Intro/Outro (00:01):
Welcome to Digital Transformers, the show that connects you with what you need to build, manage, and operate your digital supply chain. Join your host in a timely discussion on new and future business models with industry leading executives. The show will reveal global customer expectations, real world deployment challenges, and the value of advanced business technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotic process engineering. And now we bring you Digital Transformers.
Kevin L. Jackson (00:33):
Hello, everyone. Kevin L. Jackson here at Digital Transformers. And I’m enjoying myself in sunny Orlando at SAP Sapphire, where I’m getting to meet, I tell you, quite a few of the digital transformation leaders across multiple industry verticals. And I’m not afraid to say, talking about one of my favorite industry verticals today. That’s food and beverage with Ramiro Fernandez of PIM Brands. Thank you very much for sharing some time with us. Did you bring any food?
Ramiro Fernandez (01:08):
Kevin, I brought some food and my stepdaughter kept it away from me. I was going to bring you some of our products, but it got confiscated this morning.
Kevin L. Jackson (01:15):
Oh, God. OK. You know that —
Ramiro Fernandez (01:17):
Sorry about that.
Kevin L. Jackson (01:19):
— foiled [phonetic] by TSA again. Well, OK. Tell — I guess we got to learn more about PIM Brands, right?
Ramiro Fernandez (1:27):
Sure.
Kevin L. Jackson (1:28):
It’s not really a household name, is it?
Ramiro Fernandez (1:32):
No, it’s not.
Kevin L. Jackson (1:33):
It’s not, is it?
Ramiro Fernandez (01:34):
Yes. So, we changed the name. Ironically, we were — the name used to be promotion in motion, which is also not a —
Kevin L. Jackson (01:41):
Promotion in motion.
Ramiro Fernandez (1:41):
— household in name.
Kevin L. Jackson (1:42):
OK.
Ramiro Fernandez (1:42):
Yes. But, the — so, people know us because of our products. So, people know about Welch’s fruit snacks.
Kevin L. Jackson (1:47):
Oh, yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (1:48):
Yes, so everybody — as soon as you say, Welch’s fruit snacks, they know who PIM Brands is. But we also have a few other products. We make the sun made chocolate covered raisins. We have Sour Jacks. We have Toggi, Tuxedo — the chocolate covered almonds. So, we have a pretty decent size portfolio of food products. And then we also have a pharma division. So, as you know, there’s a lot of vitamins nowadays that are made —
Kevin L. Jackson (2:14):
Vitamins, OK.
Ramiro Fernandez (2:15):
— Gummi, they gummy based. So, we actually make products for other companies as well. So —
Kevin L. Jackson (02:21):
Wow. So, that goes together? I mean, making candy and then, you know —
Ramiro Fernandez (02:26):
It’s the same format, yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (02:27):
— gummy drugs?
Ramiro Fernandez (02:28):
Well, they call them drugs. As I said, mostly vitamins.
Kevin L. Jackson (02:32):
Vitamins.
Ramiro Fernandez (2:33):
Yes, yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (2:33):
OK.
Ramiro Fernandez (2:34):
Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (2:34):
OK.
Ramiro Fernandez (2:34):
Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (2:35):
And we got to keep track of that.
Ramiro Fernandez (2:36):
Right. Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (2:38):
So, but you have quite an impressive history, if I should say that. I mean, hair foods, PepsiCo, Mars. Give us —
Ramiro Fernandez (02:50):
Kellogg’s, yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (02:51):
Kellogg’s too.
Ramiro Fernandez (2:51):
Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (2:52):
You got — I mean, I love cereal. Tell me — all right. Tell me a little about your background.
Ramiro Fernandez (2:57):
Sure.
Kevin L. Jackson (2:57):
Did — how did you get into food and beverage?
Ramiro Fernandez (03:01):
Yes. So, actually I — just a little bit of background, I studied chemistry. I got my masters in chemistry. And then I got my finance and accounting degree at — in Rochester. So, I worked for a chemical company in various roles in finance and accounting, controller, audit, all those, and — which is really great experience. But one thing that I lack was, I really — I always had a fascination with food. And the thing was to me was like, why do people as — why do consumers choose one brand versus the other one? So, I was working for a chemical company in Chicago. And I started looking — I really wanted to expand my business background because I definitely had done a lot some — a lot of work in accounting. Some in I.T., implementing systems. But I really wanted to be a broader business person.
