编辑/Claire
Proofreading / Bamboo Heart, Rita
策划/Eason
"The 2024 China CIO Digital Strategy Conference, hosted by First New Voice, a leading research platform for the technology industry in China, came to a successful conclusion in Shanghai on May 18, 2024."
At this summit, Deng Tian, an expert in Guanyuan data solutions, delivered a keynote speech on "Data-driven Agile Operation, Helping Lean Growth in the Retail Consumption Industry". In a rapidly changing business environment, data is becoming the key to business transformation. Data is not only the basis for business decision-making, but also a powerful driving force for innovation and optimal management.
The following is a transcript of the speech, edited and arranged by First New Voice, with deletions:
01
Core proposition: "Data assets into the table, intelligent application landing, digital strategic position improvement"
After in-depth cooperation and co-creation with many enterprises, Guanyuan observed that the field of enterprise digitalization in 2024 will mainly focus on the following three core topics:
First, data assets are becoming increasingly important for enterprises. The entry of data assets into the table has become an important part of the intangible assets of enterprises. From the report issued by the Ministry of Finance to the actual operation of listed companies, the assetization of data resources has become a trend. National policies are also actively promoting this transformation direction, encouraging enterprises to take the precipitation and accumulation of data assets as a key strategy for enterprise transformation and upgrading.
Second, the implementation of intelligent applications has become the key. Since the release of GPT 4.0, enterprises have increasingly taken the initiative to use the ability of natural language interaction and understanding to promote more efficient information applications, so as to better support and assist the operation and management of enterprises. As a result, the landing scenarios of large models and AI are becoming clearer.
Third, the improvement of the strategic position of digitalization cannot be ignored. At present, many enterprises have recognized the importance of digitalization and are actively seeking internal digital construction. The acceleration of the digital transformation of enterprises has also promoted the vigorous development of the industrial digital economy. The implementation and improvement of data infrastructure can also give better play to the role of data elements.
As enterprises move forward with digitalization, they need to focus on a number of key factors to ensure that they can fully realize the value of digitalization. This process revolves around three core dimensions:
The first is to focus on the construction of underlying data capabilities, which mainly involves improving the ease of use of products. This means that businesses need to continuously optimize their data management tools to make them more efficient and user-friendly.
The second is to focus on the construction of enterprise-level platforms, focusing on their performance, stability and availability. These factors directly affect the actual use effect within the enterprise, and are the key to ensuring the success of digital transformation.
The third is to emphasize scenario-based implementation. All product capabilities should be designed around the core goal of getting the business moving, ensuring that digital solutions truly serve the needs of the business.
Serving the business is the ultimate goal of enterprise digital construction. There are three key points that companies can focus on:
First, identify the connection point between product technology and business. From the technical foundation to the functional design, it is important to ensure that the technology can be integrated into the business process and empower the business.
Second, a deep understanding of business characteristics and business model differences, development stages, and system foundations. Locate key requirements according to the development stage of the enterprise, and refine it to specific business links and scenarios. To avoid blindly pursuing big leaps and bounds, we should adopt a spiral approach to gradually promote the optimization of the whole system.
Third, co-creation with customers is the key to achieving goals. Enterprises should give priority to identifying the main contradictions and refine them in a targeted manner. By running in small steps, priority is given to solving core propositions.
In the process of scenario-based value mining of data, the market has gradually highlighted three endogenous driving forces for development.
The first is "strategic planning driven", which is similar to the approach commonly used by large consulting firms or large group clients. Strategic planning and top-level design through consulting services, which rely heavily on services such as management consulting or data consulting.
The second is "driven by industry best practices", which provides productized solutions for enterprise business analysis and intelligent insight and decision-making that can be implemented in various industries based on the high-frequency business scenarios of customers in different industries and based on the industry's best experience precipitation.
The third is "organizational capability driven", the key is how to continuously improve the organization's thinking ability and data application ability in the process of digital operation, and empower enterprises to make agile decisions.
02
Panoramic digital demand dismantling and industry practices in the consumer industry
(1) Panoramic digitalization of the retail industry: consumer-centric
The retail industry encompasses a variety of business models, from production and sales to procurement and sales, and varies in the process and complexity of supply chain management. The supply side includes key links such as procurement, warehousing, transportation, and logistics, which support the operation of sales channels. The intermediary channel model is very diverse, covering franchised, direct sales and online new retail platforms, such as Douyin local life, community group buying, and private domain platforms built by enterprises.
