CFO Pulse Survey
The finance and accounting talent shortage is intensifying, with 83% of senior leaders struggling to fill key roles. As hiring challenges persist, organizations are turning to outsourcing and automation to maintain efficiency and drive growth.
This report uncovers how CFOs and finance leaders are adapting—90% are outsourcing finance functions, while AI adoption remains cautious. Discover key insights, strategies, and trends shaping the future of finance talent.
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Revolutionizing new product introduction for an industrial distributor
Client:
The client is a leading industrial electrical and electronics distributor headquartered in the UK.
Challenge:
The Head of New Product Introduction (NPI) faced several challenges in streamlining the NPI process. The manual processes, poor data quality, and complex workflows involving over 70 suppliers led to delays, with new product launches taking between 30 to 60 days. The inefficiency hindered the client’s goal to triple the number of new product introductions annually, which was critical to enhancing competitiveness and increasing market share.
Solution:
After engaging with the client, eClerx proposed the implementation of Merchandiser+, a solution tailored to optimize NPI workflows. Key goals for the solution were:
- Reducing the NPI launch time from 30–60 days to 15 days.
- Scaling the process to handle a threefold increase in new product introductions.
- Achieving 95% completeness of mandatory content for each product.
To ensure a smooth implementation, an onshore supplier management team worked closely with the client’s internal teams and suppliers. Merchandiser+ was customized to align with the client’s specific needs, integrating a robust quality audit process to minimize rework and improve the accuracy of product data.
Impact:
Within three months of deploying Merchandiser+, the NPI processing time was reduced from 60 days to 15 days. Through continuous collaboration and refinement, the average processing time was further reduced to just 7 days. The solution exceeded the initial target, enabling a fivefold increase in NPI volume.
As a result, the client successfully launched over 200,000 new products, with more than 270 users regularly accessing the tool to track NPIs. The centralized platform and automated content syndication streamlined the entire NPI process, significantly enhancing efficiency and scalability for the client and its suppliers.
This successful implementation revolutionized the client’s NPI process, driving operational excellence and supporting substantial business growth.
Boosting customer satisfaction and net promoter score for media giant
Client:
The client is one of the largest communication and media companies in the United States.
Challenge:
The Senior Director of Quality and Performance Management faced the task of identifying barriers preventing a seamless sales-to-service experience for customers.
The director was responsible for deploying employee and customer engagement programs across 85,000 employees to improve the Net Promoter Score (NPS).
Analysis showed that customers with lower scores on predicted NPS and four key metrics (effort, reliability, commitment, and value) had a higher propensity to churn, resulting in revenue loss.
The challenge was to determine what was driving additional contact center volumes and causing decreased satisfaction and churn among both customers and employees.
Solution:
eClerx collaborated with the client to develop a comprehensive plan to tackle these challenges. The plan started by aligning objectives, scope, and criteria for the analysis. The team then developed a framework by understanding customer feedback and agent responses and reviewing, analyzing, and categorizing various touchpoints to identify key drivers. The project team developed insights and recommendations to address gaps and enhance the customer experience.
Due to concerns about the project’s size and scope, a phased approach was adopted, allowing flexibility to refine the methodology and framework based on frequent calibration sessions. This structured approach facilitated ongoing adjustments and improvements, ensuring the effectiveness of the strategy.
Impact:
The initiatives resulted in significant improvements:
- 26% increase in NPS
- Enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty
- Increased conversion rates and sales
- Reduced customer and employee churn
The successful implementation bridged data, process, technology, and human interaction, creating a seamless customer experience.
This case study highlights the importance of a structured and phased approach to improving customer experience, leveraging data analysis, and fostering cross-functional collaboration.
Boosting channel partner sales with data-driven insights
A leading global sportswear manufacturer partnered with eClerx to strengthen its digital shelf analytics across its network of channel partners. The initiative increased the client’s campaign revenue by 10%.
With sales across 100+ websites and channel partners in over 20 countries, the brand’s existing digital shelf vendor couldn’t handle the volume of work. They needed reliable data and a digital commerce analytics platform tailored to their business needs.
The challenge
The digital partner commerce team was responsible for overseeing sales performance analytics and insights for over 100 websites and channel partners across 20+ countries. The team faced three major challenges in optimizing channel partner sales:
- Data quality: The existing digital shelf solution, provided by an external vendor, delivered substandard data quality, limiting the team’s ability to generate data-driven sales insights.
- Lack of customization: The solution could not accommodate internal guidelines or datasets, making it difficult to tailor insights to specific business needs.
- Flexibility and scalability: The fast-paced nature of digital commerce required frequent data updates during campaigns, new channel additions, and mobile app tracking, but the current system lacked the flexibility and scalability to meet these evolving demands.
Our strategy
- Digital shelf analytics platform: Following a two-day workshop, eClerx proposed implementing the eClerx Market360™️ platform, enhanced with custom features to address the client’s unique requirements.
- Pilot-first validation: The initiative began with a cautious two-month pilot phase to thoroughly evaluate the platform’s capabilities before committing to a full global rollout. During the pilot phase, Market360 successfully addressed all the concerns raised by the client. The positive results instilled confidence to proceed with the global rollout.
- Global rollout and user migration: Migrating over 340 users to the new tool posed a challenge. To ensure a smooth transition, eClerx conducted regular training sessions and workshops, integrating user feedback and incorporating specific business requirements into the solution.
