In the dynamic environment that is the manufacturing and CPG industry, embracing change is not only beneficial, but inevitable to ensuring business success. Today’s executives are acutely aware that the future of manufacturing as well as CPG is digital, where digital transformation has become essential to solving complex production problems and improving their business – from machines to buyer relationships. In Rockwell Automation’s most recent report on the “State of Smart Manufacturing”, 45% of respondents agreed that improving quality creates a need to accelerate digital transformation within their business.
Furthermore, case studies show that companies embracing change are seeing:
- Reduced risk
- Greater speed to market
- Increased margins
- Enhanced market position
Now all that is great – but how do you implement change in a business that has standardized ways of working and roots in disciplined environments? If something does not seem obviously broken, then how do we go about fixing it? And how can we ensure that we are reaping the full benefits of digital transformation?
Michelin discusses precisely how they went about this in their business, in a recent conversation with Seismic (subtitles available). By tying back to key mutual benefits across multiple functions, and ensuring all project partners were aligned internally, they managed to bring about change, in a scalable manner. In addition to this, buy-in across senior leaders and the wider business allowed them to address key challenges they were facing within the industry, such as:
- Improving the sales process to be more efficient
- Clarity and alignment in their go-to-market strategy with an expanding portfolio
- Retaining existing customers effectively – particularly demanding task
By implementing Seismic, they are able to achieve essential time savings – integrating content into their CRM tool which allowed their sellers to be more productive and proactive. Their sellers can now personalize content in ways never seen before, so that relevant content is shared, and conversations are happening at exactly the right moment in the sales cycle – without jeopardizing impact on their tightly regulated brand guidelines. Marketing now also have insight into how sellers and customers use and consume content, which allows them to refine their content strategies and investment over time to become even more impactful and efficient.
Another benefit, often overlooked when making this digital shift, is around sustainability which is a huge challenge manufacturing and CPG industries face as regulations tighten. For GEFA Fabritz, the shift to digital meant that they were able to achieve cost savings by up to 50%, all through focusing on a reduction of printing materials.
A final important aspect of driving change within manufacturing and CPG businesses is learning. Implementing a well-structured and interactive training and learning software that allows employees to learn and develop according to their own needs and schedules does not only save organizations time, but also helps to create consistency and alignment, ensuring that they are keeping pace with change at scale. Tails.com, a Seismic customer and supplier of dog food with a focus on customer experience, was able to decrease their ramp time for new hires by 34% through a streamlined onboarding process. In a small team of only 75 people, this is extremely valuable time that is being saved and can now be re-invested into conversations with customers.
Change is inevitable, especially within the manufacturing and CPG markets, but it is up to organizations how they choose to react to this change. Implementing a thought-through change management and sales enablement strategy is a good place to start. In fact, Valtech research confirms that 59% of organization’s are now defining their digital transformation goals as ambitious, whereas a year ago this stood at only 47%. It re-enforces the strategy that by ensuring leadership alignment, effectively engaging stakeholders, providing relevant content, and measuring success at the right levels, manufacturing and CPG organizations will be able to navigate the complexities of change and set themselves up for sustained success in their ever-evolving markets.
Seismic partners with a range of manufacturing and CPG customers across sizes and geographies, helping to deliver a well-oiled go-to-market machine that is sure to deliver successful business outcomes. Find out more about Seismic for manufacturing and CPG here, or reach out to request a demo.
