s&op reality check - myth vs. reality
TRANSCRIPT
CGT Straight Talk
consumergoods.com | may 2015 | cgt 3 1
Will RuizPartner and North America CPG Consulting Practice leader, Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy [email protected]
While it is true that the s&oP process, of which much has been published over the last few years, is relatively straightfor-ward and easy to understand, its imple-mentation is by no means a “slam dunk.”
Why is that so? Because a successful implementation of this key “connective fabric” between business strategy and operational execution must take into ac-count the three dimensions of a success-ful business transformation: business process, technology, and organizational change. charting a future-state s&oP process, as well as selecting the right un-derlying technologies can be relatively easy activities to perform when com-pared to managing or orchestrating the cultural change that is often required to implement and anchor this cross-func-tional process in a company’s culture.
the more immature a consumer goods (cg) company’s processes are, the larger the degree of organizational change that will be required in order to be successful.
Not only will an implementation require that organizations overcome objections such as: • “We don’t need to implement s&oP.
We are profitable and doing well.”• “We are already doing most of the
pieces. Besides, there is little trust between sales and operations — so why would they cooperate?”
• “our data consistency is so bad that people/functions often don’t trust it.”
They will also need to address specific organizational needs such as:• “Why are we changing?”• “Why do we need more meetings?”• “Will I be trained? Will I have access
to consistent data to make the right decisions?”
• “How will I know if I am doing things right? How will I be rewarded?”the objections and barriers to change
will dictate that cg companies seeking to implement s&oP have a structured approach for executive sponsorship and ownership, clear vision, cross-functional (sales and marketing, supply chain, man-ufacturing and finance) alignment of goals and rewards systems, training, fo-cused communications, and data integ-rity. successfully implementing s&oP depends as much on managing change and building trust, as it does on process design and software selection.
The S&OP process is really simple. all we need to
do is implement a leading-edge software solution.
“The more imma-
ture a consumer
goods company’s
processes are, the
larger the degree
of organizational
change that will
be required in
order to be
successful.”
S&OP Reality CheckTata Consultancy Services
myth
reality