In true fashion, the technology industries have taken all of the meaning out of seemingly descriptive terms such as business intelligence (BI), web-portals and virtually all other terms currently used for non-paper based reporting. Almost every business owner or manager that I know runs their business off of one or two key reports or metrics. If the systems they are buying can provide or simplify the process of getting that information, then the chances of the investment being made are greatly amplified. However, more and more we are seeing a departure from flat file paper type report formats.
We live in an active world. People want to be alerted when critical things happen; they don’t have the time or the patience to go looking. Tomorrow’s applications need to take an active approach to all reporting functions ranging from simple invoicing through crucial activities. I have spoken about some of these in previous posts.
· Don’t print invoices at the point of delivery. Have them delivered electronically to the proper recipients. No paper is lost, it provides an audit trail and it improves the speed of payment. The car rental companies are doing this today; I get my receipt before I leave the rental compound. Imagine doing this in the DSD environment.
· Send email alerts to managers, clients and suppliers on critical events. The airlines do this today when your plane is running late. Dynamic scheduling and dispatch holds the same promise in delivery environments.
· Dashboards, business intelligence etc … single screen views of what is going on in the work environment that clearly mark problems and allow you to drill down on them. Here is the next key: people don’t work at their desks anymore. We need to get that data onto the Blackberry, iPhone and Android devices being carried by mobile users.
· Send alerts and advisories to text message or messenger sites … make it real time, active and actionable.
My generation lives in an e-mail world. Even that is quickly going away and being replaced with TXT and Messenger environments. The key to remaining relevant in a real-time word is getting critical point information in front of the right people as it happens. Dealing with the constant barrage of information will be the next problem. However, today we have to deal with the fact that no one can or will be bothered to run a report or print the paper. If business decision makers run their businesses based on a single report today, what does the next generation of data factor look like? We use paper due to lack of a viable alternative. Today, those alternatives exist and our addictions to paper are being replaced with a more potent and enrapturing electronic alternative. Our kids are already there; that means that business needs to catch up.
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Being in the handheld based solution business for quite awhile now, there is this voice in my head that keeps saying that there is more to the whole Smartphone thing than simply changing the device we capture our mobile sales, service and delivery transactions on. The fight for the mobile desk top is still raging on and there is no clear winner in sight. Open architectures that can span the operating systems will have a definite advantage. In the ruggedized space, at least for the near term, Microsoft rules the way. However, that cannot be said for what is being carried in the pockets of executives, sales people and even the man on the street.
There is an interesting term I have heard over the years about people who do the actual direct store delivery job. It goes something like, “If you are smart enough to do the job you may be too smart to take it.” The implication is that to do a really good job you need to have a kind of personal discipline and commitment to success as well as skill with people and sales that are not often found in industries where there is such a physical component. I have had the pleasure of working with and meeting many superstars in this industry; they are truly one of a kind individuals and are very talented. There is a true disconnect between the incentives put in place for many of these talents and a kind of regimented distrust that is prevalent in the DSD industry.
There is this ago old idea that if your route sales team could serve customers faster, they would be able to serve more customers in the course of the day. If you could do that, you might be able to operate fewer routes. In a vacuum, that is great logic and makes a ton of sense. However, there are two things that get in the way and need to be a part of the capacity planning process for your Direct Store Delivery (DSD) environment.
What if we were to take that top 20% that provide the bulk of the revenue and change our model so that they are served better? Maybe they will be served more often or by more people. The idea here is over-serve our best customers and partner with them to improve our already thriving and profitable business with them. This might include having an account manager/sales person, a merchandiser and delivery function where it makes sense. We may serve them 7 days a week where other customer may be served 3 or 5 days a week. The idea here is to get better at what we are already good at and build on our strengths.
ESP is all you need to get it right every time. Now back on planet earth we need a slightly better approach. Most of our mobile sales (DSD) customers are after that magic pill that tells them exactly what to have on the truck and what everyone will sell. The problem is that no one can really tell you how to calculate it. The good news is that it is easier to predict what your total volume of customers will buy vs. an individual customer. The law of averages works in your favor. In our adventures in selling direct store delivery solutions, everyone says they want to pre-populate their orders for their drivers and salespeople. Sometimes we are talking about just putting in a shopping list of products that this customer normally buys and then adding the quantities later. Some people want to be a lot more scientific. Often the question of how to calculate the perfect order is met with a stunned silence. What about the scientific approach?
Every conversation I have had with a new customer around automation always seems to include some discussion of reducing paper. Many customers have been extremely successful in reducing the paper that is generated internally. Some technologies that are specifically using direct store delivery software include DEX and/or EDI to limit or eliminate customer-side paper. This works very well for large customers. With that said, it is amazing how often these electronic transactions are supported by a printed form. It’s a bit crazy if you really think about why these systems were developed in the first place. Most convenience stores, gas stations and restaurants are still operated by local owner operators and these technologies are not readily accessible to them. They are stuck with, wait for it … more paper.
As I begin blogging, I hope my thoughts are useful to some you out there. The power of the internet is the transactions and interactions that it creates. This is where collaborative magic happens and I look forward to the conversations and feedback that are created.
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