The core of the retail industry is to serve the end user, and the intermediate links such as product category management, product selection, new product research and development, as well as marketing strategies, such as brand promotion, new media advertising, promotional activities and membership operation are crucial. Whether it is the shopping guide service of offline stores or online customer service, it must be built around the needs of consumers, so improving the service system with the help of digitalization plays an important role in the retail business chain.
The key to promoting the sustainable growth of retail enterprises lies in digitalization and three innovation points: brand innovation, category innovation, and channel advancement. Digitalization improves operational efficiency and market insights; Brand innovation enhances consumers' emotional connection; Category innovation to meet the new needs of the market; Channel advancement to reach target consumers more effectively. Putting consumers at the center to ensure consumer expectations are met and exceeded, building brand loyalty and achieving sustainable development.
Data-based support to improve the profitability of a single store
The core business scenarios of the retail industry are first of all store-side operations, including store sales performance analysis. The second is store expansion, such as the establishment of a service investment franchise system, or the location and development of stores. The third is the operation of the commodity side, the fourth is the analysis of members, and the fifth is the analysis and management of the back-end supply chain.
In the management and operation of retail enterprises, the key challenge is to improve the profit of a single store and the overall profitability. Although front-line store managers usually have rich practical experience and management wisdom, some store managers may not be proficient in digital technology due to age and other factors. Therefore, the headquarters needs to provide support to help the store operate and manage more efficiently.
Key strategies to improve store operations:
1. Clarity of core indicators: Stores need to pay attention to core operating indicators to accurately evaluate their performance. These metrics should be simplified and easy to understand and apply at the store level.
2. Simplify management decisions: Avoid bogging down complex details and establish a system that automatically identifies and prompts operational anomalies to help store managers adjust strategies in a timely manner.
3. Store health assessment model: Create a multi-dimensional evaluation model to comprehensively evaluate the operation status of the store. The model should include elements such as operating revenue, performance indicators, and comprehensive profit margins to enable effective comparisons between stores.
4. Product insight and product selection optimization: Strengthen data support, provide store managers with intuitive product sales data analysis tools, reduce the impact of subjective judgment, and improve the accuracy of ordering.
5. Inventory management: Optimize the inventory management process, quickly identify and deal with abnormal inventory conditions, and improve the efficiency of business operations.
Enterprises can use the above strategies to build an evaluation system that can serve both store managers and senior management, ensure the symmetry of information and the synchronization of management, so as to promote the efficiency and accuracy of decision-making, and jointly promote the improvement of store performance and profitability.
Digital selection and elimination from categories to single products
In the retail industry, the wide range of goods is one of its distinguishing characteristics. A retail brand has more than 8,000 SKUs and thousands of stores across the country. Faced with a large product lineup and chain network, the merchandising department of the brand headquarters must rely on data to quickly and accurately formulate strategies, from macro category management to micro single product analysis.
By formulating a data-driven product operation strategy, Guanyuan conducts refined management of brand products from the links of category development, category planning/display, and product operation, and finally has insight into category growth opportunities and optimizes the display output effect.
(2) Panorama digitalization of fashion enterprises: to achieve data unification and in-depth insight
Fashion companies are characterized by the high complexity of their R&D and supply chain collaboration processes, which is why many fashion brands attach great importance to data support and optimization.
At present, fashion brands widely adopt the omni-channel sales model of online and offline integration, and the realization of unified management and in-depth insight at the data level is the key to improving the efficiency of operation and management.
First of all, enterprises need to analyze market trends and growth opportunities from the perspective of operation and management, track the completion of performance, so as to identify problems and formulate corresponding strategies.
Secondly, we should pay attention to the whole life cycle management of commodities, use the data of purchase, sale and inventory to strengthen the structure and rapid turnover of commodities, and closely monitor the circulation process of commodities, so as to effectively reduce the risk of unsalable and out-of-stock.
Third, the in-depth excavation of membership operation has become one of the core of the brand strategy of fashion enterprises. More and more apparel companies have begun to pay attention to the cultivation of private domain traffic, through the refined operation of the membership system, the implementation of hierarchical classification management, in order to enhance customer loyalty and enhance brand influence.
Fourth, pay attention to the management of e-commerce sales and commodity operation system. Optimize e-commerce operation strategies from multi-platform performance analysis, multi-angle user behavior, commodity market trends, etc.
Finally, the responsiveness of the supply chain is critical to the consumer experience. Enterprises should emphasize the use of data-driven agility, pay attention to the full-link data management of the supply chain, establish a rapid response mechanism, and improve the ability to coordinate supply and demand to meet market changes and consumer demand.