How data analytics can improve channel partner sales
Selling your product through multiple partners can be challenging, especially if you don’t have a clear view of your own products. Once inventory reaches a partner storefront, pricing, content, stock, and search placement all sit in someone else’s hands. In this client’s case, all that data was spread across more than 100 websites in over 20 countries.
If a channel partner sales strategy is built on numbers nobody trusts, it falls apart at the first review meeting. To solve that for the client, eClerx started the engagement with a focus on data quality rather than dashboards.
Channel partner analytics pulled every storefront into a single view a team can actually work from. Digital shelf analytics caught missing product pages and lost search positions on partner sites within a short span of time, so merchandising teams could respond while a campaign was still live. The client’s campaign success came from running that loop week after week.
The result
After the global rollout, a review meeting was held at the company’s headquarters, where the leadership team provided feedback on the improvements facilitated by Market360. The results included:
- A 10% increase in campaign revenue, driven by improved visibility and search share.
- A 5% boost in page one visibility across the European and Asia-Pacific markets, reflecting enhanced market presence.
- A 7% quarter-on-quarter sales growth for high-priority products, fueling overall business growth.
How eClerx can help
eClerx has been helping its eCommerce clients scale with digital shelf analytics and much more, supported by industry experts from pilot to global rollout. If you’re struggling to get a clear view of how your products are performing across multiple channels, contact us to learn how eClerx Market360 platform could help your teams make faster, more informed business decisions.
Revitalizing market leadership with advanced business intelligence
Client:
The client is a leading laptop manufacturer based in Singapore.
Challenge:
The global pandemic led to severe supply chain disruptions and market volatility, significantly impacting the client’s operations. Traditional monthly sales dashboards were inadequate, resulting in approximately $2 billion in revenue losses and a decrease in market share from 42% to 35% in Southeast Asia. The client needed a solution that went beyond basic reporting to manage these complexities effectively.
Solution:
eClerx stepped in to assist the client, leveraging our deep understanding of business intelligence and data analytics. We conducted a comprehensive assessment of the client’s data infrastructure and developed strategic sales forecast modeling. Our multi-pronged approach also included integrating cutting-edge technologies and automating smart insights. Additionally, our team provided extensive training to ensure the client’s staff could maximize the benefits of the new systems. This holistic solution was designed not just to address the immediate challenges but to set a new standard in sales strategy and market intelligence.
Impact:
The implementation of our comprehensive business intelligence ecosystem allowed the client to reclaim its top market position and significantly minimize opportunity loss by approximately 85%.
This not only enhanced the client’s resilience in facing future market disruptions but also solidified their market leadership, restoring confidence in their sales strategy and operational efficiency.
The Future CFO: From number cruncher to strategic storyteller
The CFO role is evolving faster than ever. As AI adoption accelerates, cybersecurity threats grow, and financial complexity increases, today’s finance leaders must do more than just report numbers—they must translate data into strategic insights that drive business decisions.
In this exclusive conversation with Forbes, Megan Weis, VP & GM of Finance & Accounting Outsourcing at Personiv, explores how CFOs are stepping into narrative-driven leadership, balancing financial stewardship with innovation, and leveraging fractional CFOs to navigate growth and uncertainty.
Discover how finance leaders are redefining success—embracing AI, outsourcing, and digital transformation to stay ahead.
How streaming services maximize subscriber growth and revenue: Michael Hutchison, Customer Experience leader
Published in: The Streaming Wars | November 27, 2024
In an interview with The Streaming Wars, Michael Hutchison, Customer Experience leader at eClerx, highlighted the importance of providing exceptional customer service during peak periods, and said, “Streaming Services should be preparing themselves for surges in traffic with the Black Friday promotions and ensuring the customer experience is a positive one. Spikes in concurrent users can cause infrastructure vulnerabilities and issues with payment processing, which can lead to abandoned sign-ups for new subscriptions.”
“Customer Experience teams need to be ready with promo code redemptions and efficient execution at an omnichannel level to ensure new users can be retained. There’s also the need to handle data processing efficiently and monitor the performance of agents during this heightened customer service period to ensure the customer experience was positive – and be ready with the right technology and analytics,” Hutchison explained.
Major contender in the Everest Experience-Driven Integrated BFS Operations PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2024
BIG Innovation Awards 2024 for GenAI360 Platform
ETHRWorld: How eClerx hired over 3,500 employees in 6 months
Strategic Recruitment Amidst Rapid Growth
In an exclusive interview with ETHRWorld, Amir Bharwani, Head of HR at eClerx Services, detailed the company’s impressive feat of recruiting over 3,500 employees within a six-month period. This significant expansion was driven by strategic initiatives and a focus on diversifying talent across various industry domains and emerging technologies.
Emphasis on Diversity and Inclusion
Amir Bharwani
Head – HR
eClerx
Bharwani highlighted eClerx’s commitment to fostering a diverse workforce, with plans to increase the representation of women in their talent pool. This initiative aligns with the company’s broader objective of creating an inclusive environment that leverages diverse perspectives to drive innovation and excellence.
Wrapping Up
eClerx’s rapid expansion underscores the effectiveness of its strategic recruitment processes and dedication to diversity. By prioritizing inclusive hiring practices and focusing on emerging technologies, eClerx continues to strengthen its position as a leader in the IT services sector.
