US-based technology giant IBM has expanded its collaboration with Parle Products, aiming to propel the digital transformation of the renowned Indian biscuit brand even further.

Having initially joined forces with Parle in 2014, the company has since facilitated numerous benefits for Parle. These include cost reductions in sourcing, enhanced precision in sales forecasts, lowered service expenses, and the optimization of their IT infrastructure through the integration of cloud and AI technologies.

Prior to this partnership, Parle had been contending with intricate issues within its supply and distribution network, primarily stemming from inconsistent strategies across products and the intricacies of its channel and fulfillment methods.

The company noted that these challenges were leading to service level limitations and increased operational expenditures. However, the collaboration with IBM has enabled Parle to surmount these obstacles, elevating operational efficiency through the incorporation of cloud and AI capabilities.

Kamal Singhani, Country Managing Partner, IBM Consulting – India/South Asia said, “Today, leveraging exponential technologies like cloud and AI are fundamental to every company’s competitiveness by transforming the way that they meet customer demands and operate their businesses. Our long-standing collaboration with Parle has reached another milestone where a fundamental shift is being brought to the core strategic units of the organization. Collectively, this is resulting in improved operations and increased revenue, helping them better serve customers.”

Recently, IBM Consulting joined forces with Microsoft, led by Satya Nadella, to introduce a range of solutions at Parle. These solutions included the implementation of Azure Databricks Lakehouse, an AI engine for Auto Replenishment, and the integration of SAP Ariba solutions.

IBM stated that through this partnership, Parle would be able to leverage the Azure platform more effectively for data insights, ultimately enhancing operational resilience, agility, and scalability.

Sanjay Joshi, CIO, Parle Products said, “Parle’s nearly decade-long collaboration with IBM, leveraging both its technology expertise and consulting capabilities, has been paved with multiple milestones, all of which has helped us achieve our digital transformation vision. Our joint efforts to not only implement newer SAP solutions but migrate the entirety of existing SAP and non-SAP workloads to the cloud has driven many crucial KPI’s and enhanced overall efficiency.”

Additionally, IBM worked in tandem with Parle’s teams to establish a robust SAP-based system aimed at streamlining processes. This collaborative effort resulted in a reduction of stockout occurrences and optimized logistics costs, thereby significantly accelerating product availability to customers.

In terms of human resources, Parle placed significant emphasis on formulating and advancing employee performance metrics. The adoption of tailored SAP solutions successfully delineated the entire performance management process, aligning employee performance indicators with the company’s objectives. This, in turn, resulted in expedited appraisal cycles and transparent performance evaluations.