Whilst we all agree that Excel is a powerful tool and reasonably robust, the real challenge is that anyone can create a spreadsheet and therefore it is proned to a multitude of sins.  Firstly, there is no audit trail in what numbers or formulas have been changed, when they were changed and by whom.  There’s also no easy way to test that the spreadsheet is working accurately.  In a nutshell, spreadsheets aren’t always created by people who understand programming well and often there are multiple contributors to the development of a spreadsheet so not everyone follows the same methodology and the design and flow of the spreadsheet can become fragmented.

When it comes to spending millions of dollars on your Trade Promotions, the last thing you want is inaccurate data.  It’s imperative that the numbers are right and that there is visibility to all stakeholders in the business of the effectiveness and efficiency of your trade promotions.  The Supply Chain team want an accurate forecast of proposed uplift to ensure there are no out of stocks, the Finance team need visibility of the promotional programme to manage accruals and claims and the Sales team need to have all the information at their fingertips in order to secure the deals.

The Promax PX Trade Promotion Management and Trade Promotion Optimization (TPM/TPO) solution solves all of the above challenges.  One closed-loop solution to effectively and efficiently manage your trade funds and ensure you are maximising your company’s return on investment.  Download one of our White Papers on related topics to learn more.

Department store magnate John Wanamaker famously stated, “I know that half of my advertising dollars are wasted … I just don’t know which half.” At long last, technology to forecast and measure promotions is available to brands and retailers to significantly improve the fate of their marketing dollars. But many consumer goods (CG) companies are not reaping the full benefit of today’s trade promotion systems and continue to incur waste because they use disparate business processes for promotion planning, volume planning and annual business planning.

Enhanced, integrated business processes are critical to unlock additional value and ensure more effective, productive trade spend. Yet few CG companies are currently achieving complete integration, leaving opportunity on the table. According to Gartner’s Vendor Panorama for Trade Promotion Management in Consumer Goods, August 2012, an estimated 40% of CG companies still use spreadsheets to manage trade promotions, particularly in Tier 3. But this is changing rapidly. “The biggest development is the number of new projects that have been launched since early 2012 as CG companies have realized that they need to improve their ability to execute trade promotions independent of changes in the economy,” according to the Gartner report.

The success of early adopters is a big reason. In Aberdeen Research’s Top Five Reasons to Transform Trade Promotion Strategies, September 2012, companies with an upgraded TPM strategy saw 80% better gross margin and 121% better revenue uplift from their promotions.

Join us for an executive exploration hosted by Wipro and Outsource magazine to discuss how analytics and information management can be applied to:

• Improve operational efficiency
• Maximize the availability and utilization of assets to increase revenue
• Reduce the total cost of ownership and the risk of asset failure

ATLANTA and SYDNEY – March, 2013 – Wipro Promax Analytics Solutions (WPAS), world leading specialist in trade promotions planning, management and optimization solutions, announced that it has received its third consecutive CGT (Consumer Goods Technology) Award – the 2013 Readers’ Choice Best in Class for Trade Promotion Management (TPM) solutions.

CGT is the leading US based business and technology resource for the Consumer Goods industry. CGT is committed to helping consumer goods executives improve business performance through integrated media that delivers actionable insight, benchmark analysis and critical networking. For the 12th year in a row, CGT asked its subscribers of over 58,000 influencers and business-decision makers across business and IT, to identify their most valued and used solution and service providers across 10 categories including Trade Promotion Management and Trade Promotion Optimization.

In 2011, we received the Editors’ Pick Award due to the significant impact our solution was having on the consumer goods industry. Since then, Promax has continued its thought-leadership position with extensive Research & Development  further enhancing the modeling, analytics and optimization functionality to the already rich footprint of Promax PX. WPAS is 100% dedicated to Trade Promotion Management & Optimization arena, so our solution is designed to meet the specific needs of consumer goods companies. The Promax commitment to providing a world-class best practice TPM/TPO solution is obviously having a positive impact on our users who participated in the CGT Readers’ Choice survey.  We are grateful for their continued confidence for the third year running.

