CIO 100: Frucor

FRUCOR, WHICH IS part of the global Suntory Group, manufactures, markets and distributes a range of fruit juices, fruit drinks, energy drinks, waters and soft drinks through two companies in New Zealand and Australia. Frucor brands include V, Just Juice, Fresh-up, McCoy, Citrus Tree, Simply Squeezed, H2Go, NZ Natural, G-Force, Mizone, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7Up and Frank.

Group IT director Pieter Bakker says this year his team will focus on business projects across marketing, sales, manufacturing and service. “These are part of the ongoing digital transformation of the organisation,” says Bakker.

Bakker says most of the projects will be larger programmes of work delivered in “smaller, Agile sprints”.

“We have a clear strategy with full group executive support,” he explains.

“The challenge is to maintain deep engagement and deliver at pace, whilst building digital capability in the IT team.” Current and planned projects aim to transform the way Frucor does business. “They will make the company more consumer and customer focused,” says Bakker.

He says Frucor plans to use data and analytics to differentiate itself in the competitive FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) market.

“Analytics will help predict consumer behaviour when developing new products and services, rather than purely relying on intuition.”

Other planned projects include building a digital omni-channel for the sales teams in Australia and New Zealand, introducing market segmentation using predictive analytics, deploying a digital marketing tool, migrating SAP to the HANA platform and replacing the existing HRIS system. The new digital commerce and digital marketing platforms will run on SAP Hybris.

Frucor will also make major investments in application modernisation and in technologies to improve customer experience and collaboration.

In the past year, IT delivered an RD product data and recipe management solution, implemented a plant maintenance system, introduced customer portals and new mobile functionality, upgraded the core SAP system, and moved email to Office365.

Bakker reports to the Group CFO, but also has a ‘dotted’ reporting line to the CEOs of both Australia and New Zealand. He leads a trans-Tasman team of 31, which works across all business units.