Leveraging Technology for a Successful Manufacturing & Distribution Business​

1. Leveraging Technology for a Successful
Manufacturing & Distribution Business
Learn how using tech can help
grow your business
November 10, 2020

2. Welcome & Introduction
Principal & Leader, Strategy & Business
Transformation Practice
sronan@citrincooperman.com
Steve Ronan
Principal, Technology, Rick Advisory,
and Cybersecurity (TRAC) Practice
kricci@citrincooperman.com
Kevin Ricci
Partner & Co-Leader,
Manufacturing & Distribution Practice
jgiordano@citrincooperman.com
John Giordano
Partner & Co-Leader,
Manufacturing & Distribution Practice
mhenry@citrincooperman.com
Mark Henry

3. Objectives of Today’s Webinar
I n d u stry Su r vey Over vi ew & L esso n s
01
Tech n olo gy T r an sfo rmati on 02
Tech n olo gy R i sks & C h al l en ges 03
Qu esti o n & An swer 04

4. Yes
No
Do you need CPE credit
for today’s webinar?

5. Now. Next.
The survey was conducted in June 2020, to take a pulse of company leaders in the
manufacturing and distribution industry – amid COVID-19 – to measure the current health of their
business and to take stock of future priorities, concerns, and challenges.
Companies had revenues
of $10million annual
revenue or more
Revenues
Total of 200 responses -
VP/SVP of Operations or
Above
Respondents
Manufacturing ONLY – 34%
Distribution ONLY – 27%
BOTH Manufacturing and
Distribution – 40%
M&D MakeUp
Manufacturing & Distribution
Pulse Survey

6. Yes, I read it
No, I have yet to read it
Have you had the opportunity
to read the results of our
industry survey?

7. • COVID-19 has changed distribution in
a variety of ways, most prominently
changing the demand of product
• Revenues and earnings are
surprisingly steady. The best
performers have more traction with
e-commerce
• Technology and e-commerce rank
highest for the biggest keys for
future growth
What We Learned

8. • 68% of respondents indicated online
sales have grown between 11-50% of
last 12 months
• While technology adoption has been
strong, it needs to be even stronger for
the future
- Cloud computing and advanced
analytics used by about 2/3 of
companies or more
- 95% of executives utilize financial
dashboards (KPI’s); 14% update
these multiple times a day
Key Takeaways

9. Technology
Transformation
Enterprise technology in the M&D space has evolved
meaningfully and there are many available tools to
overcome what CFOs point to as their biggest
challenges.

10. Yes
Probably, we will see how the
economy fares
Are you planning to make
investments in your
technology over the next
12 months?
No

11. Only 31% of companies have explored RPA
Migration to eCommerce requires numerous
technology changes including storefronts,
fulfillment, customer acquisition, and supply
chain planning
While many companies have adopted basic
monthly financial KPIs, most do not have
mature strategies
44% of companies only occasionally evaluate
the profitability of their productlines
Robotic Process Automation
Direct sales via eCommerce
Analytics
FP&A
Significant Opportunities

12. A
Focused, real-time
information that drive better
business decisions
Decision
Support
B
Creating more transparency
to how you can improve
financial performance
Performance
Management
C
The sets of tools necessary
to support an integrated
management approach
Ecosystems
Key Concepts

13. Decision Support
Enable rich, deep reporting by getting good business data into systems
quickly with a high level of integrity every time, and offering tools and
processes to analyze and forecast business activities
Decision Support
Level 1:
What has happened and
why
Level 2:
What is happening and
why
Level 3:
What may happen and
how to influence it

14. Decision Support
Enablers
The data needs to be great
– decision-ready data
requires accounting that is
accurate the first time
ERP and other core
systems need to be
efficient and reliable
Sophisticated tasks require
the right tech – move from
offline to integrated, digital
tools
Insight takes time – free up
people to focus on data by
automating/outsourcing
transactional work
• Management will need a broader set of metrics than just
core financial KPIs
• Staffing and bandwidth rarely expand to accommodate
this and investment in specialists, training, and toolsets
lag
• KPIs expand and contract and then expand again
• It is a highly manual process to generate metrics which
involve data sets from multiple systems, Excel, and
secondary tools

15. Performance Management
Budgeting,forecasting, and scenario planning
Tracking performance measures like key
performanceindicators (KPIs)
Close management and financial consolidation
Financial, regulatory, management and cash
flow analysis
Planning:
Monitoring:
Consolidation:
Reporting and Analytics:
Linking the business plan to financial resources to
put strategic goals into motion

16. Ecosystems
• Although it all starts with ERP, it isn’t just about
ERP
• Data quality is critical – systems need to be
integrated and structured to generate high-
integrity data
• Use the right tool for the job – bring multiple
finance tools to the table to get the best insight
• The tech ecosystems need to be carefully curated
Enablers
Cloud, cloud, cloud Modern, nimble ERP
Integrated, attentive
governance
Management accountability

17. Modern, efficient, cloud ERP systems with
open API frameworks and great core
functionality that meets your highest
priority (not all) needs
ERP
Technology that makes your people more
efficient at their jobs, reducing hours on rote
activities or activities that generate mistakes
and exceptions
Process Efficiency
Tools that take your data and produce
Decision Support
Ecosystems

18. Modern, cloud-based ERP
ERP
Transactional Automation
Robotic Process Automation
Close Management
Process Efficiency
Consolidated Reporting
FP&A
Analytics
Decision Support
Ecosystems

19. Ecosystems
Process EfficiencyERP Decision Support
TransactionalAutomation
Robotic Process Automation
Close Management
Consolidated Reporting
FP&A
Analytics

20. New Technology:
Cybersecurity Risks

21. Yes, on a monthly or quarterly basis
Yes, on an annual basis
Does your organization
conduct periodic
cybersecurity risk
assessments?
Yes, but it has been a few years
No

22. The Cyber Threat
Landscape

23. Who Are
The Threat
Actors?

24. The Pandemic Effect
• Working From Home: The New Normal
• Technology Risks
• Inboxes Under Siege

25. • High Usage Rate for M&D
• Beware Poorly Designed Apps
• Endpoint Security
Blockchain

26. Artificial
Intelligence
• Better Decision-Making Capabilities
• Security Concerns
• Strategies for Defending AI

27. • Cloud Providers in the Crosshairs
• Prepare for Rain
• Fortifying Security
Cloud Computing

28. • M&D Impact
• Vulnerabilities
• Minimizing Risk
Internet of Things

29. Questions?

30. Thank You
For Watching & Listening