The Promax PX solution enables TPM within an integrated environment that allows business to model, optimize, forecast, budget, execute, manage and measure product and customer performance within one country or across the globe. The Promax PX solution has been embraced by many notable consumer goods companies globally with major contracts continuing to be won in the USA, UK, Japan and Asia Pacific regions.”

All of our customers use the same application and customizations are only required to meet specific unique business process requirements. This means the consulting and implementation effort to install Promax PX is massively lower than that of other systems that take a “toolbox” approach to TPM. While other vendors are developing new software to meet a functional requirement, Promax is advising which parameters and switches need to be configured in the standard application to meet the same requirement. The cost of ownership and upgrade path with Promax is lower and easier to manage than that associated with vendors that have the “toolbox” as their software.”

With such a large volume of funds at stake it’s even more important that marketing professionals can truly justify the anticipated outcomes of marketing spend and verify to their Executive Boards a positive return on investment.

Promotional programs can be evaluated using many different measures. It may be valid to include or exclude different elements of cost depending on the objective.  So the biggest challenge is quite often how to develop a strategic framework on which to assess the quality of a promotion or a promotional program. The result is a single key performance indicator (KPI) that can be used to assess the quality of the financial criteria around the promotion. The application of this measure to promotional planning ensures the BEST allocation of trade funds to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness. 

Inside the Promax PX Trade Promotion Management (TPM) & Trade Promotion Optimization (TPO) solution, we have developed a decision matrix which assists in assessing a promotional program at any level in the business. This framework which we call the BEST model, assists in the development of guidelines and controls to assess the quality of a program and its application will ensure that a business is aware of the quality of its promotional programs.

Contact us to learn more, request a White Paper or arrange a demonstration.

Link to Forbes article

January 13 – 16, 2013 – Jacob K Javits Conventioned Center, New York City

Learn more or register for this event.

The CGT (Consumer Goods Technology) Customer Management Award is presented to the consumer goods firm that is best leveraging a solution to manage customer relationships, trade promotions, marketing and/or consumer insights.

Contact Us for more information or visit the CGT website

Kimberly-Clark wins CGT Customer Management Award – PDF Version

Alan Miller, President of Promax Americas LLC said “we are confident that Dare Foods will realize measurable benefits from the Promax PX solution.  One of the key drivers for implementing a TPM/TPO solution was to enable Dare Foods to create greater visibility of sales volume plans and spending and allow for longer term planning.  The utilization of the Promax PX Strategy Planner scenario modelling capabilities will empower increased efficiency and accuracy of sales planning and forecasting processes”.

Don Nicol, CEO of Promax Applications Group added, “Promax PX will enable Dare Foods to implement a consistent, repeatable business process enabling them to achieve a best practise approach. These areas of improvement exemplify the way in which Promax PX can optimize Trade Funds and deliver increased profit for Dare Foods”.

“In a challenging economic environment with ongoing increases in commodity costs, Dare Food‘s decision to implement and stardardize their TPM strategy using Promax PX provides confidence we are taking the right actions to drive further efficiency, enable growth and maintain the long-term health of our brands.  The Promax PX solution is a highly intuitive, spreadsheet-like application which will be tightly integrated to our ERP system.  Having one closed loop solution we believe will provide greater accountability and ownership for key account executives in sales planning process”, said Massimo Nigro, Dare Foods Sr. Manager Business Technology.

Eileen Carmichael, Director of Finance at Dare Foods added, “with the use of Promax PX’s sophisticated Funds/Check Book functionality, it will create a consistent process of trade spend authorization and approvals ensuring there are no surprise claims, deductions or overspends.  As a result of our extensive research and selection process, we believe Promax PX is the only true “multi-lingual and multi-currency out of the box solution for TPM and TPO.”

About Dare Foods

Feel good food is at the heart of everything they do at Dare, especially when it comes to baking delicious, quality products for you to enjoy with your family and friends. Although a few things have changed since the first hand-made cookie was baked in 1892, Dare maintains its commitment to high quality products.

