#Interview
THE IDEA IS TO MAKE THE DATA AS ROBUST AS POSSIBLE,
AND CONVERT THEM INTO ACCURATE INSIGHTS
our organization – with clear accountabilities and more channel
expertise; and 3) implementing a new tool – to support us and
give us more consistency in our baseline calculation. In terms of priorities, I tend to split my time between
three different types of tasks: routine, emergencies and
projects.
As we say in the I&I team: “This is not a revolution, just
evolution.” The routine part is largely delegated to the team, as each
I&I team member is perfectly aware of what to do (if not
more aware than me…), when to do and, more importantly,
how to do the work they are in charged of. On average, the
time I spend on supervision takes up 10% of my working
time, depending on the topic and the person.
What objectives does your team have at the moment and
how delivering them contributes to achieving the company’s
strategic goals?
Each area of I&I has its own specific objectives.
Pricing requires a disciplined approach, so we ensure that
by keeping an eye on competitors’ prices we take advantage
of every opportunity available to us as a company to achieve
profitable market share growth.
Forecasting must deliver robust short and mid-term sales
predictions on time, so that we can plan our business
strategy accordingly and meet our objectives.
Research and Intelligence must deliver key insights
proactively, so that the organization has the right
information available to make accurate business decisions.
How do you prioritize such a broad scope of responsibilities?
What are your tips and tricks for delivering results in the most
efficient way?
First of all, I am lucky to be able to rely on a great and highly
committed team. They make the delivery of results possible.
Emergencies always arise, and ensuring a timely response is
critical. To provide quick and accurate answers, I make
sure that, together with the team, we get a sound
understanding of the issue and identify the
best solution for tackling it efficiently.
Emergencies are by definition
unpredictable, so it is difficult to say
how much time we will dedicate to
dealing with them, but it is key to
formulate the problem in as simple
terms as possible so that we
spend the right amount of time
solving them.
No matter how many
emergencies we need
to deal with, I tend
to always dedicate
at least 20% of my
working time to
projects.
You work with a huge load of information. Where do
you get the data? What are the tools you use to
ensure proper data management that eliminates any
mistakes?
There is the data we collect, which comes
to us from both internal (360Connect, Field
force reports) and external sources (research
companies), and the data we create (pricing
forecast, sales predictions, production schedules).
This is indeed a huge amount of information, but we
need all of it.
Data cleaning is still quite manual, which unfortunately
does not allow zero mistakes. In my experience,
creating a database of pure 100% accurate and
reliable data is a utopia. Let’s be realistic:
humans that collect them and systems
that process it are not perfect.
The idea is to make the data
as robust as possible, and
convert it into accurate
insights. My view is that
we will always be better
off with information that
is good enough than with
no information at all.
June was announced as
a month of diversity at
Imperial. The company was
celebrating the fantastic
DIVERSITY ALLOWS US
TO LEARN MORE FROM
EACH OTHER AND IT MAKES
BUSINESS DISCUSSIONS MUCH
MORE ENRICHING
mix of people and thinking that ensures the viability of the
company’s strategy. What does diversity of thinking mean
to you and how do you think it contributes to business
success?
Nowadays diversity is not just a “hot topic,” it has
become vital for any business to compete effectively in
a constantly changing environment. It is impossible to
be creative and find the right answers to the challenges
we face if everybody thinks in the same way based on the
same patterns. Diversity allows us to learn more from
each other and it makes business discussions much more
enriching.
In our cluster leadership team of 8 people we have
6 different nationalities… This, combined with our
different backgrounds, is a great asset for us as it fosters
thinking out of the box and helps making appropriate
decisions.
I AM LUCKY TO BE ABLE TO RELY ON A GREAT
AND HIGHLY COMMITTED TEAM
The Империалист | | 21