Consumer product companies will have the ability to integrate both external marketing information with internal enterprise data through their SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The virtual data mart (a single view of two or more distributed databases) improves ability to forecast, analyse and respond to changes in consumer demand.
According to Bruce Jones, product manager: retail at SAP Southern Africa, reacting timeously to consumer trends is vital to the survival of any consumer products (CP) company.
"The alliance between SAP and AC Nielsen will allow CP manufacturers and suppliers to respond in two ways: Firstly, if a higher than expected demand on a particular product is detected early enough, manufacturers can respond by gearing up production runs and supplying to retailers before their shelves run dry, boosting revenues and profits for all concerned.
"Secondly, more accurate forecasts of demand can be determined from consumer buying patterns. With more accurate forecasts at hand, manufacturers can reduce their safety stock levels, thus lowering vital capital that is tied up in these excess stocks," he says.
The two companies, SAP America and ACNielsen US, have joined forces to combine the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW), an end-to-end data warehouse solution, with external marketing information from three ACNielsen services.
ACNielsen SCANTRACK captures point-of-purchase and causal information from retail channels; ACNielsen Homescan Consumer Panel -- 52,000 households provide weekly insights into consumer purchase behavior across every outlet; and ACNielsen Workstation Info-Server is a new 32-bit information delivery platform for accessing all ACNielsen information.
Neil Williams, product manager: financials at SAP Southern Africa, explains the end to end `Business Information Warehouse` solution combines the large pool of business know-how. "This closes the gap between business processes and decision support already on a technological level, while eliminating the need for an elaborate organization and extensive maintenance procedures. SAP has accumulated this knowledge over many years for focused reporting and flexible analysis with the modern technology of a cutting-edge data warehouse architecture.
"The Business Information Warehouse derives its strength from a combination of top-flight business know-how and advanced data warehouse technology. It is an invaluable information hub for enterprise-wide use, at all hierarchical levels. From office workers to top executives, every one of a company`s employees enjoys access to comprehensive, flexible and powerful queries, evaluations and analyses able to meet their particular needs," he adds.
The virtual data mart capability complements the recently announced SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) initiative. SAP CRM enables consumer products companies to leverage external marketing information including category management and promotion planning information with integrated marketing and sales systems and processes such as sales and account planning, promotion and funds management, as well as brand and category forecasting.
The Colgate-Palmolive Co. in New York is the first pilot customer of the new offering, to be released for general availability in the United States in the second quarter of 1999. The virtual data mart capability was created with valuable input from Colgate-Palmolive.
"Consumer products organisations continue to face far-reaching change that impacts the marketplace today and offers new business opportunities for the future," says Marybeth O Donnell, director of demand and commercial business systems, Colgate-Palmolive.
"Our ability to address and exploit these business opportunities requires an integrated enterprise data warehousing strategy that combines the internal data from our SAP R/3 System with external market information from ACNielsen. In the past several years, Colgate-Palmolive`s business partnerships with both ACNielsen and SAP have enabled us, through information and business applications solutions, to significantly improve our market share and financial performance. We expect the alliance between ACNielsen and SAP will continue this trend."
The integration between SAP BW and ACNielsen marketing information builds on the SAP Consumer Products solution, providing customers with several immediate and measurable benefits including: a faster deployment cycle and lower implementation costs resulting from the upfront integration of ACNielsen marketing information within SAP BW; lower data management costs for customers, as ACNielsen will continue to store and manage the data at ACNielsen`s data centre; an information infrastructure that will provide forecasting, planning and analysis capabilities, essential tools for sales and marketing executives; the ability of the SAP system to access and process only the requisite information from ACNielsen for each user and business process solution; and one set of data for all users within an enterprise
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SAP
ACNielsen, offering services in over 100 countries and with 1997 revenues of $1.4 billion, is the global leader in delivering market research, information and analysis to the consumer products and service industries.
SAP is a market and technology leader in client/server enterprise application software, providing comprehensive solutions for companies of all sizes and all industry sectors. Cultivating innovative technologies on a solid foundation of business experience, SAP delivers scaleable solutions that enable its customers to continually improve upon best business practices. SAP products empower people to respond quickly and decisively to dynamic market conditions, helping businesses achieve and maintain a competitive advantage.
Founded in 1972, SAP is based in Walldorf, Germany, and employs more than 18 000 people at offices in more than 50 countries worldwide who are dedicated to providing a high level of support and service for the more than 15 000 installations of R/3 worldwide.
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