Today, after 120 years, Dare remains a solid, family-owned business that continues to build a legacy rich in innovative, high-quality products that meet the changing needs of our consumers. Dare has state of the art manufacturing plants in Canada and the U.S.

Dare produces a wide variety of foods satisfying many different consumer needs. From casual every day eating to special occasions and elegant entertaining, Dare’s delicious varieties are sure to make every day special. Our well-known brands include Bear Paws, Simple Pleasures, Whippet, Breton, Vinta, Cripsy Baguettes and Real Fruit Candy. Our range of cookies, crackers, fine breads and candy is available throughout North America, in Mexico, Sweden, the Far East and over 25 other countries around the world.

For more information about Dare Foods, visit http://www.darefoods.com

About Promax

Promax Applications Group (PAG) is a world–leading specialist in trade promotion planning, management, and optimization solutions. With headquarter operations based in Australia and offices now in New Zealand, Japan, Central Europe, United Kingdom and North America, PAG boasts an impressive stable of global consumer goods companies such as Kimberly-Clark, L’Oreal, Heinz, Johnson & Johnson, Beiersdorf, Henkel and many others. Our solutions are the result of more than twenty years experience working in close collaboration with leading consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and distributors.

The Promax Promax^® PX solution has been designed to allow a seamless, automated process to Track, Predict and Optimize promotions and trade spend. It incorporates the most sophisticated tools to maximize a client’s return on trade spend investment, and deliver optimal outcomes for retail partners.

For more information about Promax, visit http://www.promaxtpo.com/

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Dare Foods selects Promax PX Media Release

For further information contact:

Promax Applications Group Headquarters                                                     

Karen Thomas

Marketing Manager
Australia

T +61 (2) 4982 2262

E  karen.thomas@promaxtpo.com

Promax Americas LLC

Alan Miller
President, Promax Americas

Atlanta  GA  USA

T +1 (678) 462-4154
E alan.miller@promaxtpo.com

As per industry estimates, consumer focused companies spend 12 to 25% of their gross annual sales on trade promotions. Organizations are increasingly leveraging analytics to enhance effectiveness and maximize the return on investment (ROI) of their spend on trade promotions.“Analytics is a key growth driver of Wipro’s growth strategy. The acquisition of Promax Applications Group will strengthen Wipro’s positioning and capability in management, analytics & optimization of trade promotions, and further extends our leadership in analytics and information management services.

Combining PAG’s deep industry expertise with Wipro’s proven experience in delivering end-to-end large business solutions to global clients, will enable our clients to maximize the ROI of Trade Promotion spends”, said K.R Sanjiv, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Analytics and Information Management, Wipro.

Don Nicol, CEO of Promax Applications Group, added “We are excited and proud at the prospect of joining Wipro which is recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services and, strategic focus on advanced analytics capabilities. PAG will help Wipro to differentiate its offerings in the trade and marketing management space through an added value proposition. The combined entity will provide clients access to an enhanced portfolio of technologies and solutions, and provide employees enhanced training, growth and career opportunities.”

Avendus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Wipro on this transaction.

Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and will be closed in the current April-June 2012 quarter. The newly formed entity will be called as Wipro Promax Analytics Solutions Pty Ltd.

About Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT)

Wipro provides comprehensive IT solutions and services, including systems integration, Information Systems outsourcing, IT enabled services, package implementation, software application development and maintenance, and research and development services to corporations globally. Wipro Limited is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified IT Services Company globally. Wipro also has a strong presence in niche market segments of Infrastructure Engineering and Consumer Products & Lighting. For more information, please visit our websites at www.wipro.com

 About Promax

Promax Applications Group (PAG) is a world–leading specialist in trade promotion planning, management, and optimization solutions. With headquarter operations based in Australia and offices now in New Zealand, Japan, Central Europe, United Kingdom and North America, PAG boasts an impressive stable of global consumer goods companies. Promax solutions are result of more than twenty years’ experience working in close collaboration with leading consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and distributors.