Ramiro Fernandez (03:51):
So, I really was fascinated with sales and marketing, working for a specialty chemicals company, I didn’t really have the chance to do that. So being in the Midwest, I was approached by Kellogg’s to join their company because they needed somebody with a strong finance background, but also a systems background. So, I joined Kellogg’s in the I.T. area as the financial systems manager, but then I quickly. after a year, got involved in the business. So, that was my first experience with food. I loved it.
Ramiro Fernandez (4:21):
So — but what I like is, I like companies that are global, very strong reputation, right, and great quality products. And Kellogg is really it. I mean, Kellogg’s, when I joined them, they were — they had been around for 90 years. Now, of course they’ve been around for over a hundred and they’ve grown quite a bit. But as a company that very value based, you know, a lot of principles, great, like I said, great products and global reach. So, I — the experience with Kellogg’s, I worked in a number of different finance roles and I really enjoyed the cross-functional aspect of the finance roles that you have in the food industry.
Kevin L. Jackson (04:58):
You know, I actually didn’t mention your title when I introduced you. I kind of did that on purpose because you are the chief financial officer right at PIM Brands.
Ramiro Fernandez (05:10):
PIM Brands, yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (05:12):
And your background said that CFO that has, “Driven innovation, competitive strategy, and supply chain projects throughout his career.” You don’t normally see that type of descriptor by a CFO. It’s typically man with hammer and whip that —
Ramiro Fernandez (05:35):
Yes. Well, again, I think —
Kevin L. Jackson (5:36):
So, how did did that happen?
Ramiro Fernandez (5:38):
So, again, I think, you know — so I — I’ve worked in, like, worked for Kellogg’s, I worked for Frito-Lay, great company with direct store delivery.
Kevin L. Jackson (5:45):
Yes, yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (5:45):
I spent six years over there. And then Pepsi. And then I worked for Mars, the global, obviously pet care and confectionary. So, they each, they each have different business models. So. I was really — everywhere I went, I was able to learn something new and contribute in a different way. So — and Mars, especially — well, Frito was the — to me, was like the — one of the most challenging experiences because Frito’s all about knowing your business cold. But being at direct store delivery has a lot of challenges. And Frito-Lay has really — is –they always look for innovation in terms of cost efficiencies, how good a market, how to leverage their portfolio, price, revenue management, all those different things.
Ramiro Fernandez (6:29):
So, you start building your career and then you build on different things. So, I worked for companies that — the direct store delivery, the companies that went through brokers, company that went through distributors or straight to the customers. So, I really have been able to leverage and learn quite a bit about different route to market models. The other thing, Kevin, is that I also worked — when I worked for Mars, I spent over five years working international. So, I did a lot of work in different markets.
Kevin L. Jackson (06:58):
Different markets and cultures. That’s —
Ramiro Fernandez (06:59):
And cultures, yes. Absolutely. Which was a wonderful, wonderful experience. We did a lot of work in emerging markets. So, whether it was Russia. We did work in India, in Saudi Arabia, in — I mean, you name it, we did a lot — in China, I spent a lot of time in China working on that area. So — but again, you also look for different ways of going to market and how you can be efficient. So, my experience — I mean, all the experiences that I’ve had had allowed me to just become more well-rounded.
Kevin L. Jackson (07:26):
Well, one question. You said you worked for, Frito-Lay and you worked for PepsiCo. I was wondering, is that before or after? Didn’t —
Ramiro Fernandez (07:35):
Frito — Pepsi owns Frito-Lay.
Kevin L. Jackson (7:37):
Right.
Ramiro Fernandez (7:38):
Yes, yes. And so, I spent it — again, I spent most of my career at the Frito arm, and then I went to Pepsi up in New York in the beverage side, CSD, Carbonated soda drinks.
Kevin L. Jackson (07:49):
So, that was even in the same family, completely different cultures?
Ramiro Fernandez (07:54):
Very different. I mean, one is very heavy into, obviously direct store. It’s all about selling and customer service and being everywhere you can to points of distribution. On the Frito side, Pepsi was really a premier company in terms of marketing. So, they really managed our portfolio with, you know, obviously Pepsi, Mountain Dew, all those other brands. And the same thing, global, global, global reach. But a very, very different culture. I enjoyed both. I liked the — to be honest with you, I liked the Frito —
Kevin L. Jackson (08:26):
You liked it better?
