Ten Must-Know Scenes Behind CGBTLC 2016

The 2016 Consumer Goods Business and Technology Leadership Conference (CGBTLC) gathered attendees at the Hilton Bonnet Creek in Orlando, Fla. on October 17-20, 2016 to explore the theme of “Digitizing the Enterprise for Transformational Growth”. This year’s agenda had a greater focus on interactive, discussion-type sessions with the launch of CGT University, share group meetings, workshops, and shorter hard-hitting presentations. Take a look at #CGBTLC on Twitter to see what resonated with attendees. Here are some top highlights from the event:

Innovation Recipes: Revolutionary changes can happen when people believe in the power of an idea and are willing to do whatever it takes to make the change stick. To change social norms, sacred cows must be questioned and inspired innovation rewarded. Professor Luke Williams of the NYU Stern School of Business shared his perspective on disruption and how companies must innovate in order to grow, in his opening keynote. From Dollar Shave Club to Blockbuster to Blackberry, industry examples were used to illustrate the critical nature of innovation and explain how disruptors enter the realm of increasing returns. Using the analogy of a recipe, Williams urged attendees to take ingredients and resources that are available today and combine them in new ways, leveraging the infinite number of possibilities. He concluded, “Your job is to get to the point where you have more innovation capital to spend than any of your competitors.”

Ranking Consumer Expectations: Noted Wall Street advisor Gary A. Williams (also founder and CEO of wRatings Corp.) kicked off the second day of sessions by examining the competitive strengths of digital commerce leaders from both a consumer connection and a business performance perspective. Williams ranked companies’ ability to meet consumer expectations, and analyzed their performance against 11 Moats, including offering and production strength as well as platform factors, like network, lock-in, routine reliance and social authenticity. Using examples from Nike, Under Armour, Amazon and more, best practices around making meaningful consumer connections were shared. Like the Golden State Warriors, Williams urged attendees to “look through all the data and find something that can help change the game in your favor.” 

Digital Transformation Perspectives: With the theme of digital transformation, a Super Session followed that drilled down into “Leveraging the Digital Footprint”. In the first segment, Joel Warady, chief marketing & innovation officer at Enjoy Life Foods, talked about meeting consumers on their terms. He stressed that brands need to know how to talk to their consumers and demonstrated how Enjoy Life Foods creates platforms for consumers to share their passion for their products. Warady concluded, “Digital technology must be a part of today’s consumer-centric marketing strategy.” In the second segment, Kalyan Prabbisetti, director of enterprise architecture & it services at Edgewell Personal Care, focused on the supply chain execution perspective. He discussed how transportation efficiencies were vastly improved by leveraging data and insights focused on container optimization. In fact, Edgewell’s container fill rate went from 60 percent to 85 percent as a result of this initiative.

Award Winners Roundtable Chat: A roundtable discussion with two of the previous evening’s award winners revealed how both companies have similar strategies toward the consumer. Both Sailendra Koorapati, CIO, Callaway Golf and Travis Harrison, VP Global Supply Chain, Luxe Division L’Oreal, discussed how their organizations are focused on the overall consumer experience and not just the product and have shifted to a consumer-centric point of view. Click here for the full list of the 2016 Business & Technology Award winners and finalists. Click here to read about Callaway Golf’s Sailendra Koorapati winning the 2016 CIO of the Year award.

Engaging Millennial Professionals: Wendy Merrill, chief rainmaker & founder of StrategyHorse Consulting Group, hosted an insightful discussion on how to engage Millennials, both as consumers and employees. This segment of the population is much more diverse and complex than they are often portrayed and they don’t deserve all the negative attention they receive. In order to seize the most valuable opportunities to engage these younger professionals, it is critical that companies understand the individualistic qualities of the Millennials they wish to attract, including fear of failure, lack of confidence, the desire for a collaborative work environment, the need for a constant flow of information, and the craving for meaning in a positive corporate culture.

Tech Trends Revelations: The results of the 2016 Tech Trends report revealed the latest data on technology spending, adoption and trends in the consumer goods industry. For the first time in many years, IT spending has increased slightly due to significant shifts in consumer behavior. Consumers are in control, enabled by their devices and by direct interactions with brands. The results are rising expectations, and consumer goods companies are investing to meet those demands. Moderated by Gartner, Inc.’s Research Director for Consumer Goods Ed Porter, an esteemed panel joined the stage to offer real-world case studies on some of the topics covered in the study. Panelists included: Waddell Daniels, vice president, North American demand planning & customer collaboration - consumer, McCormick & Company Inc.; Steve Sigrist, vice president, customer supply chain, Newell Brands; and Andy Walter, vice president of IT & shared services, retired, Procter & Gamble. Click here to download the complete report.

IoT Adoption: The conference’s last day was dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT) and featured a mix of technologists and practitioners who shared their perspectives on the growing adoption of this technology. Tony Saldanha, vice president, next generation services, Procter & Gamble, keynoted the day, sharing insights on how P&G is looking to purposefully drive digital disruption with a team that is tasked with developing ideas that have a 10x disruptive factor. Saldanha shared his approach to disruption with a discussion on outcome-based processes, human capital on demand, organizational boundaries, total automation and redefining scale. He concluded with the Oral-B Smart Toothbrush as an example of disruption through IoT.

Panel on Fire: Sahir Anand, vice president, research and principal analyst, EKN Research, hosted a rapid fire panel discussion with panelists EJ Kenney, sr. vice president, consumer sector, SAP; Raghavendra Parvataraju, vice president, retail, consumer, technology & utilities, L&T Infotech; Lionel Pieterse, vice president, retail & CPG industry principal, NTT DATA; and Vivek Raj, vice president & business unit head - retail & consumer goods, Tech Mahindra Americas. The discussion centered around opportunities for IoT to provide value, primarily on the production floor, temperature control sensors, wearable devices and loss/damage prevention. Most plans for IoT involve better communication and better collaboration, especially in areas where real-time data can help.

Wearable Device Case Study: One of those areas, wearable devices, was the focus of a case study presented by Arturas Vaitaitis, founder, CTO and inventor of MonBaby from MonDevices. MonBaby is a breathing and rollover monitor that can be attached to any article of baby clothing and helps monitor for rare and dangerous conditions like SIDS. The device tracks sleep, position, proximity, breathing, fall detection and captures data for analysis. The potential benefits are outstanding, and could theoretically be expanded for other populations in need of such monitoring, including the elderly.

Supply Chain Smarts: The conference concluded with quantitative data provided by Simon Ellis, program vice president - supply chain, IDC Manufacturing Insights, that showed how companies are using sensors to capture data today which will likely expand with IoT. In addition to operational uses, IoT enables companies to respond well to the physical disruptions that may occur. Ellis concluded, “A smart supply chain with real time visibility and advanced analytics and a combination of people and machine is about being more risk-aware and being more resilient.”