To evolve and adapt to the ever-changing expectations of the customers, a business must ensure that it takes an end-to-end approach to digital solutions. This opinion was recently shared by Lesley Salmon, global chief information officer at Kellogg Co.
Highlighting how to do business in a digital world, she also shared that companies must focus on new key areas of improvement when they adopt end-to-end approaches.
The Key Focus
She said the key focus should be attracting and
retaining people who can offer digital solutions. Ms. Salmon stated, "For
me, it's all about people — having the right people delivering through great
partnerships with the key stakeholders across the business, understanding their
needs, pre-empting, and then responding to them. To attract and retain the
right people, we need to satisfy their hunger to experiment, fail fast and
learn."
She also emphasized data-driven decision-making.
She believes that Kellogg's combination of data and analytics with marketing
resources has allowed the brand to create a rich omnichannel experience that tailors
product offerings, prices, and messaging to ensure that they meet consumers'
needs. Ms. Salmon said, "Data has always been available but never in the
abundance that it is today. Freeing data from silos is critical to meet
consumer needs and preparing for the future consumer experience."
Using AI Smartly
Monica McGurk, Kellogg's chief global growth
officer, talked about using AI smartly. She said, "We're using AI across
our entire business — from creating supply chain efficiencies to identifying
the best flavor combinations for new foods to focusing marketing on key cohorts
and identifying which content will resonate most with them to identifying
outlet execution opportunities."
She added, "Every function and business
unit at Kellogg prioritizes use cases based on factors ranging from their
business impact to their ability to advance our technology to their ripple
effect from the standpoint of change management … Ultimately, adoption of AI is
about a whole new way of working."
Strategies to Transform Our Food System
Dr. Nigel Hughes, SVP of Global R&D and
Innovation, The Kellogg Company, also outlined three strategies to transform the food system to
reduce the pressure on the current food system.
1. Build on the Foundation
Dr. Hughes suggested we source local
ingredients and return to the basics. It will help address issues like food
insecurity and balance the tradeoffs of sustainability, nutrition, taste, and
access. It will lead to the creation of a sustainable food system.
2. Develop Collective Solutions
He also suggested bringing farmers,
suppliers, consumers, policymakers, and NGOs to the same table and creating a
shared vision with a shared responsibility to ensure everyone benefits. Kellogg
has already adopted the Better Days ESG strategy, via which the company hopes
to support one million farmers and workers by 2030
3. Accelerate the Circular Food System
The focus should shift to a circular
approach that reduces resource inputs, prioritizes regenerative production, and
aims to ensure recovery for future uses along with minimizing wastage, says Dr.
Hughes.
Sources:
https://www.bakingbusiness.com/articles/57218-kellogg-exec-offers-digital-solutions-advice
https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2022/05/18/Kellogg-exec-presents-three-tangible-ways-to-improve-the-food-system
https://venturebeat.com/business/kellogg-exec-on-ai-uses-cases-implementation-and-culture-change/