From design to delisting, realize full-link data management of fashion brands
Taking a fashion women's clothing brand as an example, the brand attaches great importance to the full-link data management of products from design to delisting. This management process starts from the early stage of product development and focuses on monitoring key indicators such as R&D cycle, design compliance rate, and expected sales contribution rate.
Subsequently, the management focus was extended to purchasing decisions, inventory management, wholesale to stores, shelf sales, replenishment allocation, clearance promotions and return processing, until the goods were finally withdrawn from the market, forming several core monitoring nodes.
In these key nodes, the indicators that can be monitored need to be refined and quantified to achieve clear monitoring of the whole chain of commodities. Once an anomaly is identified, the commodity department is able to quickly locate the problem and respond quickly.
Based on the marked abnormal indicators, enterprises can go deep into the tracking and traceability of specific scenarios, positioning and analysis. For example, if there is an issue with the availability and timeliness of deliveries to stores, further refinement is required to determine whether it is a specific store or region issue. By tracking the progress of distribution, reviewing warehouse management, or evaluating the distribution efficiency of logistics service providers, it is possible to pinpoint the root cause of the problem. This process demonstrates the logical evolution from macro indicator monitoring to micro thematic analysis.
Through meticulous management and analysis, the brand is able to ensure that every aspect of merchandise management is efficient and transparent, resulting in improved overall operational efficiency, optimized inventory control, and ultimately market competitiveness.
(3) Panoramic digitalization of FMCG industry: "BC integration"
Companies in the FMCG industry, such as daily chemicals, FMCG and beauty, are taking "BC integration" as their core strategy, aiming to promote effective collaboration between large and small B-ends, optimize business channels, and maximize market penetration and economic benefits. These companies are focusing on strengthening the efficiency of flexible supply chains, improving channel marketing and fulfillment capabilities, and flexibly responding to rapid changes in the market.
At the same time, the importance of the integration of industry and finance is becoming increasingly prominent. In today's rapidly changing market, GMV is no longer the only measure of corporate performance. Enterprises need to gradually increase the emphasis on the integration of industry and finance in marketing and supply chain to achieve more comprehensive business management and decision support.
Focusing on these core demands, Guanyuan's solution focuses on four aspects: First, it focuses on strengthening the integration of sales operation and channel management. Especially in the consumer goods industry, its channel composition is complex and diverse, covering online e-commerce platforms, offline physical stores, distributors and other forms. The second is to focus on the comprehensive optimization of the back-end of the supply chain, covering the full-link tracking capabilities of all links from procurement, warehousing, production to logistics. The third is the adjustment and optimization of product launch and operation strategies in the field of e-commerce. Fourth, it is an insight into members and users.
Taking a FMCG company's order management practice as an example, the core challenge is to integrate and automate the order processing process of more than a dozen factories across the country. Each facility has a dedicated planner who monitors the progress of order fulfillment, identifies overdue orders, and conducts a comprehensive fulfillment capability analysis. However, in the previous model, the process was highly manual: workers had to manually extract data from multiple systems, then organize and process it, a tedious and time-consuming step to generate various order analysis reports.
In this project, Guanyuan helped the brand achieve the integration of different data levels, including transportation management, ERP, order processing and factory management, and completed the seamless integration of the entire data system.
This integration has greatly improved the transparency and responsiveness of the supply chain, optimized the order processing process, reduced cost loss, and improved the overall efficiency of the supply chain.
(4) Panoramic digitalization of the e-commerce industry: monitor the overall operation from a global perspective
In today's diversified e-commerce channels, one of the main challenges for brand management is how to gain a holistic view to monitor the overall operation, especially the composition of profits and costs.
First, in terms of the diversity of the e-commerce ecosystem, how to effectively integrate a large amount of data from social e-commerce, Tmall, JD.com, Kuaishou, Douyin and other diversified video live broadcast platforms is the primary constraint on brand management.
Second, from the perspective of business management, it is necessary to compare the data of each platform, identify the drainage effect, analyze the input-output ratio, and evaluate the promotion strategy and implementation effect of different platforms.
The third is product management, especially in the online environment, where the focus is on in-depth analysis of the market performance of each product, such as the relationship between traffic and gross sales (GMV) through advertising.
Fourth, in terms of business and financial analysis, it is necessary to integrate business processes and financial results to ensure seamless connection between the two and quickly identify problems in operation.
