_________________________________________________________________________________________________ Main interview
customers to improve sales team preparation and performance . Preparation times for sales meetings can be vastly reduced and a better selection of appropriate products placed in front of the customer . Additionally , price points can be optimized to ensure that the sales team neither excessively dilutes margins nor prices themselves out of the game ,” he explains .
Sustainability practices
Looking at the industry from a wider perspective , Andrew reflects on the shortterm challenge of having to juggle inflation and cost increases . “ I think many companies are currently doubling down on whether they have control of their costs . Certainly , in the UK , we ’ re still feeling the impact of Brexit , particularly from the perspective of importing or exporting ingredients or products . The longer-term challenge , however , is the move towards sustainability , which is being driven by consumer awareness and demand . Consumers want more information on the provenance of the products they ’ re consuming . People want to see the world reducing its carbon footprint and the increasing regulation and associated new reporting requirements is helping to drive that evolution .
“ That ’ s where systems and data can help ,” he affirms . “ If you have the right technology in place to be able to capture the information and see when you ’ re going off track , that ’ s the best position to be in to be able to do something about it .
“ There ’ s increasing awareness about what we eat , how it ’ s farmed and processed . Consumers are also becoming more health conscious and demanding more information . While potentially not front of mind for customers when they shop , food safety is also a hot topic and particularly so , for processors . As such , we ’ re likely to see more regulation around food safety . Going back to the topic of sustainability , it ’ s about making better use of precious resources through practices such as optimization and waste reduction . Something like one third of the food in the supply chain is wasted . Sustainability drives supply chain transparency , it drives food safety , and encourages enhanced consumer information . It doesn ’ t necessarily need to be an additional cost to business ; it can help a business to improve its operations . The way we view the topic of sustainability is vastly different today ; most businesses recognize that there ’ s a need to do something , and that there are multifaceted benefits to doing so ,” he suggests .
Future-proof technology
Turning to Infor , Andrew believes there are three aspects to the organization that differentiate it from others and that create competitive advantage for its partner companies . “ We deliver food and beverage expertise that ’ s baked into our microvertical solutions . Many of our people have a background in the industry , so our solutions are designed , built , and deployed by people with food and beverage expertise .
“ We believe another big difference is our future proof technology ; we are cloud-native , which allows us to deliver a continuous solution that doesn ’ t necessitate regular platform upgrades . We also deploy in a different way . The customer experience is focused on high value and low risk . Our highly preconfigured industry processes allow for speedy adoption , but we also recognize that no two organizations are identical . That said , starting from a preconfigured process allows for faster adaptation than starting from scratch .
“ If companies don ’ t embrace technology and data ,” he concludes , “ they are likely to struggle . To my mind , this presents an opportunity for the food industry in the UK and an opportunity for Infor as well .” ■
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