9NOVEMBER 2023In today's world, accelerated by the pandemic, the consumers have evolved and became very sophisticated, their needs have changed together with their expectations, and became impatiently service oriented. They start considering convenience above all at the tip of their fingertips through mobile phones and tablets. Sales channels started focusing on meeting the consumer demands and move towards online sales, trying to predict consumer expectations/behaviors/trends. Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies all of a sudden end up with loads of data unable to analyze all and there was a massive burden on the Supply Chains; not enough warehouses, transportation became a bottleneck, wrong predictions ended up with wrong inventories, service level issues and unhappy consumers becoming disloyal and shopping around for quick satisfaction. Nowadays, it is all about Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI/ML) technologies used for forecasting and analysis, interactive data visualisations tailored for different users in the corporate hierarchy. As a result, the role of the FP&A has evolved into Finance Business Partnering building trust, aligning cross functional teams driving the quick decision making at relevant levels; - they became the link between customer facing Sales department, - trying to become super agile Supply Chain and Manufacturing departments to deliver OTIF great quality products, - supporting the Marketing in analysing the trends and consumer behaviors based on real time data and - trying to cope and beat the raw material inflation which has not been seen in the developed economies for decades through cost saving initiatives, efficiencies together with procurement - as well as trying to get the required price increases without impacting the consumption with customers. Obviously this was all supported via the IT systems and plethora of data behind the scenes. As the BOTs have replaced the FTEs doing mainly the repetitive tasks, for the remaining talented employees "Story Telling" has become a distinctive strength combining the roles of analyst, data scientist, and influencer underneath; providing clear insights, leveraging story telling with clarity and impact to influence decision making and creating value for the business.The ones who can link the dots with other departments, derive conclusions on the prompt analysis of data, and make recommendations to drive business forward in a light speed without blinking, will be the winners in the ever changing and evolving world. So fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride whilst we will continue to drive into the uncomfortable, unknown... In today's world, accelerated by the pandemic, the consumers have evolved and became very sophisticated; their needs have changed together with their expectations, and became impatiently service oriented
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