Kraft Heinz develops two groundbreaking apps with Microsoft technology, paving the way to transform the CPG industry

The Kraft Heinz Company (Kraft Heinz) has more than 200 globally recognized brands, and its sales teams needed a single source of truth to identify the largest sales growth opportunities across its retail customers. As a major consumer packaged goods (CPG) enterprise, Kraft Heinz wanted to innovate and transform the way that the industry uses digital tools. However, its fragmented technical estate had dozens of disconnected apps that slowed the speed of business and innovation.

When Kraft Heinz envisioned an analytics offering that would serve as a single source of truth for its sales organization, it committed to a cloud-first approach and an agile way of working. To realize its vision, Kraft Heinz engaged Microsoft and Ernst & Young, LLC, (EY) to transform its data offering, called Insights 2 Action (I2A), from dispersed legacy systems to a unified Microsoft Azure–based solution combined with Microsoft Teams. “Imagine this dream scenario,” says Cristian Spuza, Head of Customer Development Organization at Kraft Heinz. “You go to work on Monday, and you already have all the data you need in one place. You gather client insights, and with one click, you send them to the buyer. That’s transformational.” Using I2A, sales teams can easily access the intelligence they need to create a better experience for the retailer and, thus, accelerate revenue growth.

Streamlining sales insights and business management with Microsoft technology

Kraft Heinz is one of the world’s largest CPG businesses, with revenues of more than $26 billion. The company knew that creating a unified data offering for a global enterprise would be no easy task, so it engaged Microsoft to develop a strategic plan. “We’ve always been ‘data rich’ as a company, but the way in which we used data to uncover meaningful insights was a manual and slow process,” says Cory Onell, Chief Sales Officer for US Sales at Kraft Heinz. “The massive amounts of data we receive every day from multiple sources can be a competitive advantage, but only if we improve the speed for using that data to impact the business.” 

Kraft Heinz and Microsoft developed two core products: I2A and LaunchPad. I2A helps the sales team connect the dots between what is happening with its customers and, in the sales channel, to proactively identify growth opportunities. LaunchPad, on the other hand, serves as the central destination to access I2A and other business applications to track store implementation, workflow approval, and more. “LaunchPad truly leans into our vision of creating a single destination for our team to run the business,” says Bob Wang, Head of Digital Transformation for North America Sales at Kraft Heinz.

One of the challenges of the project was to manage data access once I2A was operational. To maintain security while providing convenience, it is crucial that sales professionals can view all the data they need—but not more. Thus, hyper-personalization and a seamless user experience were core areas of focus. “The partnership with Microsoft is a game changer,” says Spuza. “We’re bringing the two organizations together to create something completely new, a breakthrough solution that doesn’t exist on the market today.”

Empowering 500 sales professionals to speak the customer’s language

Once it had a road map, Kraft Heinz engaged Microsoft and the EY organization to migrate its legacy reporting solution to Microsoft Power BI on Azure and develop a robust foundation for the new analytics offering. The EY organization then used Microsoft technology to enhance the insights provided to sales teams. By incorporating I2A with Microsoft Teams, Kraft Heinz delivered self-service business intelligence and mobile access to increase user adoption, long-term retention, and collaboration.

Kraft Heinz is now fueling sales as I2A provides access to near-real-time insights. For example, one sales lead used the tool to identify a retailer that was not selecting a product even as its competitors were increasing their purchases of that particular item. They shared the insight with multiple retailers, which led to significant sales. “I2A isn’t incremental—it’s transformational,” says Wang. “We use it to speak the customers’ language.”

Kraft Heinz had customer and vendor needs in mind when it developed plans for its new analytics offering. The company wanted greater visibility into retailer data to offer insights so compelling that it becomes the indispensable food and beverage company in North America. More than 500 sales professionals can now draw on I2A and LaunchPad for insights much more quickly, using them to empower Kraft Heinz customers to grow their businesses.

Solving an industry-wide challenge using Azure and Power BI 

Kraft Heinz sales professionals are impressed by how easy it is to use I2A and LaunchPad. Instead of working with several apps, they have a single source of truth for unified analytics. “We want LaunchPad to be the only place where the sales organization runs its business,” says Wang. “Instead of reviewing 500 reports, we get the answers that our internal teams, customers, and partners need in one place.” Kraft Heinz is seeing a rapid return on its investment.

When Kraft Heinz started its journey, it conducted market research to benchmark other industries. “After speaking with leaders from banking to technology to pharmaceuticals, we discovered that CPG has an opportunity to use digital tools to advance innovation and growth,” says Carlos Abrams-Rivera, President of the North America Zone at Kraft Heinz. “Now that we’ve built this foundation, we’re envisioning how we can lead the food and beverage segment into the future.” 

Accelerating business growth with Microsoft solutions

Kraft Heinz has an ambitious mission for its digital transformation. “We want to become the best food and beverage company for customers to do business with,” says Spuza. The company plans to use the tools and learnings it has gained from its collaboration with Microsoft and the EY organization on the I2A and LaunchPad initiatives to enhance operations far beyond sales.

Kraft Heinz is excited to see what the future will hold as it continues to transform its tools. “We think our collaboration with Microsoft will change the entire industry,” says Spuza. “Together, we’ll establish things that are not out there yet.”