How FMCG businesses could benefit from EPM
FMCG companies face strong challenges in this global environment, from rising logistics costs in managing their supply chain, to environmental and carbon-footprint considerations.
We cover why utilising EPM tools can help overcome these challenges, while reducing costs, creating additional collaboration between teams, and increase revenues.
Introduction
Introduction
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) businesses are the producers of many of the day-to-day products we use at home and at the office. It is a complex business model where the entire end-to-end supply chain needs tight management.
At its basic level, an FMCG company will produce and sell products that are consumed on a regular basis, such as food, beverages, personal care products, and cleaning supplies.
These businesses are generally categorised by…
These businesses are generally categorised by…
High Volume
The throughput volume of these businesses tends to be very large with a wide customer base.
For general availability to consumers, they want their products stocked as widely as possible.
Low Profit Margins
It is generally well known that this sector tends to operate on razor-thin margins, as they are competing on availability and price, with very high overheads and fixed costs.
Global Reach
FMCGs tend to operate in a global environment where they try to distribute their products as far and wide as possible.
Brand awareness
The term “household name” holds true for many of these businesses, and so carefully managing promotional and marketing activities is crucial, while also comprising a large part of their cost base.
High R&D costs
To produce the latest and greatest products requires substantial investment in R&D departments, where new products can be developed and tested before being launched into full production scale.
FMCG Companies also face a large number of increasing challenges
FMCG Companies also face a large number of increasing challenges
The challenges facing FMCG companies is a somewhat unique one. Their business model usually relies on having expensive-to-maintain factories, large machinery (and therefore capex expenditure) to automate manual tasks, and do so in an environment where demand can and does rapidly change.
How the business responds to these is critical, and can be the difference between growth and failure, especially given how tight margins are in the industry. Any competitive advantage must be sought and leveraged.
Should FMCG companies consider investing in an EPM solution like Anaplan or Pigment?
EPM software can come in many different forms, and with so many options around, there are two key standout options when it comes to planning software.
FMCG companies have a unique challenge, so let’s explore what these systems can provide to resolve the potential issues.
FMCG companies have a unique challenge, so let’s explore what these systems can provide to resolve the potential issues.
Implementing EPM isn’t cheap – but it pays for itself!
Implementing Anaplan or Pigment does come with costs, such as licenses from the vendor, and having a trusted partner to implement the technical aspects of the system correctly. Getting it wrong can be time-consuming and costly, which is why it’s worth talking to professionals with many years of experience implementing these systems, such as Bolt Consulting.
However, when it’s done right, having a system like Anaplan or Pigment will help lead to increased revenues, quicker go-to-market, more profitable promotional activity, lower costs, and higher business valuations. Many companies looking at investment or IPO will find that having a proper system in place is a prerequisite.
Let’s take a brief look at each system.
Anaplan is a leading planning tool.
Anaplan is a leader in providing high-quality EPM cloud platforms, helping businesses of all sizes improve their decision-making, optimize operations, and achieve business goals.
It’s a powerful tool that can be tailored and built to suit the company structure, and can solve problems like financial planning and budgeting, sales and operational planning, supply chain planning, workforce planning, risk management, and compliance reporting.
It’s a flexible platform that can be customized to specific needs, while being scalable to allow for growth of the business.
Anaplan has been proven at over 1,700+ clients around the world.
Some of the worlds leading companies have trusted Anaplan for their planning needs and are adding value with it’s fantastic toolset.
Key Overview
Pigment is shaping the future.
Pigment is a cloud-based planning and budgeting platform that is paving the way in AI technology to enhance analysis and user interaction.
It’s a user-friendly platform that can be used by anyone within the business, and covers all of the same use cases.
Pigment is revolutionising the planning space by utilising new AI technology to speed up the process and make interrogating data faster than ever before.
Pigment is rapidly growing with over 100+ clients around the world.
As a platform Pigment is rapidly evolving and they’re investing a lot of time and money into expanding functionality.
Key Overview
About Bolt Consulting
Bolt Consulting is a financial systems specialist that can help whether you need to implement general ledger systems, ERP such as SAP or Oracle, or EPM planning software like Anaplan or Pigment.
We’re run by ex-Big4 qualified accountants with the highest certifications available within each system, meaning we won’t let you down.
We can help.
Both platforms come as a shell out of the box, but Bolt Consulting has a library of accelerators that help speed up implementation, reduce implementation costs, and get these systems up and running quicker than most.
Ready to discuss how we can help you?
If it sounds like we can help you it’s time to have a chat. Get in touch with us via one of the methods below.
Let’s do great things together.
Stay in touch.
Join our newsletter to hear from us on occasion. We will never spam you, nor sell your details. You can see our privacy policy here.
