RB Health - Case Study

Designed by those in the know

When global supplier Reckitt Benckiser (RB) New Zealand’s Health Division wanted to gain more visibility and control over field sales, while managing the complexities of a key retailer’s unique business model, Insightful.Mobi stepped up with their technology and industry expertise.

About Reckitt Benckiser
Recently rebranded as RB, Reckitt Benckiser is a global company established in 1999 by the merger of British company Reckitt & Colman plc and Dutch company Benckiser NV. RB employs over 40,000 staff, and the Health division has locations worldwide. It includes such well-known consumer brands as Dettol, Durex, Strepsils, Gaviscon and many more. Approximately half of all RB staff are employed in the Health Division, which supplies consumer products to supermarkets and pharmacies.

Challenge
RB’s NZ Health Division field reps needed a solution that provided the ability to plan workloads and objectives, as well as executing promotions and pay claims. Head office were looking for a way to increase productivity and visibility. Most importantly, they needed a solution that could handle the complexity of the Foodstuffs business model, one of their main retail customers.

Solution
The Insightful.Mobi solution has been designed based on best practice field execution capabilities, with a specific focus on optimising the effectiveness and efficiency of in-store promotional execution. It not only empowered reps in the field with visibility from head office down to store level, but it also gave Head Office visibility on what's happening in the field. Because it had been locally developed by people with real experience not only in the grocery industry, but with Foodstuffs specifically, it could also reflect RB's needs around that retailer.

Results
An easy-to-use solution that was embraced by field reps and head office, it has simplified everyone's working lives and made them more productive.

It has been able to handle the unique complexity of the Foodstuffs business model, and has helped the Health Division to go paperless, as well as automating processes and providing end-to-end operational visibility.

Managing the complexities of a local retailer

When RB first recognised the need for sales force automation software, they knew they needed something that would not only help streamline field and head office processes, but one that could handle the complexities of a unique, but large, New Zealand retailer Foodstuffs, which incorporates supermarkets such as Pak n' Save, New World and Four Square, is one of RB's main retailers. Compared to other supermarket retailers, it operates on a complex business model that is unique to New Zealand, and as such, presented RB with two key challenges.

The first of these involved getting a new product range onto supermarket shelves. "That happens at two different levels," explains Trupti Patel, National Business Manager of RB’s Health Division. "Store by store, and then also at their head office."

The second challenge also involved process at both store and head office levels. "We needed to manage how we were investing with those at the store level, and with their head office," she says. RB were evaluating how they would manage these complexities and invest in the market effectively, so that they could reduce confusion and increase control. "Not having an effective go-to-market tool for our field reps to manage what their call cycles looked like, or what their investment model looks like, were major blinders for us," Trupti explains. "From the perspectives of financial control, spend and auditing, grey areas like that are something we can't afford."

A digital solution was needed that would empower reps in the field at store level, and RB’s’s head office, with visibility on what's happening in the field. Wayne Miller, National Sales Manager (Field), collaborated with Trupti to find a solution that would ultimately benefit the entire Sales department. "We're the main drivers of the project," Trupti explains. "We need to have effective management and share the granularity at different levels across the business - Finance, Marketing, General Managers and the like."

Practical, customisable, easy to use and able to handle complexity

Wayne and Trupti had Foodstuffs front-of-mind as they began the search for a solution. Top of the list of boxes to be ticked was the ability to handle this unique and complex retail channel, which meant that not only did it need to be practical and robust, but it also needed to be customisable, so that RB could tailor it specifically.

It also needed to be something that a range of employees could handle, with many reps falling into an age bracket where new technology can be intimidating.

The selection of the Insightful.Mobi solution came down to two key points: specific industry experience and expertise, and the decision to go with a locally-developed tool with a concentration on Foodstuffs. "We had a contact with them already - one of our managers had done some work with them before," Wayne recalls. "And we knew that they understood the industry, specifically Foodstuffs."

