The need for speed
Mobile technology and cloud computing are changing distribution dramatically
by Joe Bennett
Believe it or not, Apple introduced its first tablet computer, the Newton MessagePad 100, in 1993. In 1998, the final Newton-based PDA from Apple was discontinued. Apple re-entered the mobile market in 2007 with the iPhone. But the current mobile trend began in earnest in March 2010, when Apple starting taking pre-orders for the iPad. In the short two years since the iPad was introduced, Apple has sold approximately 84 million tablet devices. In that same time period, we have seen the explosion of other mobile tablet devices such as the Kindle and Android devices. In fact, Gartner forecasts that by the end of 2016 there will be 665 million media tablets in use worldwide. Personally, I wouldn’t call that a “trend” – I would call that a revolution. We are a mobile computing society.
On a different subject, cloud computing is the use of computing resources that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet). The name comes from the cloud-shaped symbol used to illustrate the infrastructure. I don’t know when or how the term cloud computing was born, and it could be debated that the underlying concepts date back to time-sharing companies of the 1960s. Maybe it was in March of 1999 when Salesforce.com was founded. Salesforce.com was one of the first companies that exposed us to the concept of selling software as a service. Maybe for you it was the first time you used Google Docs. Maybe you consider it to be the first time you browsed the Internet. For me, when I stopped using Quicken (a personal finance software product I had been using religiously since the early 1990s) and switched to www.mint.com was the day my personal trend toward cloud computing started.
Which came first, cloud computing or mobility? The fact is you can go around and around the argument; it honestly doesn’t matter, because one feeds the other. In other words, because more and more data is available as a service from the cloud, mobile devices are more useful. And because of the proliferation of mobile devices, more data needs to be available as a service from the cloud. I believe this revolution will continue and we will use our mobile devices each day with more applications and data from the cloud in new and unexpected ways. For example, when I receive an Excel spreadsheet with the contact names for my daughter’s soccer team, I upload it into Google Docs. When it is our turn to supervise the practice either my wife or I access the list via our phone or tablet. I can contact a late parent or help coordinate a carpool and I am confident that I will have that information whenever I need it, wherever I need it.
The combination of mobile devices and cloud computing is flexible and can be executed in different ways to solve the same problem. Maybe I don’t want to copy that Excel spreadsheet into Google Docs because of fear that I no longer “have” the data. (Full disclosure – I don’t understand that fear and believe it to be unfounded. For me, that data is safer in the cloud, but I digress). For me, I want that spreadsheet sitting on my server and I will use software (such as www.orb.com) that will allow me to publish that data to my mobile device via their mobile app.
But how will the explosion of mobile devices in conjunction with cloud computing affect distribution? I believe the answer is: it already has! For example, your customers already expect you to operate faster than you did yesterday. The fact that you took two hours out of the office for a legitimate business concern or a personal matter should not impede on your ability to get work done. Your customers expect you to be able to react to your workflow or manage the events of your business immediately, wherever you are. Another example is your sales force expects to be able to log their sales call information into your CRM solution wherever they are and read data from your ERP system on their CRM system wherever they are. (Full disclosure – I believe the concept of an “ERP system” for distributors is evolving into a new category. What you traditionally think of as your ERP system should now be called your transactional system and business object documents should flow freely from disparate systems such as your CRM system, your transactional system, your expense management system, etc. – systems that make up your Enterprise Suite). In other words, there is an expectation on behalf of your customers, your co-workers and your shareholders (the three major stakeholders in your business) that your business will embrace the tools of efficiency that are available to them outside of your business.
The obvious short-term opportunity with mobile devices for distributors is to use them for real business applications. From collecting signatures for deliveries to accessing key transactional data and relevant summary information while on the road, there are a number of obvious ways distributors should use mobile devices. I foresee the number of distribution-centric apps increasing, but more importantly, the adoption rate of these and other new technologies will be faster. Let’s think about that. Time magazine declared “The PC” as 1982’s “Man of The Year.” Now I want each distributor reading this article to answer the following question: What year did you have PCs for your sales staff? For years (and for some, decades) after the PC was named man of the year, distributors used “dumb terminals” to key in sales transactions. Even more interesting, after they had a PC at that sales person’s desk, they used a terminal emulator – software that would make the PC act like a dumb terminal – to key in sales orders. In other words, the adoption rate was very slow. Yet now, only two short years after the iPad was introduced, your customers and your co-workers are expecting to use these devices at work. Which leads me to my conclusion – the real trend is speed.
Speed and change are the true constants. We do things faster today than yesterday. We do things differently today compared to yesterday. Therefore we will continue to do things faster and differently. How many of your customers have put speed demands on you in order to conduct business with them? For example, they may say, “I need that material now, on my shop floor, consigned and managed by you.” Maybe the fastest way to satisfy your customer’s desire for speed is via technologies such as mobile devices and cloud data on their shop floor.
Distributors, in turn, must look and demand that their technology providers are engineering solutions specifically to address this need for speed. Distributors should expect their technology providers to have a “motion” cloud platform that can feed their mobile devices. Distributors should expect their technology providers to have a team dedicated to mobility so apps built to be distribution-centric are also “app aware” of other applications that are native to the mobile devices on which they run. Distributors should expect their technology providers to acknowledge that their enterprise suite of solutions will contain some on-premise and some cloud solutions. Distributors should expect their technology providers to have a focus on both mobility and cloud. Maybe there should even be a position called CCO (Chief Cloud Officer) or maybe SVP – Cloud.
Mobile devices and cloud computing are the cure for our desire to be faster. Since we want that information faster, and can’t wait until we are in a physical position to have it delivered to us, we must have it delivered wherever we are. And since we want it wherever we are, it must be available to us from a number of disparate devices, delivered as a service from the cloud. I believe our need for speed is the real “trendsetter” revolving around mobility and cloud computing, and I look forward to the continued uses of both cloud and mobile devices to satisfy distribution’s need
for speed.
Joe Bennett is senior director, wholesale distribution solutions, at Infor. He joined Infor in February 2012. Prior to that, he spent 21 years in a variety of positions with a software product engineered for distribution. Reach him at joe.bennett@infor.com.
This article originally appeared in the Jan./Feb. 2013 issue of Industrial Supply magazine. Copyright 2013, Direct Business Media.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The November/December issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Kimball Midwest. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and Mike Marks, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