In the business analysis system of the integration of industry and finance, brands first need to focus on two dimensions: on the one hand, target performance tracking, that is, to clarify the gap between the annual target (such as 1 billion sales) and the current actual performance, and refine the analysis of the specific deviation of each region and consumer group; On the other hand, it is necessary to deeply analyze the growth momentum and profitability construction, and need to go to the granularity of each profit center and business segment.
The second is to focus on the key areas of expense control, especially the traceability from the expense ledger to the expense execution process. This link aims to solve the problems of poor granularity, poor timeliness, unclear rights and responsibilities, and unclear cost effect of brand marketing expense management. At the same time, it is necessary to have a clear insight into the execution of the overall marketing expenses, analyze their composition and usage trends, and provide a basis for the optimal allocation of expenses.
Asset efficiency analysis focuses on key metrics such as inventory and accounts receivable, which have a direct impact on the health of a company's assets. Therefore, it is necessary to quantitatively evaluate and reveal potential problems in asset operation with the help of detailed data, ensure reasonable asset allocation, and improve overall operational efficiency.
Ultimately, it is necessary to focus on financial returns and cash flow over a long period of time to ensure that the return on investment and cash flow of the business line are in a healthy state.
03
Guanyuan Data: 67% of CEOs expect to use data analytics to enhance the decision-making process
The core of promoting digital organization construction within enterprises is to understand the obstacles to organizational capability innovation in digital transformation. Often, there is a communication gap between the business and the IT. The business side may only put forward superficial requirements, such as the display of specific indicators, the customization of data dashboards, etc. But in reality, what they are looking for is to use these tools and data to improve sales performance in their departments or regional markets, increase revenue, reduce churn, and other substantial business improvements.
According to the survey, 67% of CEOs expect to use data analytics to enhance the decision-making process and facilitate an efficient closed loop of business operations. 73% of business leaders want to have more data analytics and technical staff within the business team.
However, the upgrading of organizational digital capabilities is not simply about improving product technical capabilities, enterprises need to improve digital organizational capabilities from the following three aspects:
First, build independent data analysis capabilities to more directly support their decision-making process. Brands can explore a collaborative mechanism across business, data, and development teams to improve their organization's data-driven capabilities across the board.
Second, build a solid data foundation and powerful front-end functions to ensure that data can be applied and analyzed smoothly. At the same time, the data team plays a critical role as a bridge between understanding business needs and designing data solutions that align with business goals, guiding the direction of analysis, and aligning technology implementation with strategic planning.
Finally, meet the different data needs of different roles. Business teams need to have the skills to present and analyze data in order to conduct in-depth data mining. IT and developers are responsible for optimizing data infrastructure and system functionality. The data team is tasked with translating a deep understanding of the business into purpose-driven data design that meets the needs of different roles.
In order to help brands better evaluate the stage of their own digital capability development, Guanyuan proposes the "6-stage evaluation model of internal digital capabilities" to help enterprises identify the current stage and find the path to a higher stage.
In reality, many companies are stuck in the S1 to S3 stages of the first tier. Many organizations have adopted reporting tools to improve data utilization in the early days, but due to the strained resources of the IT department, it is difficult to respond quickly to business needs, so the business team has to export the data and analyze it on its own. Under this model, the progress of the enterprise is limited, and may even regress, making it difficult to continue to develop to a higher stage.
There are three dimensions for enterprises to measure the value of digital capacity building and consider benefits:
First, we need to measure the effectiveness of digital projects in a diversified manner. The value of digital projects is not always immediately apparent, nor is it necessarily directly reflected in revenue growth. Businesses can measure results in a few key dimensions: improvements in data productivity, as well as core performance indicators such as the number of dashboards, department coverage, improved reporting output efficiency, and user penetration.
Second, pay attention to the construction of talent echelon. Talent is the key to promoting digitalization, and it is necessary to pay attention to the composition of the talent echelon, the growth path and effectiveness of talents in different roles, and pay attention to the optimization of core business and the business scenarios that need to be widely covered.
Third, focus on business benefits. Enterprises should demonstrate the results in a quantitative way, such as showing the actual benefits of digitalization through cases of reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
In the implementation and advancement of digital projects, companies need to follow a complete and coherent set of steps. This involves not only the implementation of digital applications in different business scenarios, but also the continuous optimization of team building within the organization. Both of these aspects need to be continuously proactively promoted and maintained both inside and outside the organization to ensure the success and continued development of digital transformation.