AI Issue 11 2017

46 Acquisition International - November 2017 Over previous years, Exceedra has seen its reputation grow, and now the company possesses a global reputation as the go-to Integrated Business Planning software vendor. Andrew Banks provides us with an insight into the inner workings of the company, as we find out what makes it so successful. iming to drive trade promotional effectiveness, sales and profitability for consumer goods manufacturers, Exceedra has built a sterling reputation that has resulted in its success in achieving Best for Integrated Business Planning & Revenue Management in the 2017 Global Excellence Awards. Andrew tells us how the company feels after winning this award. “Exceedra are delighted to receive this award. It shows that people recognise the focus and investment that Exceedra have made. The Exceedra Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or on-premise solution, is totally scalable and can be used by consumer goods companies, both large or small, to optimise trade spend, improve forecast accuracy, drive profitability and ultimately deliver growth to their business. Exceedra has an excellent and growing customer base in the UK and the USA including: ACH Foods, Bayer Consumer Health, Birds Eye, Dairy Crest, McKee, Nichols plc, Organix, Perrigo, Pladis, Taylors of Harrogate, Tyrrells Crisps and Weetabix. All of them have seen significant benefit through using Exceedra Promotional Planning and Insight Solutions, and can therefore have more meaningful, factual discussions with their retailers supported by means of live analytics. The Exceedra solution becomes the backbone to our clients’ commercial planning agenda.” Having been new to the market in 2010, Exceedra entered the industry already possessing a wealth of experience and knowledge. Andrew notes how this previous experience enables the business to stand out amongst its competitors. Achieving great customer satisfaction on its solutions, the company was able to catapult itself further up the industry ladder. “In 2010, Exceedra was new to the market, but born out of a wealth of experience of the consumer goods marketplace. We believe this enabled us to differentiate from our peers and we knew there was the opportunity for a new entrant to provide a solution that integrates the demand and commercial plans which, in many organizations, are functions ran in silos. The consistent feedback we receive is that our solution looks fresh, is easy to use and importantly provides full coverage around consumer goods commercial planning.” Company: Exceedra Contact: Jennifer Roberts Contact Email: Jennifer. Roberts@exceedra,.com Address: Southbank House, Black Prince Road, London, SE1 7SJ, UK Phone: 0844 556 1242 Website: www.exceedra.com Integrated Business Planning for Consumer Goods Companies A 1711AI70 Detailing the services that the company offers, Andrew talks about the company’s speciality, commercial planning. “Our focus is supporting consumer goods companies to be able to create, optimize and manage their demand and account plans to fully understand the impact that volume, price, promotions and new products have on the profitability both for the manufacturer and also the retailer. Many of our competitors are more business intelligence generalists and miss key aspects and nuances that are the real planning challenges facing the consumer goods industry. Exceedra invests in running thought leadership events in both Integrated Business Planning and Revenue Management and are building a community of industry experts who attend in order to share their experience. In addition, we work with analysts, professional bodies and importantly our clients to ensure that, having gained a leadership position, we stay abreast of market trends and requirements. We want to be the standard that everyone looks towards for how software can be implemented to support the commercial aspects of integrated business planning for many years to come.” Another aspect of the firm’s ability to mark itself out as the best possible option for clients, is its robust and comprehensive solution that it is able to offer. Andrew alludes to the high-profile clients that the company has worked with as a sign of its success. “Compared to our competitors, Exceedra offers a more comprehensive and robust solution in a single and easy to use package that includes the vital components for winning the hearts and minds of sales teams. The company regularly joins a short list including SAP, Oracle and Accenture, fine testimony to the fact that we are disrupting the market and were acknowledged earlier this year, as a real challenger by a global drinks company.” Putting into practice its stringent recruitment policies, the company is able to attract the best talent to support the core areas of competence needed to develop and implement the solutions. Andrew goes on to discuss the employees in further detail, citing their experience and approaches a major factor in Exceedra’s success. “Exceedra pride our success in attracting first class developers and highly knowledgably consultants “Right Investments. Right Results.”