In the recent discussions between Oracle and SAP after Larry Ellison’s comments at Oracle Open World, I came across a really interesting September interview with P&G’s CIO, Filippo Passerini, to whom this quote is attributed. What I found most interesting was his vision of making information interesting to business leaders. In the era of information overload, this is no small feat. So how did P&G do it and what can we learn from it? With SAP aiming to be the Apple of Enterprise Mobility, as IDG reported, this seems like a great example of how IT drives innovation within a company’s lines of business such as marketing.
First, Passerini identified how IT could stay relevant to what’s most important to a CPG company like P&G - growing market share. This is a visual he shared from the presentation which represents the findings of a 2010 MIT study on “Analytics, the New Path to Value.” He said that as CIO, he measures his organization’s success on how they deliver on what matters – digitize, visualize, and simulate. As a result of this, the ability to run the business in real-time is a must-have. “What matters” is delivered in the form of a daily dashboard for business leaders. This is the “single version of the truth” which is so critical to orchestrating in concert across a large organization, whether it is P&G or another large enterprise.
Second, he gave an example of how real-time information is used in this market share simulation. For business leaders, understanding “why the results are what they are” is the first step to managing the business in real-time. To the right, a deeper dive on one country in one category offers visibility into the volume share and value share which are such critical data points to companies which must grow through incremental market share gains.
So what does this mean to other companies that need to grow through increased market share and by managing their business in real-time? From P&G’s example, it seems to require a holistic approach. Passerini noted that the IT organization is integral to each brand and product line. This fundamental shift in how IT is incorporated into day-to-day business operations will make growth through innovation possible. As a marketing organization, we value the insights we glean from market share and similar reports that help us grow the business. What are you seeing in your organizations?
If you'd like to see for yourself...read and watch here, "Memo To Oracle, SAP: Listen To P&G's Language."