“We use the A-INSIGHTS platform to investigate and spot new product-market combinations and to arrive at new insights.”
The customer base of A-INSIGHTS covers the entire Agri-Food industry. From vegetable seed breeders to meat products producers: with the help of the products and services of A-INSIGHTS they gain insight into the market in which they operate and can determine the strategy for the future on that basis. This includes Royal A-ware, a specialist in the field of milk processing.
Royal A-ware - part of the Koninklijke A-ware Food Group that was founded more than a hundred years ago - is a traditional Dutch family business with a passion for food. Royal A-ware specializes in producing, ripening, cutting, and packaging cheese, as well as producing and packaging cream and fresh dairy products. About 4000 FTE employed over the different business unit of the group are committed every single day to provide customers around the world with top-quality food products. Antonio Rodriguez (CFO) joined the company in 2015 and is responsible for, in his own words: “The financial well-being of Royal A-ware.”
Analytical mindset
Rodriguez: “The decision-makers in our company have an analytical mindset. Our CEO, Jan Anker, is always on the lookout for new, valuable information. He’d read annual statements from other companies to see what was happening in the industry and to help decide what actions needed to be taken. About ten years ago, he started working together with A-INSIGHTS, who provided static analyses of annual statements at that time. From there, the cooperation evolved into the fruitful collaboration it is nowadays.”
Combination of standardized insights with consulting
Royal A-ware is a fast-growing player in the Dutch dairy market. Over the last ten years, the company has doubled in terms of turnover, people and activities. Their need for actionable market data grew as well. Rodriguez: “We don’t use data to confirm what we already know. We use the A-INSIGHTS platform to investigate and spot new opportunities.”
Rodriguez: “Our company’s need evolved parallel to the development of A-INSIGHTS’ offer: we shifted from using static analyses of annual statements to incorporating continuously monitoring the developments in the market. However, the added value of A-INSIGHTS is not just the data and the platform, it’s also the people that support you. A-INSIGHTS helps us to discover the question behind the question. To really uncover what is going on in the market and to investigate the potential of a product-market combination. It’s the combination of data analytics and sector expertise of the analysts that is of added value to me.”
Investigate potential product-market combinations
Like any other company, Royal A-ware is always on the lookout for new business opportunities. In the last couple of months, the company has used the platform intensively, actively assisted by analysts of A-INSIGHTS to explore new markets and their potential. “There are certain questions where it is important to have insight into the potential of productmarket combinations before you make a decision. We have our own strategy, but we use the insights to improve our decision-making and sharpen our proposition. I would say it’s part of the strategic process and the strategic decisions we have to make. The insights help create a clear picture on basis of which we can set our strategic course. Questions that arise are, for example: which markets do we want to enter and which ones we do not? In which regions do we want to compete and in which regions we do not?”
Help create a clear picture of a situation
“We don’t use the services of A-INSIGHTS to get a report that contains things we already know. We’re not that type of company. Nor is A-INSIGHTS for that matter. We want to find out what we don’t know and act on that. So we use their services to create a picture of a situation that helps us gear up for the future. In my opinion, the platform is a good starting point to keep track of what is happening in the industry. What I find more interesting however, is to jointly arrive at new insights based on an analysis that you can subsequently use in your business.”
Royal A-ware is an analytical company that aims to base it’s decision-making on objective insights. Because the A-INSIGHTS platform offers these insights – in combination with sector knowledge and the know-how of the analysts – it enables Royal A-ware to make better decisions. Rodriguez: “What is important to me is not only the product but also the expertise in the field of analytics that we can use to help solve a specific issue together.”
