siliconindia | | December 20188By B Krishna Rao, Senior Category Head, Parle ProductsHeadquartered in Mumbai, Parle is one of India's leading manufacturers of biscuits, confectioneries, rusks, snacks & pulses and many other products under the brand name Parle.W hile technology occupies a vital cog in the Indian FMCG wheel, it still has a long way to reach its maximum potential. The infusion of technology into different realms of human operations towards development and progress has been a way of life itself for as long as anyone remembers. With each passing day, technology is becoming an increasingly vital component in the way we interact, work and live. And as sectors and industries boom in the 21st century, courtesy - technological applications across the board, it could not have been a better time to be in business. Most industries have found their way around relevant gadgets & softwares and have engineered systems to not only make them cost-effective, but also ease the lives of end consumers. The FMCG sector is no exception to this. From bar codes to cashless payments and RFID and to NFC, both present and future alike look exciting for the business. But at the heart of this technological hurricane of sorts lies one pertinent question - Have these technologies been optimized and perfected enough for tomorrow?Since the advent of the bar code, it has arguably been one of the best technologies to be adopted by the FMCG industry. Providing ease of storing hordes of information in a consolidated format and being accessible by a mere scan, the industry has found excellent utilities for bar codes. Its applications have been perfected to such an extent that hard-ly a replacement for it is in sight for another odd decade. Given its benefits, mandatory implementation of bar codes in packaging have also helped FMCG players ward-off sev-eral me-too brands and counterfeit products off shelves as an extension. It is for such reasons beyond the obvious that critical governing bodies in the food sector like Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) are pleased with applications of the technology. Another brilliant example of technological applications in the FMCG sector is that of cashless payment methods that have come around in recent years and received a boost particularly during the period of demonetization. With more m-wallet players entering the space, competing players have been ferociously vying for the consumer's attention in the guise of heavy discounts and lucrative offers. In the midst of all of this, it is only the consumer who stands to gain out of the battle. Yet, it is important to consider that for a OPTIMIZING TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS IN THE FMCG INDUSTRYB Krishna RaoIN MY OPINION
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