JDE's Integration of Sales and Financial Planning with Board

Jacobs Douwe Egberts is a global agribusiness group that specializes in coffee and tea. Founded in 1753, the company has a strong presence in over 80 countries and generates annual sales of more than €5 billion. JDE employs more than 12,000 people and holds a No.1 or No.2 market position in 18 countries across Europe, South America, and Australia. In France, JDE leads the category with its brands Senseo, L'Or, OR EspressO, Grandma, Jacques Vabre, Maxwell, and Tassimo. The company's main activity in France is the sale of coffee to retail customers, but it also sells to the professional market, such as gas stations and hospitals.

Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), a global agribusiness group specializing in coffee and tea, was facing challenges in managing its commercial steering and financial management. The company, which operates in over 80 countries and generates annual sales of more than €5 billion, needed a tool that could consolidate the progress of negotiations in relation to the initial budget and analytically manage all customer investments by category. The tool also needed to support the S&OP process, manage product/customer mix, pilot pricing strategy, and ease the exchange of information between different services. On the financial control side, JDE required a solution that could value plans by segment, brand, and customer, steer profit up to full P&L (real + forecast), and facilitate budget comparisons and reporting.

JDE chose Board as the solution to their challenges. Board was implemented in addition to SAP for the first commercial module, which was delivered in three months, and for the secondary finance requirements. The implementation of the Board solution involved two separate and independent environments: Sales & Finance. It provided one unique dataset sourcing from the S&OP process, one platform for the exchange of pricing conditions, and one redefined process for forecasting. The Board solution was utilized by the Sales: Key Account team and Strategic Revenue Management, and the Finance: Management Controllers, with one Administrator overseeing the system.

• The implementation of Board has brought several operational benefits to JDE. The tool enables an immediate translation of volume movements into value, while alerting management and enhanced analysis provide full transparency of the situation. Access to key information by customers has been simplified, and Key Account teams have more autonomy to manage their P&L. All teams appreciate the customizable nature of Board's screens which enable them to see the financial impact of all their decisions. Finally, the unified nature of Board, combined with the control processes put in place, guarantees the accuracy and alignment of operational and financial information between the finance and sales teams.

• Rapid implementation of Board in just three months

• Single database to manage all customer investments, saving time

• Removal of multiple tracking Excel files