Successful companies that last throughout the years rarely stay the same. They may change their strategies, sometimes even their products. In the old days, this change was more of a reaction to dwindling sales or changing market demands. As such, companies often go through a period of losses: both in income and in market share.
The lucky ones move quickly enough to respond to the changing market conditions and other situations. The others get trampled on by more agile competitors and would eventually fold up.
Today, however, data is changing all of that. Data-driven enterprises can usually see trends before they become obvious. They can anticipate the coming market upheavals and respond to them accordingly.
For some, it is a matter of survival. For others, it is a way to keep their dominance. But it is apparent that data-driven businesses do have an edge.
More than that, these companies can see everything that’s happening in their businesses. This kind of visibility would have been difficult to achieve in the past.
The story of the Bell Plantation
Bell Plantation was founded by JC Bell in 2007. The company saw an opportunity in the overabundance of peanuts. They created and marketed powdered peanut butter. The product has an edge: you can easily reconstitute it and it stays fresh without the oil and grease that traditional peanut butter had.
Needless to say, it was a hit. And it saw quick growth as the new powdered peanut butter was sold everywhere in the country.
However, just 10 years in business and the company’s growth has stalled. There were now a lot of competitors for their powdered peanut butter. The new products they’ve launched bombed. The company had to bring in a new CEO.
That was Craig Entwistle, who is a business luminary in the food and beverage industry. Entwistle and his team reimagined and streamlined the company. It got rid of a number of other product lines before rebranding.
Bell Plantation soon became PB2 Foods and they re-trained their focus on powdered nut butter. They found a new market for their product as well: health buffs who used the powdered nut butter in their smoothies and for their cooking and baking.
The product is high in protein and pretty much low in fat. They also marketed it to those who avoid meat and meat-based products.
But even that is not enough.
Entwistle also downsized the company by laying off employees. The biggest step, though, was to veer away from Quickbooks. The program simply didn’t do anything as far as being data-driven is concerned. It was unreliable and offered limited reporting functions.
Visibility across the organization was limited as well. So PB2 had to revamp the existing system.
Enter Oracle NetSuite
The company decided to use a new enterprise resource planning system. And they took their time evaluating three different systems.
They eventually settled on Oracle NetSuite. The system had a cloud-based platform, which means employees can easily access it no matter where they are. The company had a manufacturing facility in Tifton, GA, and offices in Saint Simons Island.
The new ERP system also helped give them more visibility on the company’s financials. One thing they realized is that they were giving credit to even small customers. That means that they had too much receivables and not enough cash on hand.
Discovering that, the company put some processes in place. The new system allowed them to limit the customers who are allowed to pay in terms, while the rest paid upfront.
Oracle NetSuite also has a running inventory management feature that allowed staff to accurately monitor inventory throughout the manufacturing process. With the new capability, the company was able to bring down inventory waste.
NetSuite also gave the company the ability to roll manufacturing or labor overhead into the product cost. With QuickBooks, the company only factored in packaging and materials, not manufacturing costs. The new ERP system corrected that because of its unified view of inventory and financials.
As such, PB2 Foods was able to keep tabs on its inventory & sales, and got an accurate view of their goods manufacturing cost just by transitioning into an ERP solution. They no longer have to rely on guesswork and hunches. Gut feel might have worked for some businesses but it doesn’t work all the time. And there is no guarantee that it will bring you the changes you want or need.
With data, you simply have no need to guess. You just know.
What’s more, NetSuite can be scaled. As the company grows, it can handle new challenges and additional data.
But what is Oracle NetSuite and what can you expect from it?
Oracle NetSuite is the top software for food and beverage companies. Oracle designed and architected it for companies in the industry.
Some of the useful features Oracle NetSuite offers include:
- Order management: Quick and easy way to manage omni-channel sales and ensure you have stuff that your buyers want when they want it.
- Financials: You can fire your bookkeeper. The tools you have with Oracle NetSuite allow you to hasten your financial close, keep tabs on expenses, and manage revenues efficiently. You can finally get unrivaled visibility on your company’s finances.
- Support: You have an integrated customer service management tool that gives you a full view of your customers. This can help you get new customers and lower the cost of customer service. You also get a high satisfaction rating with your current customers. Your staff can get full access to all customer-related data. It doesn’t matter if they are in sales, fulfillment, or support; they will be able to get customer information when they need it.
- No boundaries: If you have a multinational company, Oracle NetSuite can still handle things for you. You no longer have to figure out how to adjust for foreign currency, how to ensure local compliance, or even figure out taxation matters. Oracle NetSuite can do that for you.
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Oracle NetSuite can help you optimize your supply chain – from planning to execution and even right up to support. It can also streamline your sales cycles to help you deliver utmost customer service. It can make your marketing easier and selling better.
If you want to experience first hand what Oracle NetSuite can do for your food and beverage business, talk to us. We can help implement this for you. You get a team of Oracle experts who can get this show up and running. Call us at +1 (817) 377-1144.
Photo courtesy of PB2 Foods.
