As the world becomes more interconnected, upgrading your IT environment is no longer just a means to get ahead—it is a requirement to keep pace in the produce processing industry.
With near-constant advancements in technology, if your produce processing company doesn’t proactively upgrade and modernize your technology, it will be only a matter of time before competitors encroach on your business’s contracts and revenue. Your business can quickly be left struggling to play catch-up with other produce companies that took the initiative to stay up to date with modern demands.
In order to stay relevant and competitive, produce companies seeking to capitalize on new global opportunities need to unify their product development, supply chains, manufacturing processes, and distribution networks, or risk failure in today’s increasingly competitive markets.
Produce processors need an agile tech environment to capitalize on new standard business models. Today, food organizations are pursuing new revenue streams, distribution networks, and methods of getting their products into their buyers’ hands and need technology that can keep up with increasing demands.
The produce processor industry is undergoing a digital transformation to streamline operations, increase efficiency, and ensure ongoing customer satisfaction. Modern consumers expect personalized experiences throughout their journey with your company. Powerful data analytics can analyze customers' behavior to deliver a highly personalized experience and help you determine customers’ preferences. Being able to review trends across your customers helps inform your company of what of your products are crowd favorites, determine changes in customer preferences, and track seasonal and regional preferences.
Armed with the knowledge of your customers’ preferences depending on the geographic region they live in and what season during the year they’re purchasing, you can segment customers into groups based on their behavior and preferences. Once these groups are created, you can then create specific offerings and marketing messages related to their purchase history and interests.
With highly customized marketing messaging and offerings, not only can you expect higher revenue margins year after year, but you can also expect much higher customer satisfaction. With numerous growing technologies that have normalized hyper-specific ad targeting across industries, customers have come to expect targeted messaging and offerings in companies they regularly engage with. By offering relevant communication and offerings, you create a sense of community and belonging with your customers that will have them coming back for more and create positive feelings associated with your company.
Alongside rapidly evolving technologies, regulations and standards related to food safety are complex and subject to change. Government agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States or the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Europe regularly review standards and update them if new risks or scientific research emerges. These administrative bodies also update regulations based on current public health priorities.
With regulations and standards regularly being updated, remaining aware and compliant with new standards can quickly become overwhelming and difficult to keep track of for your organization. If your organization has a lapse in regulation compliance, government agencies have the authority to take actions against your company. Depending on how severe your company’s violation is, it could result in costly fines and legal procedures that eat away at revenue, or at worst - a complete shutdown of your organization.
In order for your produce organization to stay profitable, focused, and open for operation, it’s vital to always remain compliant with changing standards and regulations. NetSuite offers features for tracking and managing food safety requirements throughout the supply chain so that your organization stays compliant with new standards and avoids expensive product recalls or fines.
In fact, NetSuite's quality management feature allows produce processors to enforce food safety protocols, perform inspections, and monitor regulatory standards compliance with regulations such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). With NetSuite, produce processors can make the process of inspection more efficient by digitizing inspection forms, checklists, and procedures. Inspectors can access these forms using the mobile NetSuite app, which means they can accurately and quickly perform inspections while in the field. NetSuite also has detailed traceability functionality, which means produce processors can monitor and track the movement of produce as it travels through the supply chain. If produce is contaminated or recalled, produce processors can quickly track the product and remove it from the supply chain.
How Do Mismanaged Business Processes Impact Success?
Download the guide to see what the industry’s leading processors say about unwieldy back-office processes and outdated technology that can create issues that impact long-term success.
