Small, But Mighty
If you are a smaller consumer products company (less than $1 billion), when it comes to analytics, you may have the false perception that the larger consumer packaged goods giants are good at using data. You may also think that a smaller company cannot be as good at using data. In my travels, I find that many midmarket companies feel that the larger companies have it licked. They think that using data is costly, and that it would be impossible for a small company to power an analytics strategy; however, nothing could be further from the truth.
If you feel like throwing in the towel because it is too hard — reconsider. In fact, we find in our research that it is often the midmarket consumer packaged goods companies that master the art of data-driven processes first. They are better at analytics. Why? It is easier. The IT landscapes are simpler and there are fewer political turf battles. Furthermore, the lower cost of cloud deployments is reducing the cost of IT.
So, if this is you, what do you do?
While many people think of analytics as a large project, we find that it is usually a team of naturally curious and hard-working people that work iteratively and test and learn in a small, but meaningful way. These are not the projects that require the hiring of large consulting teams. Start small, learn fast and evolve. You can power more progress than the bigger guys. In fact, I can count five midmarket companies that have out-performed their larger counterparts because they have not tackled analytics with a “big project” attitude. I would like to make you the sixth.
If you feel like throwing in the towel because it is too hard — reconsider. In fact, we find in our research that it is often the midmarket consumer packaged goods companies that master the art of data-driven processes first. They are better at analytics. Why? It is easier. The IT landscapes are simpler and there are fewer political turf battles. Furthermore, the lower cost of cloud deployments is reducing the cost of IT.
So, if this is you, what do you do?
- First, start by using in-memory Software-as-a-Service analytical tools to drive self-service reporting.
- Next, deploy simple visualization techniques to improve outcomes and guide discovery. When you do this, build with the end in mind. Remember, that the world is heterogeneous, and even though you may have an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system from one vendor, that your world is about much, much more than ERP, and ERP data.
- Smaller consumer packaged goods companies need to enlist the support of their leadership.
- Build easy-to-use dashboards and scorecards, and empower the users to actually use the data and strive to make analytics self-service by the line-of-business leader.
- And finally, try to build outside-in processes from the channel back, using all the demand data that you have.
While many people think of analytics as a large project, we find that it is usually a team of naturally curious and hard-working people that work iteratively and test and learn in a small, but meaningful way. These are not the projects that require the hiring of large consulting teams. Start small, learn fast and evolve. You can power more progress than the bigger guys. In fact, I can count five midmarket companies that have out-performed their larger counterparts because they have not tackled analytics with a “big project” attitude. I would like to make you the sixth.