Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 20

Tech Solutions Guide

2018

DATA & ANALYTICS

SOLUTIONS

GUIDE

In this edition of the Technology Solutions Guide series, CGT presents
a comparison chart of solution providers on the forefront of data
and analytics. To kick things off, a roundtable with experts from
AnswerRocket and SAS provide thought leadership on navigating
the challenges and opportunities involved in effective, efficient data
management and analytics.

It's now generally
Q
understood that a strong
business analytics practice is

MIKE FINLEY
Chief Scientist
AnswerRocket

DAN MITCHELL
Director, Global
Retail & CPG
Practice
SAS

mandatory for future success
in the consumer goods industry. What obstacles are still
in the way of achieving this
for some companies?

FINLEY: The greatest obstacle may
be that experts who know the consumer
goods market are largely not the same
individuals with analytics and modeling
skills. Businesses that want to invest in big
data and data science need to transfer the
knowledge of brand experts and category
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CGT | OCTOBER 2018 | CONSUMERGOODS.COM

managers into the lines of code
and training sets that are the
new currency of artiﬁcial intelligence. The results of analytics
and AI will be nonsense without
a collaborative partnership between the old and new ways of
doing things. Even if the results
are correct, it will take trust and
conﬁdence to use them to drive
the business.
MITCHELL: Many consumer
packaged goods companies trying to monetize data are starting
to cultivate the analytics culture
at the same time. Developing a
strong business analytics practice
requires stitching together the
data you have today while developing new data sets to better
understand cross-channel demand and local customer needs.
Often, the responsibility for data
is diﬀused across departments
and budgets. By 2021, in 75% of
large enterprises, the oﬃce of
the "Chief Data Oﬃcer" will be
seen as a mission-critical function comparable to IT, business
operations, HR and ﬁnance.
Despite recent advancements
in data management technology and tools, many teams are
overwhelmed by today's massive volumes and the variety of
fast-moving data. By providing
access to all as a shared service,
seamless data access, integra-
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018
