In the 2022 National Liquor News Industry Leaders Forum, Simon Elsby, APAC Sales & Business Development Director, said a year of opportunity is ahead as the company scales its planning capabilities for the liquor industry.
2021 was a busy year for Exceedra, a leading global provider of software solutions for integrated business planning and revenue management.
Simon Elsby, APAC Sales & Business Development Director, said there were a number of highlights, aligned to the company’s scaling abilities in the liquor industry.
He said external highlights include “building and growing our team in response to our customers’ changing needs over 2021, and acquiring new businesses that strengthen our revenue management and analytics software offerings that will really help our liquor industry customers step-change their core organisational capabilities.”
The immediate focus for the year ahead will be two exciting major revenue management software projects with clients that have global footprints. But throughout the year, Exceedra is also focusing on how it can best meet the needs of customers all across the liquor industry. This will happen alongside the continuing integration of the business into TELUS, Canada’s largest Telco, which acquired Exceedra in late 2020 for its world class revenue management and retail execution software capabilities.
“In the early part of 2022 we are very focused on different options that further scale our integrated business planning capabilities for the alcohol industry,” said Elsby.
Alongside such opportunities though, Exceedra predicts there will be challenges in the year ahead. Elsby said one of the biggest will be “trying to understand how COVID is going to affect us in 2022.
“It’s fair to say doing this same exercise at the same time last year, not many people would have foreseen the challenges and difficulties that 2021 brought, when many of us thought we were getting out of the proverbial woods. Supply chain is obviously one of those, particularly for imported products like spirits and international beers. So continuing to build even more rigour and robustness in our planning, how we implement and support our customers and help them to plan and allow for things like continuing supply chain disruptions and atshelf out of stocks, and how we measure and track changing success criteria are core challenges for our business,” he continued.
Planning for the unplanned
After the past two unpredictable years of the industry, the power of what Exceedra offers cannot be understated. Elsby said it’s more important than ever for the liquor retailers and suppliers to work together like never before, to be the most prepared for unpredictable situations.
“I think there are two words – agility and pivot – and the actions associated with them, that have become cornerstones to liquor manufacturers and retailers to incorporate into the way they do things. On-premise shifts to off-premise during lockdowns, challenges on margins, massive growth in new segments like seltzers and no alcohol products, and numerous other changes mean the industry has had to collaborate like never before,” Elsby said.
“If the past two years have taught us anything, it’s to plan for the unplanned… In some ways it has been a shakeup for the liquor industry that needs to be noted and tracked to provide a better guide path for the next few years. It’s not just a hiccup and then a return to normal. Behaviours have inexorably changed, and we need to build those changes into our future plans.”
Read more from the 2022 National Liquor News Leaders Forum here.