Ramiro Fernandez (08:27):
Yes, yes. It’s just because you really — Frito you had to, you know, you knew everything about your customers. You knew every — how to keep on growing. It’s a very — you know, Pepsi is also competitive, but Frito is competitive every single day out there. So, I liked the fact that you have to really understand sales distribution. So, I was in a role that you really have to be, again, much more well-rounded.
Kevin L. Jackson (08:53):
So, it sounds like, sort of — what did — which role or what culture did you bring with you to PIM Brand, right, because, it — to me, it sounded like it aligned more with Frito-Lay, yes?
Ramiro Fernandez (09:09):
So, I like the Frito aspect than I worked for — again, I worked for Mars at a number of different roles in finance. And the last one, I was in charge — I was the CFO for the Caribbean and Central America, so we’re managing 28 countries. Same thing, different route to market models. I really liked the — but I always liked the smaller divisions within a big company. So, you know, Pepsi is huge. Obviously, Frito is big, Mars is, you know, is a $40 billion company.
Kevin L. Jackson (9:35):
Yes, yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (9:36):
So, they’re all big companies. And then I went to Herr Foods being a regional salty snack company.
Kevin L. Jackson (09:42):
Herr Chips, yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (09:43):
Yes, I love these —
Kevin L. Jackson (09:44):
You said, salty snack.
Ramiro Fernandez (09:45):
Yes, salty snacks. Yes. So —
Kevin L. Jackson (09:46):
Herr Chips. Wow.
Ramiro Fernandez (09:47):
And I knew them very well because I had gone to school in Philly. So, I knew the Herr foods company.
Kevin L. Jackson (09:52):
In Baltimore.
Ramiro Fernandez (09:54):
In — yes, in Philly. And then there was us down there.
Kevin L. Jackson (09:56):
Oh, yes. My family is in Baltimore, right.
Ramiro Fernandez (09:58):
Oh, OK.
Kevin L. Jackson (09:59):
So, it’s in —
Ramiro Fernandez (9:59):
You know them well?
Kevin L. Jackson (10:00):
Yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (10:01):
Say what, to me, it was great. I liked the — so, a couple of things. I liked the family-owned businesses. So, that was important. And I liked the smaller companies where you can make a difference. You get to know, you know, people throughout the whole entire company. And again, you can get involved in many different areas where there’s setting strategy or executing the plans or working with I.T. So, I really had the opportunity at Herr Foods to do that.
Ramiro Fernandez (10:26):
Then, one thing that I like to have about PIM Brands, I met the CEO who was the original owner, and he is a true entrepreneur. He’s always looking for ideas and he is all about growth, and very fast growth. So, we’ve actually been recognized by BCG as one of the fastest growing B mid-size companies last year because we continued delivering double digit growth. So, for me, it was an opportunity to keep on working for a family-owned business, for an entrepreneur and somebody who really wanted to drive change within the organization.
Kevin L. Jackson (10:59):
Well, actually that model seems to me to require a lot of data, because as you said, you need to understand and know that customer intimately. Is that true?
Ramiro Fernandez (11:12):
Absolutely. So, data nowadays — I mean, as everybody talks about data. For us, it was important because the company had grown so fast. Again, double digits year after year after year that some of the — the foundation was there, but some of the fundamental processes had to change. And we had not kept up with the investments on the — in the I.T. side.
Ramiro Fernandez (11:35):
So, talking to the CEO, Michael, we — you know, one of the things that we definitely agreed to when I was joining the company was to, invest in any ERP systems and really start investing in different types of systems so we can drive automation. Your point is well taken. There’s just — there’s so much data out there. It’s so important to know your consumers and your customers as well. But equally important is really understanding your internal data, right? And as we really wanted to focus on how do we put in processes in place, that gave us much better information.
Kevin L. Jackson (12:11):
Is that where your relationship with SAP started or was it before then?
Ramiro Fernandez (12:16):
No. So, I actually have known SAP for a number of years — well, before I left Pepsi, Indra had made it — I know Indra had made it.
