Ditch the Old Ways of Product Management. Say Hello to Product Innovation.

As the number of data points in the world continues to grow, so do the ways that businesses can stay informed and effectively manage their products.

In the past, for example, companies relied on product data in batch form or used recommended guidelines to manage their supply chain. Stores reviewed inventory data, orders were fulfilled from distribution centers, shipping companies serviced their fleet based on meaningful odometer readings, and products were priced using a vague notion of gross profit margin targets. But for a modern business to outpace its competitors, these outdated models had to be retired.

Today, companies can look at the lifecycles of their products, like raw materials, merchandise, finished goods, and digital platforms or ideas, from the digitization of each of these areas, and can analyze them quickly, improving overall profits and cutting down on supply chain waste.

Take, for instance, Anheuser-Busch, makers and distributors of multiple brands of beer, malt beverages and energy drinks, who partnered with Teradata in 2015. The 160-year-old company took a modern approach with help from Teradata’s product innovation and product management services. At the time, Anheuser-Busch selected Teradata’s advanced analytics software, Integrated Data Warehouse and Teradata Aster Big Analytics Appliance to enhance its decision making. The company created a new data analytics center, called Bud Lab, so it could manage its data-based decision making.

Teradata’s product innovation analytics consulting services provide real-time insight into a company’s product movement and performance. Through analytics, teams can detect even minor failure patterns and anomalies, which would be difficult for humans to realize on their own, to optimize processes, supply chain, space management and assortment planning.

Traditional product data can be integrated with other data points, like social media, online product reviews and sales data so a company can deliver to customers what they want, when they want it. This ultimately serves to increase both top-line and bottom-line growth, and leads to the development of new products in line with customers’ demands. Analytics can fuel the vision for continuous product innovations and new business growth. Malcolm Forbes expressed this tenet very succinctly when he said “"The best vision is insight."

Taking a data-driven approach to product management can transform a business so it is free to innovate on new solutions relevant to tomorrow’s marketplace.