning new packages for every product initiative, consumer goods companies can repurpose existing designs, increasing package sustainability and delivering more value through a desired consumer experience.
Want more info? Download the “Perfect Package” flyer.
KonyOne Platform 5.5
Kony • Launched: April 2013Filling a Need: The KonyOne platform allows consumer goods companies to deploy powerful mobile apps across laptops, tablets and phones to empower employees with visibility and accessibility to critical business information.
Unique Features: KonyOne allows companies to build, deploy and manage “write once, run everywhere” mobile solutions. Pre-built, customizable apps include solutions to mobilize processes surrounding field sales/marketing, CRM, supply chain, warehousing, logistics, etc. The platform integrates seamlessly with backend systems such as SAP, IBM, Oracle, etc.
Benefits: When employees have to access real-time business information at their fingertips, regardless of device, in the office, on the shop floor or in the field, efficiency and productivity increases. Eliminate waiting for paperwork to be processed, inaccurate data entry, or having to rely on outdated information to keep business moving forward. KonyOne allows companies to mobilize any aspect of their business to empower better, quicker decision-making and faster reaction to customer demand, from field sales back through the supply chain.
Want more info? Download Research: Mobility in Consumer Goods.
PEM
RSi • Launched: September 2012
Filling a Need: RSi PEM allows consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers to finally close the loop with promotion execution, moving away from spreadsheets and instead relying on a centralized and consolidated promotion repository. This improves promotions execution for CPGs and retail channels alike.
Unique Features: RSi has developed the PEM solution with leading CPG manufacturers. PEM will provide tools to track, manage and course correct the myriad of promotional details, increasing team effectiveness and increasing sales. Leveraging point-of-sale (POS) data coupled with traditional data sources allows for PEM to drive greater promotion execution and maximize ROI on trade spend. Eliminating the reliance on disparate spreadsheets, PEM empowers the ability to track key promotion dates and attributes. As well as enabling promotion management by exception, consolidation of spreadsheets into central repository, ability to track all key promotion dates, tie-in with POS data and promotion forecasting capabilities. Finally, PEM offers enhanced promotion forecasting in addition to the inclusion of external forecasts.
Benefits: With PEM, the customer has a single point of consolidation for all the promotional data needed to plan, forecast, execute and analyze a promotion event. RSi PEM brings customers the control and ability to manage promotions and ensure improved overall execution — translating to greater promotion ROI.
Want more info? Download a Microsoft Case Study.
Nielsen Trade Optimization & Management Solutions (TOMS)
Nielsen • Launched: 2013
Filling a Need: Nielsen’s Trade Optimization & Management Solutions were specifically created to provide an end-to-end solution to manage the sales pricing and trade promotions process.
Unique Features: The cloud-based solution supports the trade process in an easy-to-use and fast-to-implement application. The application is fully integrated with Nielsen’s Retail Measurement Services data and advanced modeling capabilities, providing key analytic capabilities throughout the trade promotions process.
Five modules are available as an end-to-end solution or independently to address each an organization’s unique requirements:
- Strategic Planner - Annual/semi-annual planning
- Tactical Planning - Daily event planning and forecasting
- Promotion Management - Full retail payments and funding
- Retail Execution - Store-level execution and management
- Post Event Analysis - Comprehensive trade efficiency and ROI analysis
Benefits: Nielsen’s Trade Optimization & Management Solutions help organizations improve trade efficiency, increase forecast accuracy and reduce operational costs and complexity in the sales process.
Quick Picks for XP3
Interactive Edge • Launched: January 2013Filling a Need: Customer-facing organizations grapple with bigger data from more sources. Leaders respond with organizational expertise and centers of excellence, rather than reliance upon individual brilliance. Quick Picks for XP3 embeds analytic knowhow and shopper insights into the everyday tools used by end users and sales professionals: Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel.
Unique Features: Quick Picks data-mapping transcends the need for users to be expert on the naming conventions and structure of diverse data sources. Default competitive selections and retailer logos are automatically incorporated into ready-to-use presentations. An intuitive drop-down user interface blends category management sources with your organization’s shopper marketing insights.
Key Users: Top-level data experts (power users) do most of the configuring, while account team category analysts and sales organizations (end users) deliver embedded best practices with speed and confidence.
Benefits: Strategists and power users easily propagate their expert data knowledge and account expertise across your account teams. Quick Picks options are integrated within the XP3 Report Builder (Excel Reporting) and Presentation Builder (PPT Presentation) applications. Content may be tailored to specific defined strategies.