The portal has also helped boost employee retention rates, says Ackerman. Turnover used to be terrible, he says, because salespeople felt pressured to find vital information and communicate with the rest of the team. Marino adds that salespeople felt frustrated and disconnected because there was no way to efficiently collaborate with the rest of their group unless they flew into a central location.

Since the portal has been in place, not one person on the 15-member team has left. Part of that can directly be attributed to the portal, says Ackerman, "because it helps build the connection." In company surveys, salespeople previously complained about geographic constraints and how they didn’t feel connected and part of a team, he says.

The portal has proven so successful that its use has now become a PepsiCo initiative, says Marino. That means it will soon have added functionality so that employees across all three divisions--including Tropicana--can take advantage of product performance information on a jointly shared customer like a supermarket, he says. Marino says the different PepsiCo divisions will have the ability to copromote and comerchandise multiple products that are consumed together--such as carbonated beverages and salty snacks--to drive greater sales internally, naturally and for its customer. That’s talking more than just peanuts.