Creating a reliable IT landscape for your CPG business to build healthy customer relationships

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) is one of the biggest industrial sectors across the world. As it deals with products that are consumed and replaced on a regular basis, the demand for these products never really goes down. Led by industry giants like L’Oréal, Procter and Gamble, Coca-Cola, and more, the CPG sector caters to a large section of society on a daily basis. The Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) market report 2022 projected the market size of CPG products to go up to $2.38 billion by 2027. While the COVID crisis acted as a hiccup, the market is up and running again, covering much more than the losses incurred during the pandemic.

While the demand for Consumer packaged goods never really goes down, the CPG sector is filled with cut-throat competition. With several players providing similar products, every CPG business needs to stand out from the clutter to gather eyeballs and build a loyal base of customers. This has made it important for CPG businesses to understand the specific needs and preferences of their target audience to provide personalized services to them and build healthy relationships with them.

Moreover, running a CPG business is far from easy. A CPG manufacturer faces pressure from all sides, involving retailers, distributors, suppliers, and customers. While being in the middle of the battle between demand and supply, CPG businesses often struggle to create their own niche in the market while gaining the trust of their customers.
This makes it important for a CPG business to have a reliable IT landscape.

A reliable IT landscape would help you streamline a range of different business processes, allowing you to coordinate between different parties involved throughout the supply chain. Right from manufacturing the products to making them reach the end-users, an efficient IT landscape would always help your CPG business thrive in the market. Elements like process automation, RPA, software development, IoT, and much more help you make your work easier and build healthy relationships with your customers.

If you are willing to build an IT landscape for your business, you need to clearly define the objectives of your CPG business and the hurdles you face that prevent your team from achieving the desired results. This would provide you with a sense of direction and help you build a personalized IT landscape for your CPG business.

Here are a few important areas you cannot ignore while building a reliable IT landscape for your CPG business:

Streamlining day-to-day business processes with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) plays an integral role in the IT landscape of a CPG business. ERP is a software solution that helps you manage business processes that are carried out on a daily basis. It helps you streamline processes like accounting, project management, procurement, compliance, risk management, supply chain operations, and more.

Each of the processes mentioned above plays an important role in running a CPG business. Gone are the days when businesses would perform such processes manually. A reliable IT landscape would involve implementing the right ERP solution for your CPG business to enhance a range of different processes carried out by your team members.

ERP software platforms increase the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of your processes. From keeping track of procurement to creating financial statements at the end of the fiscal year, ERP solutions are designed to make your day-to-day processes simpler. Moreover, these software solutions prevent your employees from putting in more time ad effort in getting their work done. Instead, they can focus on the core business processes.

Most CPG businesses already work on tight margins and cannot afford to take risks when it comes to the accuracy and quality of their processes. Modern CPG-focused ERP solutions are the saviors in your IT landscape that help you enhance your business processes across the board.

Which processes can an ERP system streamline for your CPG business.

1. Financial Management

A CPG business carried out a range of different financial transactions on a daily basis, making it difficult to keep track of them manually. Modern ERP software provides you with robust financial management features to handle your incoming and outgoing transactions with ease and efficiency.

2. Bill Of Materials Management

Manufacturing of consumer packaged goods is incomplete without the bill of materials. Bill of materials or product structure refers to the list of all raw materials, intermediate assemblies, sub-assemblies, parts, and sub-components that go into the manufacturing of your products. An ERP solution helps you manage your bill of materials and keep track of your manufacturing processes using automated tools. This facilitates hassle-free, safe, and efficient manufacturing of your goods.

3. Production Management

Creating a complete production management schedule is often a tedious and time-consuming task for a CPG business. ERP software streamlines production management for your business by helping you at every stage of creating a production schedule from scratch. Right from creating work orders to releasing and updating them in real-time, a robust ERP solution would guide you every step of the way as long as your production processes are concerned.

4. Material Requirement Planning

Modern CPG-focused ERP solutions help you plan the materials required for manufacturing your consumer packaged goods. According to the demand in the market and the preferences/feedback of your customers, the software would recommend you the right materials to use for manufacturing your products.
ERP solutions also help you coordinate with your suppliers while maintaining the utmost control and visibility. They provide you with a comprehensive view of your supply chain, help you prepare for potential disruptions, and enhance customer satisfaction using advanced tools and features.

5. Data-driven Estimates

Arguably the biggest help offered by an ERP solution to a CPG business is that of making data-driven estimates. This feature helps you control your costs, manage risks, and take the right decisions at the right time. Depending on your business records, performance history, and current market environment, an ERP solution would help you make important estimates in the interest of your business.

6. Product Configuration

To stand out from the clutter and win the trust of your customers, you need to provide them with high-quality products. Modern ERP solutions make this happen by helping you with seamless product configuration. Depending on the needs of your customers and the business objectives you want to attain, ERP solutions help you configure and customize your products accordingly.

7. Order Management

Automated order management helps you escape the complexity of meeting your customers’ expectations and dealing with the complexities of your supply chain. A robust ERP solution helps you manage your quotes, optimize your fulfilment processes, and take complete control of your workflows to obtain the desired results.

Getting the desired Traction with Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Along with ERP, CRM should occupy a pivotal position in the IT landscape of your CPG business. Customer relationship management helps you manage your customer database to reach out to your target audience in the best way possible. Modern CRM solutions help you leverage a lot of your business processes, including sales, marketing, customer service, and more.

Here are some of the most important CRM processes that should be included in your IT landscape:

1. Lead Management

Seamless lead management allows you to convert prospects into loyal customers. CRM leaders like Salesforce provide businesses with automated tools that help sales reps acquire, nurture, and convert leads. They also provide you with an automated sales pipeline where you can add all your leads and view their ongoing status.

2. Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is another important CRM feature that lets you build targeted marketing campaigns across multiple platforms. Modern CRM platforms help you reach out to your customers via email, web, text messages, social media, and all other relevant marketing channels. Moreover, these solutions help you in tracking the buying journeys of your customers and staying with them at every stage.

3. A Comprehensive View Of Customers

One of the biggest reasons why a modern CRM solution should be a part of your IT landscape is that it provides you with a comprehensive view of all your customers and prospects. This 360-degree view puts all important details regarding your contacts at your disposal, allowing you to personalize your services while catering to them.

4. Reporting And Real-time Dashboards

Real-time dashboards display the accurate and complete picture of your business to all your team members to keep everyone on the same page. Modern CRM platforms also automate the process of generating extensive reports to analyze your performance and obtain valuable insights. These reports allow the management to make necessary amends in your business processes and drive your CPG business towards prosperity.

The Final Word

These were some of the most important aspects to be considered while creating a reliable IT landscape for your CPG business. In the age of digitization, you cannot proceed with leveraging your CPG business and getting the desired traction from your audience without driving digitization within your organization.