Kevin L. Jackson (12:24):
Indra, yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (12:25):
She made it a commitment that was going to be one of her legacies to invest in SAP. I left it a year and a half after that. Mars was a big SAP shop. And, you know, they actually implemented SAP across the world and they’re one of the — their main customers. And so, I’ve known an SAP for many, many years with the big companies. So —
Kevin L. Jackson (12:47):
Not a smaller company —
Ramiro Fernandez (12:48):
— it’s a midsized company. It was —
Kevin L. Jackson (12:49):
A midsized company.
Ramiro Fernandez :
— you know, to me it was a question, can we —
Kevin L. Jackson (12:54):
Can you actually do it?
Ramiro Fernandez (12:55):
Quite frankly, it was concerning, right?
Kevin L. Jackson (12:56):
Well, SAP is known for its complexity.
Ramiro Fernandez (13:00):
Correct.
Kevin L. Jackson (13:01):
Also known for maybe difficulty in actual implementation.
Ramiro Fernandez (13:05):
Yes, yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (13:05):
Did you start from scratch? I mean, what sort of foundation did PIM Brand have with respect to an ERP?
Ramiro Fernandez (13:14):
ERPs?
Kevin L. Jackson (13:14):
Yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (13:15):
So, we were using — we are using — so, we’re in the middle of the implementation. We have — we had another ERP in-house. And again, I think the lesson learned was the ERP wasn’t really not implemented the right way, so it would be scalable.
Kevin L. Jackson (13:28):
OK. Less scalability is critical.
Ramiro Fernandez (13:30):
Right. And then for — it was implemented, you know, five, six years ago when the business needs were different. So, we started looking — hey, we really want to keep on growing scalable. We grow in international. We grow in domestically. We’ve grown in different lines of business.
Kevin L. Jackson (13:44):
Yes, yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (13:45):
So, we wanted to have a partner, quite frankly, that would take care of the innovation from a technology perspective, but really help us manage the processes and information. So, we did our due diligence. We talked to four different companies. It took us close to, you know, like nine months of a lot of, you know, interviews and demos. And we talked to different — of their existing customers just to find out. And then we did — and we chose SAP back in the August timeframe.
Kevin L. Jackson (14:21):
So, one question — I mean, the name of my show is “Digital Transformers”. So, I guess my question is, were — was in your mind, was it that I was digitally transforming the company or I was just getting a better ERP system, or both?
Ramiro Fernandez (14:40):
No, I think it’s — honestly, it’s both.
Kevin L. Jackson (14:42):
OK.
Ramiro Fernandez (14:42):
Because — so, our business needs — two things we were — we wanted to concentrate on. The first one is, OK, back to the growth area, right?
Kevin L. Jackson (14:49):
Yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (14:50):
So, we wanted to become a lot better with the — with S and OP, Sales and Operations Planning, IBP integrated business planning, because we want to be much better in terms of our service to our customer. So, with a lot of growth, right?
Kevin L. Jackson (15:04):
Right.
Ramiro Fernandez (15:04):
We were not always able to supply at the right time to our customers, because the demand has been so high for our products. So, we’re investing in capital in producing more gummies, but we wanted to invest in that area on the supply side. And then we also wanted to get much, much better information in terms of our product cost, the customer profitability, so that we can drive efficiency in the business so that we can continue investing in our business.
Ramiro Fernandez (15:33):
So, answer to your question, we wanted to have the right system to provide that scalability as we continue growing, but also give us the ability to have information not only internal, but also bring in that external information so that we can handle the demand a lot better.
Kevin L. Jackson (15:48):
So, also, you needed to really understand those, not only understand the demand signals, but able to interpret them and take action on them quickly before the demand overtook the available supply.
Ramiro Fernandez (16:05):
Exactly.
Kevin L. Jackson (16:06):
So, from your point of view, what is this journey? How has it been? You said your only part through –part way through.
Ramiro Fernandez (16:17):
So, we’re actually — yes. We’re — so, the same thing that we did with the ERP, we did with the implementation partner. So, we spent a lot of time making sure that we have somebody who can bring in that industry expertise.
Kevin L. Jackson (16:28):
Yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (16:29):
Concentrating on those areas of the IBP and also the customer product profitability. So, we interviewed and then we started implementing in January. We’re going to go live in October, November of this year. So far, the — and one of the things that we have also done is that we’ve decided — SAP has the, you know, they have a lot of customers worldwide. They have the best processes in place, right.