Promax solution has been designed to allow a seamless, automated process to Track, Predict and Optimize promotions and trade spend. It incorporates the most sophisticated tools to maximize a client’s return on trade spend investment, and deliver optimal outcomes for retail partners. For more information, please visit www.promaxtpo.com

Media Contacts

Vipin Nair                                                             Karen Thomas
Wipro Limited                                                       Promax Applications Group
Phone: 91-80-39918071                                         Phone:  61-2-49822262
vipin.nair1@wipro.com                                          karen.thomas@promaxtpo.com

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Wipro’s beliefs regarding future events, many of which are by their nature, inherently uncertain and outside Wipro’s control. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wipro’s growth prospects, its future financial operating results, and its plans, expectations and intentions. Wipro cautions readers that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost  advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Annual Reports on Form 20-F. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

# # #

Download a PDF of this Media Release

ATLANTA and SYDNEY – 2 February, 2012 – Promax Applications Group, a world-leading specialist in trade promotions planning, management and optimization solutions, today announced that it has received another CGT (Consumer Goods Technology) Award – the 2012 Readers’ Choice Best in Class for Trade Promotion Management (TPM) solutions.

CGT is the leading US based business and technology resource for the Consumer Goods industry.  CGT is committed to helping consumer goods executives improve business performance through integrated media that delivers actionable insight, benchmark analysis and critical networking.  For the 12^th year in a row, CGT asked its subscribers of over 58,000 influencers and business-decision makers across business and IT, to identify their most valued and used solution and service providers across 10 categories including Trade Promotion Management and Trade Promotion Optimization.

Don Nicol, CEO of Promax commented, “We are delighted and extremely proud to receive our second prestigious award from CGT.  In 2011, we received the Editors’ Pick Award due to the significant impact our solution was having on the consumer goods industry.  Since then, Promax has continued its thought-leadership position with extensive Research & Development this year further enhancing the modeling, analytics and optimization functionality to the already rich footprint of Promax PX.  Promax Applications Group is 100% dedicated to Trade Promotion Management & Optimization arena, so our solution is designed to meet the specific needs of consumer goods companies. The Promax commitment to providing a world-class best practice TPM/TPO solution is obviously having a positive impact on our users who participated in the CGT Readers’ Choice survey”.

The Promax PX solution enables TPM within an integrated environment that allows business to model, optimize, forecast, budget, execute, manage and measure product and customer performance within one country or across the globe.  The Promax PX solution has been embraced by many notable consumer goods companies globally with major contracts continuing to be won in the USA, UK, Japan and Asia Pacific regions.”

“Promax developed the PX solution to be an “out-of-the-box” application.  All of our customers use the same application and customizations are only required to meet specific unique business process requirements.  This means the consulting and implementation effort to install Promax PX is massively lower than that of other systems that take a “toolbox” approach to TPM.  While other vendors are developing new software to meet a functional requirement, Promax is advising which parameters and switches need to be configured in the standard application to meet the same requirement.  The cost of ownership and upgrade path with Promax is lower and easier to manage than that associated with vendors that have the “toolbox” as their software.”

Download a PDF of this Media Release

About Promax

Promax Applications Group (PAG) is a world–leading specialist in trade promotion planning, management, and optimization solutions. With headquarter operations based in Australia and offices in New Zealand, Japan, Central Europe, United Kingdom and North America, PAG boasts an impressive stable of global consumer goods companies such as Kimberly-Clark, L’Oreal, Heinz, Johnson & Johnson, Beiersdorf, Henkel and many others. Our solutions are the result of more than twenty years experience working in close collaboration with leading consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and distributors.

The Promax PX solution has been designed to allow a seamless, automated process to Track, Predict and Optimize promotions and trade spend. It incorporates the most sophisticated tools to maximize a client’s return on trade spend investment and deliver optimal outcomes for retail partners.

About CGT

CGT is the leading US based business and technology resource for the Consumer Goods industry.  CGT is committed to helping consumer goods executives improve business performance through integrated media that delivers actionable insight, benchmark analysis and critical networking.

More details about CGT can be found at www.consumergoods.com

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For further information contact:

Promax Applications Group

Karen Thomas

Marketing Manager

Australia

T +61 2 4982 2262

E  karen.thomas@promaxtpo.com