2006 Sales & Marketing Report
2/16/2007
Consumer goods (CG) companies continue to the lead manufacturing segments in employing demand-driven processes. While supply chain-oriented business and technology efforts still remain a priority within CG companies, demand-facing processes, technologies and the IT funds to support them are catching up.
As CG companies continue to forge ahead with more demand-driven initiatives, sales and marketing executives are grabbing a bigger piece of the overall budget. However, with more responsibility comes more scrutiny. Companies are holding the front office more accountable for their ability to measure and prove the effectiveness of promotions, and to increase profitability, not just revenue. At the same time, growing channels such as the Web, combined with increasing volumes (but not necessarily increasing quality) of downstream data, have raised complexity to the next level.