Why the industry needs a Data Pool Part 5: How Erudus are already overcoming the challenges faced

This is our series of bitesize instalments explaining why that is true, and how a government-mandated single Data Pool could improve life for absolutely everyone. In Part 1 we explored what exactly a Data Pool is, and looked at how Erudus is a Data Pool tailored precisely for the food industry. You can read it here.

Part 2 saw us delve deeper into who a food industry Data Pool would benefit and why.

Part 3 identified the challenges of instigating an industry-wide Data Pool.

Part 4 was about why we need a Data Pool right now and the keys to its success.

This time we’re looking closer into how Erudus have already tackled the challenges presented by an industry-wide Data Pool and the next steps in making this goal a reality...

How Erudus are already overcoming the challenges faced by any potential industry Data Pool

Scale

Scale is critical, and at Erudus we have spent the last six years persuading those in the industry to join our cause - we now have some 800+ Manufacturers and Brands, communicating product information for 40,000+ products to 140+ Wholesales and 85,000 Caterers and Retailers. Already this level of scale has unlocked value to many a Manufacturer and Wholesale business, but we still see it as a starting point - our goal is to convince the entire industry to get involved and unite. And it doesn’t stop there, Erudus specialises in and was born out of foodservice, but expansion is the key to scale and so we’ve started expanding. We have now opened up to more generic Wholesale, and there are plans afoot to include more categories such as drinks and chemicals and all products food businesses stock.

Commitment

At Erudus we are committed to making a Data Pool that has value for everyone in the industry, and that means experimenting and innovating with new features and ways of working. Because of this, we’re going to get it wrong sometimes. But our long-term commitment to the success of an industry Data Pool is the most important thing and so we’re able to look past these small bumps in the road and instead of allowing them to put us back, use them to help push us forward.

Agreement

All Erudus users have different opinions and ideas of what a Data Pool should be, and we make it a point to listen to them, because there’s no better sounding board than our users when it comes to developing our software.

However, in understanding our user cases we’ve also been able to challenge people’s practises (in terms of what attributes are needed) when necessary, and businesses have benefited as a result of the subsequent changes.

Cost Effectiveness

Pricing will always be a major Data Pool challenge and it’s an area in which we tried many routes (some more successful than others) before developing our current pricing structure, which is affordable but allows us to continue to push the solution.

And we’re always looking for ways to save our users time and drive efficiency to make Erudus a cost-saving investment.

Education

We’ve been persistent in telling people about Erudus and experimenting with mediums of how we do that to see what is most effective. Thoroughness is key here, and we’ve been educating upstream and downstream with everything from user events, showrooms and forums to informative articles on our website and old fashioned phone calls.

We don’t intend to stop there - as Erudus moves forward we will continue to add more resources to make education more accessible and wide-spread, from introducing more support to our Technical team, to rolling out new User Training, resources and tools.

Barriers to entry

We understand that in the food industry there is no one size fits all, and so our Data Pool is geared up to be accessible to both big businesses and small kitchens alike. We pride ourselves on having both cutting edge technology and a low barrier to entry - in terms of both price point and required technical ability from our users.

We’ve streamlined our processes and removed unnecessary steps in user onboarding, so with the Erudus Data Pool it’s easy to get up and running and see results fast - no matter the scale of your operation.

What Erudus is doing to ensure our Data Pool works for all

We know that the best way to create a Data Pool that works for everyone, and engages them, is simply to listen. So one of the most important things we offer at Erudus is our ear - it’s one of our core values that we listen to our users and develop the platform based on their requirements.

Not only do we encourage users to contact us and give us feedback, but we have dedicated Slack channels open for direct access to the relevant teams in our business and User Forums where we welcome their input. Ultimately we feel it's a two-way street - it’s important to us that we’re collaborative with our users and that’s why many of the improvements and additions we have made to Erudus have come at the behest of our customers - they spoke, we listened and we acted. And we’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that Erudus is accessible to everyone in the food industry - doing a magnitude of different little things that make sharing data easy for businesses of every size.

We don’t over complicate things, and we go one step at a time so no one gets left behind. We passionately believe in casting the net of data far and wide so that as many people as possible can benefit from Erudus, and once data is on our platform we work tirelessly to maximize its exposure to everyone who needs to see it.

We do this through scale, but also through an ever-increasing number of strategic integration partnerships - for example our recent integration with healthcare technology specialists Synbiotix, which will enable our data to reach NHS Hospitals across Scotland.

How do we get started on an industry Data Pool?

The good news is we’ve started already - Erudus entered into a period of accelerated growth in 2014, and in the years since the breadth and depth of our Data Pool has rocketed to over 40,000 products from 800+ brands and Manufacturers, 140+ Wholesalers and over 85,000 Caterers and Retailers accessing our data and solutions, as well as 4,000 product images and 4 million product updates via API a month.

Solid foundations are there - Erudus has the framework and the data mass to provide the industry with a centralised Data Pool, now we’re asking you to get on board and unite with us in a final push in putting critical food product data in front of everyone who needs to see it. The time for something like an industry charter has passed - Natasha’s Law is imminent and digital growth booming. Erudus has seven years of growing and learning from our mistakes, of listening to feedback and making technical advancements. Today’s Erudus is a maturing and sophisticated solution, and currently the closest thing the industry has to a centralised Data Pool tailored for and accessible to the masses.

We know that what we’re doing is working - more and more businesses are choosing to join us - Erudus is already used by the majority of key players within foodservice and scaling at pace, but as stated above, a centralised industry Data Pool needs everyone to get on board.

We’ve done the advancing and the enhancing and now is the time for action. Erudus would like to invite everyone and anyone in the industry to talk to us, and discover everything we have to offer as a Data Pool and how it can benefit you both now and in the future. The food industry has a data problem, we’re asking you to join us, and be part of the solution.

Got time to read all the parts together? Read our in-depth look into why the food industry needs a Data Pool here.