Clarkston’s Idoia Hidalgo and Brandon Miller recently attended the POI 2025 Fall Summit in Dallas, Texas, where industry experts gathered to discuss best practices for today’s challenges across TPM, advanced analytics and AI/ML, RGM, retail execution, marketing, customer experience, and more. Below, they share their key insights and takeaways from this year’s summit. 

POI 2025 Fall Summit Recap 

At the 2025 POI Fall Summit, it was clear that CPG companies are moving fast to modernize trade, pricing, and revenue management capabilities, and that pace of change is only accelerating. Across sessions and panels, brands shared how they are rethinking RGM maturity, simplifying processes, strengthening data foundations, preparing for AI-driven planning, and navigating both global and global markets. Below are the five themes that stood out most to our team. 

1. RGM is Becoming the Commercial Center of Excellence

RGM has evolved from an emerging capability to a core commercial voice. Panelists emphasized that RGM maturity now shows up in how the organization engages the function, whether they’re involved in strategic investment decisions, sales planning, marketing, supply chain, finance, and VP-level alignment. 

RGM can also be used to drive stronger cross-functional alignment and omnichannel optimization. By leveraging RGM to understand omnichannel ROI and optimize decisions across all commercial investments, companies can better coordinate efforts across sales, marketing, finance, and supply chain. At the Summit, panelists also emphasized the importance of focusing on growth that directly benefits the consumer, in part by shifting non-working spend into working spend that creates mutual value for both brands and shoppers. 

RGM’s influence is strongest when the team coaches, not polices, helping commercial leaders understand trade-offs, build intuition, and focus more on tomorrow than yesterday. As one speaker put it, the goal is to “spend less time debating the past and use insights to inform future events.” 

Retailers and shoppers are also pushing RGM into the spotlight. Consumers demand freshness and relevance, while retailers expect stronger partnership, proof of value, and holistic commercial investment (not just trade). This is pushing organizations to look beyond isolated metrics and toward omnichannel ROI, pack mix, and true channel strategy. 

And while some organizations still don’t have dedicated RGM teams, the message was clear: you can still drive alignment on data, visibility, and planning discipline, but RGM accelerates all of it. 

2. Data Quality is Just as Important as the Tools You Select 

Across panels, from RGM maturity to AI-powered planning to TPM transformation, data readiness emerged as the single biggest hurdle. 

Many teams underestimated the effort required to cleanse, map, govern, and integrate data, particularly historical baseline data, waterfall visibility, pricing structures, and deductions. Several panelists emphasized they wished they had “invested even more time” upfront. TPM teams in particular reinforced that TPM is as much a data program as it is a technology program. 

Clean, governed data reduces manual work, improves decision-making, and enables everything from integrated planning to promotion recommendations. Without it, AI and analytics can only go so far. As one speaker summarized: digital capabilities only go so far, you need the process and the data foundation first. 

But where do you even start? The Nestlé example resonated with us in particular: build a single ROI definition to ensure alignment, stability, and a shared source of truth, and then use it to guide all future-facing planning. You have to start small and start by actually doing – what Nestlé frequently referred to as the “three foot toss.” 

3. TPM, TPO, and RGM Require Strong Change Management 

At the Summit, we heard at almost every session or panel about how change management determines success more than the technology itself.  

Organizations consistently described the importance of clear expectations and leadership alignment; cross-functional involvement across sales, finance, IT, demand, and transformation; years-long cultural foundations that make adoption possible; and the need to “start thinking about people and process from day one.” 

Many teams initially attempted simple lift-and-shift implementations, only to realize outdated processes needed to evolve. POI’s Pam Brown reflected that 80% of implementation is the people and process part, not the tools. 

Resistance showed up across organizations, especially among finance teams, and was addressed through transparency, proof points, future workflows, and fact-based storytelling. Protecting budget for training was also repeatedly emphasized, as it often gets cut despite being essential for long-term success. And for companies tackling both ERP and TPM, they shared how they stabilized their ERP before layering on TPM to avoid friction, rework, and strain on IT.  

4. Efficiency Should Be the Key KPI for TPM & TPO Investments 

Efficiency emerged as the north star for TPM and TPO programs. Low-margin businesses, in particular, emphasized the need to prioritize efficient spend, consistent KPI language, and simplified planning workflows. Companies that had moved from spreadsheets into TPM highlighted the ability to: 

• bring trade, financial, and planning data into one ecosystem 
• standardize processes across regions and channels 
• strengthen retailer planning through improved visibility and forecasting 
• reduce non-working spend and redirect it into value-driving activities 

At the Summit, speakers reinforced that simplicity beats complexity, and eliminating unnecessary customization (especially when teams are eager for new features) drives adoption and improves speed. Efficiency also reinforces retailer trust: with consistent data and cleaner metrics, teams can better articulate value, build joint plans, and shift conversations toward mutual growth. 

5. AI and Agentic Decision Engines are Accelerating, but They Can’t Fix Bad Data or Bad Process 

AI surfaced across several sessions, primarily in the context of practical applications like spend optimization, scenario modeling, promotion recommendations, and early agent-driven forecasting and decision making. To no surprise, AI is becoming a central part of day-to-day workflows, and its role will expand as data and processes mature. However, as of today, many organizations aren’t yet ready for AI in TPM/RGM given their potential data issues. 

Leaders expect AI to aggregate insights across trade, marketing, and customer investment, dramatically reduce manual steps, and unlock speed. One panelist noted that the biggest benefit of AI, though difficult to quantify, is time savings. 

But across sessions, there was caution: 

• “AI can’t fix bad data.” 
• “AI can’t fix broken processes.” 
• “AI is most effective when teams know the business problem they’re trying to solve.” 

Organizations that are succeeding with AI are the ones that have already invested in integration, governance, role clarity, data cleansing and data readiness, and cross-functional alignment. And as AI automates more manual tasks, the RGM talent profile is shifting toward strategic thinking, hypothesis-led problem solving, and storytelling. 

As one speaker summarized: “Transform capabilities into growth engines.” That’s the ambition behind AI, but the foundation matters, too. 

Final Thoughts 

At the 2025 POI Fall Summit, we heard over and over again that digital transformation can feel big, but progress starts with small, aligned steps – and actually getting started!  

Companies must keep the consumer at the center, simplify where it matters, build the right vendor partnerships, and focus on the capabilities that create value. TPM and RGM systems can become the backbone of this transformation, but only when paired with strong data quality, clear process, and cultural readiness.  

As one speaker reflected: “You have to reframe the headwinds as catalysts.” 

To chat more about the POI 2025 Fall Summit or other key trends in this space, reach out to us today.