Kevin L. Jackson (16:54):
OK.
Ramiro Fernandez (16:54):
Let them innovate on the process part, right. We’re going to leverage all that. We going to be good at what we’re good at, right, which is baking and selling and marketing fruit snacks. Right?
Kevin L. Jackson (17:06):
Right.
Ramiro Fernandez (17:06):
So, the — so — and then — so we’re basically implement — we’re staying away from customization.
Kevin L. Jackson (17:11):
OK. So, out the box?
Ramiro Fernandez (17:12):
Yes. As much as we can, I think we’re — and we’re doing a great job, but we’re really being adamant that we go into implement best practices.
Kevin L. Jackson (17:20):
OK.
Ramiro Fernandez (17:20):
OK. And that’s going to allow us to really leverage the expertise from everybody out there as we implement some of these new processes.
Kevin L. Jackson (17:28):
This is like industry specific expertise. But there, you know, there are a lot of templates already available in SAP —
Ramiro Fernandez (17:34):
Correct.
Kevin L. Jackson (17:35):
— that have been designed to support your specific industry.
Ramiro Fernandez (17:38):
Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (17:39):
So, that — does it accelerate — did that accelerate your deployment?
Ramiro Fernandez (17:43):
Absolutely. Because I, again, they — you know, when you look at some of the food companies that use SAP, I mean, they really have all the big players. Right?
Kevin L. Jackson (17:50):
Right, right, right.
Ramiro Fernandez (17:51):
And not only the big ones, they also have a lot of companies that are either the same size as we are or smaller. So, the fact that they can work with companies across that range, really — it really helps us out because they — when the system can help you out. And again, the scalability part was the other one that was extremely important to us.
Kevin L. Jackson (18:12):
So, I’m going to go a little more into your relationship with SAP. I mean, admittedly you said you’re not one of those huge companies. You’re, I mean —
Ramiro Fernandez (18:23):
Midsize.
Kevin L. Jackson (18:23):
— mid-market. Midsized.
Ramiro Fernandez (18:24):
Yes, exactly.
Kevin L. Jackson (18:26):
And some may say that SAP is just too much for a mid-sized company, but SAP really has a very strong partner network, specifically designed to support mid-sized companies, organizations. Did you find that to be helpful?
Ramiro Fernandez (18:43):
Yes. No — yes, absolutely. Again, a couple of things. Again, same thing, the customer base, you know, was clear and they were very open with us in terms of letting — allowing us to speak to some other customers. And the implementation thing, we did not go with the biggest implementation partner out there. We wanted somebody who really was going to give us the attention that we need to implement the system the right way.
Kevin L. Jackson (19:08):
So, that partner program really is what made it palatable?
Ramiro Fernandez (19:15):
Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (19:15):
OK.
Ramiro Fernandez (19:16):
Yes, yes. And again, I think the fact that they’ve been — they have been around forever. They continue investing in innovation. I came to Sapphire last year before we made the final decision. I had been here before, but I was able to network with a lot of companies and learn. Some people were existing customers, some were potential customers. So, you know, just exchanging ideas, that also helped me out in — as we made the final decision.
Kevin L. Jackson (19:40):
How about your broader business ecosystem? Did your relationship with SAP have any impact on that in today’s connected world? It’s more than just you, right?
Ramiro Fernandez (19:52):
Yes. So, we’re actually excited about that because we are going to do — so, we’re going to do two phases of the implementation. Next year we’re going to do Ariba, so we’re quite —
Kevin L. Jackson (20:01):
OK. For your suppliers?
Ramiro Fernandez (20:02):
Yes, exactly. So we’re quite excited about that. Again, as you start looking at some of the challenges that every business has had this year, including supply chain, we want to open things up and also drive a lot of efficiencies through Ariba. Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (20:17):
So, so SAP sort of helped you, or their partners, helped guide you and providing that expertise. Not only in the industry vertical that you’re working, but as you move forward and how to build your ecosystem and the digital transformation aspect of leveraging all that data. And there’s so much new data out there because we were talking earlier about how the consumption of food has really changed. Two years ago, you know, it was all about getting out of the house and going to a restaurant, right? And now, it’s all about staying in the house and having, you know, somebody deliver your food.
Kevin L. Jackson (21:08):
The choice of food actually has broadened because of that. And everyone is leveraging e-commerce to access, purchase, search, compare all types of products, I — including food, right.
