Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 22

Tech Solutions Guide

tion, quality governance and data
federation companies can greatly
accelerate analytics adoption.

It's also often
Q
suggested that
analytics can be the

fuel that drives greater
alignment across the
enterprise. How might
this take place?

FINLEY: If corporate strategy
from the top is one bookend,
data is the other. Without data,
departments are free to interpret the corporate strategy and
take it in the direction that best
suits their objectives. But data is
the one source of truth that all
departments can use to realitycheck results and fine-tune their
contribution to the strategy.
When universally accessible and
up-to-date, data can provide the
guardrails that allow a business
to move quickly, even while adjusting the many levers needed
to compete in real time.
However, data requires
governance. Otherwise, teams
will pull data from convenient
sources or interpret it differently,
with the purpose of promoting a
certain point of view. So it's key

"Data is the one source of truth that all
departments can use to reality-check
results and fine-tune their contribution
to the strategy."
MIKE FINLEY, ANSWERROCKET

to get agreement on key metrics
and originating sources.
MITCHELL: Although organizations have used analytics
for decades, it has been mostly
limited to specialists trained in
math, statistics, econometrics,
etc. That's no longer the case. As
data exploded, so did technologies that enabled a wide range of
users to access, analyze and find
value within it. Fueled even further by advances in connectivity,
the cloud and computing power,
analytics now feeds on huge
amounts of data to produce insights. These advancements are
creating an economy where data,
people and machines must work
together to stay competitive and
accelerate customer experience
innovation. This really starts at
the individual level by enabling
anyone who is curious about

"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."
DAN MITCHELL, SAS

22

CGT | OCTOBER 2018 | CONSUMERGOODS.COM

data to quickly and easily explore
and share gained insights, driving
new experiences and operating
models - truly democratizing
analytics for all.

What role will
Q
artificial intelligence play in the

pursuit of analytics
excellence? How long
before the consumer
goods industry is
largely "powered
by AI"?

FINLEY: In order to power
the consumer goods industry,
machines have to recognize patterns in CG data. These patterns
will come in many shapes and
sizes, such as market conditions
where pricing can be optimized
or weather conditions that will
lead to out-of-stocks. Brand
experts and category managers make hundreds of nuanced
decisions based on patterns, so
AI has a lot of catching up to do.
But before 2020, the consumer
goods industry will see automation for key drivers like pricing
and promotion, at least in the
simplest cases.
Similarly, legacy concepts like
elasticity will be replaced with



Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018

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

Contents
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - Cover1
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - Contents
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 3
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 4
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 5
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 6
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 7
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 8
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Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - 27
Consumer Goods Technology - October 2018 - Cover4
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