From the beginning of the project, which kicked off at the beginning of 2019, Wayne and Trupti characterise their relationship with Insightful.Mobi as a partnership. "We were given a very clear outline of what the project would entail," Wayne says. "We had no idea how big it would be, or how much time Trupti and I would have to commit to it, so having that laid out from the very start was essential."

In May 2019, RB began rolling the solution out to the field team. It was a staggered roll-out, with the next phase in August and final sign-off in November.

Training was the focus of the first roll-out, with Insightful.Mobi, Wayne and Trupti travelling around New Zealand, conducting training sessions to help the field reps get to grips with the new technology. Although there was some nervousness about using a new system, Wayne says that there was no real resistance, as they had been telling their staff about the new solution for weeks leading up to implementation. "For this kind of project to be a success, you need 100% buy-in and user engagement from the start," he explains.

Not the kind of project where anyone can be in a hurry, Wayne and Trupti say the success of the implementation project was down to:

• RB’s commitment - they never missed a meeting. "I would say to anyone who's considering a similar project to make sure that you have buy-in from the top level, and are 100% committed and involved," says Wayne.

• Insightful.Mobi's commitment - "they were always present, fully involved and they worked with us exceptionally well," Trupti recalls.

• Getting their field team engaged in the right manner - "that was the big thing for us. We were selling them the features and benefits of the solution from the start. By the time we started giving out the iPads, they couldn't wait, they were really excited," says Wayne.

Live updates, visibility and increased productivity

From the field reps’ perspective, having everything live is a major bonus. The solution advises of updates when they happen, such as notes, pricing, promotions and advisories. Claim tracking is live, and there are no delays in the system to contend with. Having all relevant information at their fingertips has made everything easier and more streamlined. "They don't have to go into emails and files to find what they need," says Wayne. "It's all right on their iPad, which they can use anytime, anywhere. The solution has massively simplified the world of field reps."

Overall, the reaction from the field reps has been 100% positive. "They've gone paperless, they keep their iPads on them at all times, and they've become a lot more productive. They're telling us they don't know how they managed without it!"

From a management perspective, Trupti says that being able to see what teams are planning at store level has helped them gain a better understanding of what they need to be doing. "When we get claims from the store, in real time, the reps are able to code them against every activity they've planned, and then we can see what we need to account for and track it," she says. "At the end of the month, we're able to confidently reconcile what was planning against what was executed." What this has meant for Trupti's team, working with Finance, is they can match forecasted spend against what was actually spent. "This works not just at a territory level, but at brand and promo-group level as well," she explains. "It's actually been a revolutionary part of the project."

Going paperless is, as Trupti says, no mean feat, and has had a major impact on all staff using the solution, from the field reps up. "It's been a major time-saver," she says. "It's freed up so many hours at all levels. They don't have to deal with all this paperwork, so many processes have been automated. What the solution does is empower your team at head office to become business managers, helping them to make more effective business decisions. You're optimising your resources and using them more effectively."

Insightful.Mobi's knowledge of the industry, with particular reference to Foodstuffs, has been critical. "What the solution has done is give us visibility on a whole raft of information, out of which we can cater for different audiences - that's critical for us," says Trupti. "Because it's been locally developed, it's also able to handle the complexity of the Foodstuffs business model."

RB were impressed with Insightful.Mobi's ability to adapt to every request that they made in terms of tailoring the solution specifically for RB. "It works well out of the box, but by the time we'd finished with it, it felt like it had been designed especially for us," says Wayne. "There were times we really stretched them to the max, but they were always able to come back with a solution that worked."

So what advice to Wayne and Trupti have for suppliers who might also be thinking about how they can harness technology?

"What I would say to anyone else is that the Insightful.Mobi solution caters for the complexity of the NZ grocery industry," says Wayne. "Credits, claims, invoices - they trip up a lot of suppliers. This solution is how you resolve that. They've got people there who've been involved in the industry and have faced these challenges. That's what sets them apart; they get it. You don't need to familiarise them with any aspects of the industry, they already understand. And their ability to customise their solution based on your needs also gives them the edge."

Keen to find out more? Don’t hesitate to get in touch, so we can help you to simplify the lives of your field reps, increase productivity and improve visibility.