Ramiro Fernandez (21:29):
Absolutely, yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (21:30):
How has that affected you? I mean, has it changed your business model?
Ramiro Fernandez (21:36):
So, especially during Covid, you saw a lot of people — like you said, a lot of people moving to online shopping.
Kevin L. Jackson (21:41):
Yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (21:42):
Including food.
Kevin L. Jackson (21:43):
Yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (21:43):
So, because we’re shelf stable, so we actually had the ability we sell in, you know, in the Amazons, the Walmarts, the Targets of the world. So, we’re definitely present in all those different platforms. Has it changed? Absolutely. You have to compete everybody, you know, you — there’s a lot of brands out there, more and more every single day. Digital commerce is huge. Social networking is still very big.
Kevin L. Jackson (22:07):
Oh. So, social networking has become — is a big part of that in e-commerce?
Ramiro Fernandez (22:11):
You have to pay attention to it right now because it really is the way that people are learning about food. And so, you have to participate. Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (22:20):
You know, I — I’ve just recently started doing some dabbling in the TikTok. And I’m really a B2B, business-to-business, kind and I always thought maybe TikTok is not the right channel. But I find there’s tons of businesses on TikTok because it’s an entertainment channel. And I would imagine that’s where the customers are. So, maybe, you know, which channels. Do you leverage all these social media channels to inform and educate your clients on your brand since they’re not looking for PIM Brands, they’re looking for, you know —
Ramiro Fernandez (23:00):
Welch’s fruit snacks?
Kevin L. Jackson (23:00):
Yes, Welch’s fruit snacks.
Ramiro Fernandez (23:01):
Yes, I mean, again, social media is — it is a big part. And then again, people are watching less and less TV every single day. And then there’s the way you communicate with your consumer, it really is a lot through social media. So, we really, our marketing, we have a great marketing team at PIM Brands, and we have a digital marketing team. So, they really are concentrating on how to reach a consumer through different digital medias.
Kevin L. Jackson (23:26):
So, SAP is probably helping you with the CRM, as well as understanding the demand. You mentioned earlier about how to — you needed to really understand the demand so that you can use that data to manage the, I guess, the raw materials, that you need —
Ramiro Fernandez (23:46):
Speed production, exactly.
Kevin L. Jackson (23:47):
— on your production.
Ramiro Fernandez (23:48):
Yes. So, as you think about it, you have data now, you have data from your consumers, you have data from your customers, and then you have your own internal data, right. History of past purchases. So, we’re trying to integrate all that data, different data flows in order to have a much cleaner demand for of — the demand signal. And from there, then we’re going to start deciding on what are we going to make.
Ramiro Fernandez (24:14):
Obviously, we also promote, right? So, when you go to a — wherever you shop, but, you know, we run promotions because we want to increase, you know, the frequency of purchases and we want to drive more volume growth. So, that lift that you get from a promotion is equally important. Some of, you know, you may get a huge spike in your demand once you — when you’re promoting some of this account. So, bringing all those different signals, it’s something that SAP is helping us out with.
Kevin L. Jackson (24:41):
So, you really are an innovative CFO.
Ramiro Fernandez (24:46):
I don’t know what — yes. I think, again, I’m not going to say that, but I think that — I think — again, being in the food industry, you have to learn about those different aspects of the business and then really learn what’s going to drive the business and it’s important. Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (25:00):
I mean, CFOs around the world are applauding. So, what’s your recommendation to companies that are, you know, dealing with, maybe a legacy ERP and looking at how the business — their business is changing and the importance of digitizing? What would be your recommendation?
Ramiro Fernandez (25:23):
I think I said a couple of things. First of all, don’t look back too much, right, because you look forward. Where do you want to go? And make sure that what — you know, try to adopt best practices. Do your due diligence, quite frankly, again, we spoke to a number of partners and you got to choose the company that you believe is going to help you out with that.
Ramiro Fernandez (25:45):
And then the other one is definitely get people in the organization involved. So, you don’t know what you don’t know. So, I think it’s important when you talk to the SAPs of the world, they’re so big and they have so much going on. There’s only so much you can do in the short term. But really help them create that vision for where you want to go, but then manage that transformation, right.
