- Finance, Operations
Your CPG Brand Doesn’t Need More Tech. It Needs the Right Tech.
By:
Sponsored by Run the Numbers Consulting
Run the Numbers Consulting partners with CPG brands to strengthen operations, sales, and data through fractional leadership and data-driven insights. Their consultants work alongside brand teams across sales, operations, data analytics, finance, and deductions.
CPG founders are being hit with more technology than ever.
AI forecasting tools. Inventory platforms. Retail analytics dashboards. ERPs. CRMs. Automation programs. Every week seems to bring another piece of software promising to save time, improve decisions, or help your brand scale.
Some of these tools are incredibly useful. Others quickly become another expensive subscription your team barely uses. And trying to review them all, on top of running a business, can be exhausting.
The challenge for founders isn’t figuring out whether technology can help. It’s figuring out which technology actually solves a problem in your business.
Start With the Process, Not the Software
Before scheduling another demo, ask yourself one question:
What process are we actually trying to improve?
This is the most important step, and the one most often skipped. If you don’t understand how a process works today, who touches it, where it breaks down, and what “good” looks like, it’s very difficult to know what needs to be fixed. And it’s nearly impossible to know whether a piece of software will fix it.
Maybe inventory is being tracked across multiple spreadsheets. Maybe Sales and Operations are working from different forecasts. Maybe you spend hours downloading retailer and distributor reports just to understand how your products are performing.
Those are good reasons to explore technology.
“Everyone else is using it” is not.
A useful technology investment should do at least one of three things:
- Save your team meaningful time
- Give you better visibility into the business
- Help you make better decisions
If you can’t clearly identify the process the software improves, you probably aren’t ready to buy it.
A Look at Some of the Tools Out There for Operations and Sales
There are hundreds of programs designed for growing brands. Here’s a side-by-side look at a few we see often, what they do well, and what to keep in mind before you commit.
OPERATIONS
SALES AND TRADE SPEND
What About AI Tools Like Claude?
AI assistants like Claude can be surprisingly useful across both Operations and Sales. They can help build forecast models, analyze promotion results, review deduction backup, clean up reports, and map out processes.
But an AI assistant is not a system of record. It won’t track your inventory, dispute your deductions, or provide an implementation team. Right now, it works best for early-stage brands that aren’t ready for a platform yet, or alongside a platform to get more out of the data you already have.
The Software Is Only as Good as the Support Behind It
Here’s something that rarely comes up in a demo: what happens after you sign?
Every platform looks good in a sales presentation. The real test comes during setup, integration, and the first time something doesn’t work the way you expected. That’s when you find out whether the company behind the software will actually work with you inside their platform, or leave you to figure it out through a help center.
Before committing, find out:
- Who will support your implementation, and how involved will they be?
- How quickly do they respond when something breaks?
- Will they help configure the platform around your process, or expect you to adapt to theirs?
- Do they understand CPG, or are they serving every industry at once?
A strong platform with weak support can cost you more than it saves. The right technology partner should feel like an extension of your team.
Who on Your Team Will Own It?
Strong vendor support is only half the equation. Whichever platform you choose, someone inside your company needs to be its champion.
This person owns data integrity, works with the vendor’s support team when issues come up, answers day-to-day questions about the platform, and trains new team members as they join. Without a clear owner, even the best software slowly drifts back into spreadsheets.
Before you sign, ask yourself: do we have this person?
Don’t Add Technology Just to Add Technology
AI will make this even more important.
New programs will keep promising to automate forecasting, reporting, sales analysis, purchasing, and almost every other part of running a CPG company.
Use them, but use them intentionally.
Before adding another program, ask:
- What process will this improve?
- What will this replace?
- Who will own it?
- Does it connect with our existing systems?
- What will our team do differently because we have it?
The best technology stack isn’t the one with the most tools. It’s the one that makes your business simpler.
How Run the Numbers Consulting Can Help
Choosing technology is hard because most software companies are understandably focused on selling their own solution. Founders need someone who can look at the business first and determine what is actually needed.
Run the Numbers Consulting works with emerging CPG brands across Sales, Operations, and Data. Their team starts where every good technology decision should: by understanding your process and identifying what needs to be fixed.
Just as importantly, Run the Numbers works directly with the people behind these platforms. They know which companies stand behind their software, how their teams support brands during implementation, and which tools fit a brand at your stage of growth. That means founders get real insight into what works in practice, not another sales pitch.
From evaluating your needs to sourcing the right systems and supporting implementation, Run the Numbers helps you cut through the noise and invest in technology that actually moves your business forward.
Want to start with your own numbers? Run the Numbers offers two free tools on their website:
Because the goal isn’t to have more technology.
It’s to build a better-running CPG business.
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