Ramiro Fernandez (26:06):
So, we know that we are not going to be able to do everything on day one, Kevin, right. But what we’ve learned from the — what we learned from the past — the previous ERP is that, you know, what the system actually could do a lot more than we were taking advantage of. So, to us it’s going to be extremely important to keep on learning.
Ramiro Fernandez (26:28):
So, I think networking with other companies. Working closely with SAP. Go into user forums and understand what are the capabilities and make sure that the organization has that learning mentality, and also that change management mentality that it’s OK to keep on changing and adopting.
Kevin L. Jackson (26:47):
Wow. We don’t have a lot of time, but you said that about change.
Ramiro Fernandez (26:53):
Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (26:53):
And it popped in my mind is culture.
Ramiro Fernandez (26:55):
Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (26:55):
Was that a — I mean, you are an executive company. You’re trying to lead innovation. And culture often can be the thing that stops.
Ramiro Fernandez (27:05):
Absolutely.
Kevin L. Jackson (27:06):
And — how did you deal with the cultural issues?
Ramiro Fernandez (27:09):
Yes. I think that’s one of the biggest — so a couple of things, you have to — and you’re spot on. I think culture really is one of those things that most people overlook. I’m a firm believer that you have to respect the culture of the company and maintain it. That being said, you know, the company has gotten to where it has — where it’s right now, because it had a very strong culture.
Ramiro Fernandez (27:31):
We keep on growing. We keep on bringing talent from — different talent from the outside. Everybody wants to drive change. You have to be respectful of what God is there, but really have the right mentality to drive that change going forward. So, will the culture change? Yes, it will. But you had to maintain that — those core principles of the organization.
Kevin L. Jackson (27:51):
Well, in today’s world, change is constant. And we actually talked a little before we started filming about, especially in food and beverage, that the lifetime of a brand is getting shorter and shorter and shorter. Is that a commentary on the attention span of humans?
Ramiro Fernandez (28:15):
Yes, it is. Well, and also right now, like we’re talking about social media. Right now, it’s really — I mean, quite frankly, it’s not that difficult to launch a product now.
Kevin L. Jackson (28:23):
Ah, yes.
Ramiro Fernandez (28:24):
Right? And then a lot of people make products for other companies. So, you really see a plethora of new products in the marketplace right now where there is in —
Kevin L. Jackson (28:31):
Plus, a new competition.
Ramiro Fernandez (28:32):
A lot of new competition across the board. So, this is the food and beverage industry. It’s extremely, extremely competitive. Now, if you have a very high-quality product, you keep on investing in your brand, that’s going to — but you have to be consistent on the quality, on the message to your consumers. So, maintaining that message to the consumer is extremely important.
Ramiro Fernandez (28:53):
But no question about it. It is a very dynamic industry. The test profile changes a lot. Moms are still the influencers. Mom are the gatekeepers for a lot of the purchases. So, you have to get to make sure that your top of mind with that particular — the shopper.
Kevin L. Jackson (29:10):
So, that makes data even more important.
Ramiro Fernandez (29:13):
More important, exactly. Yes.
Kevin L. Jackson (29:14):
Wow. So, thank you very much for spending the time with us. I know this is a very busy week for you, and we appreciate you taking the time. Did we miss anything before we end the interview here?
Ramiro Fernandez (29:28):
No, I think, honestly, I’m excited to be here. I think, I’m — again, I’m learning a lot down downstairs. You look at artificial intelligence. You look at all the things that can happen and then your mind starts, you know, going a thousand miles an hour. But I think — no, I think we hit a lot of the good things. Again, I mean, to me it’s a great industry. I’m — we’re happy to partner with SAP and we look forward to many, many, many years of solid relationship going forward.
Kevin L. Jackson (29:54):
Well, thank you very much. That was a great insight and information you provide. And I hope you, you know, took note of all how to become an innovative CFO. It’s not all about, you know, beating up based upon the numbers, right? It’s really about understanding and knowing the business end to end. And a lot of that is — a huge percentage of that is knowing your customer, right?
Ramiro Fernandez (30:22):
Absolutely.
Kevin L. Jackson (30:23):
Knowing the business coal, I think is what you said. So, with that, we are going to end another Digital Transformers, learning more about how the digital transformation of not just your industry, but every industry is affecting your business and career. Kevin L. Jackson, thank you very much.
Intro/Outro (30:46):
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