There are so many exciting new possibilities when location radars like gps or google maps are combined with social networking sites today. I had seen in a science fiction movie where billboards in a mall change according to the person walking in front of it, but this is realistically possible now!!
Imagine if you are traveling on a highway and the billboard has your photo or your name, it will definitely catch your attention more which is half the battle won for advertisers. A sensor or even RFID chip in your car or phone or anything else can trigger a sensor in the billboard and through it the advertisers could access social networking sites to gather tons of profile information regarding you. I-phone today offers a lots of convenient features in a similar manner.
The only concern regarding this is the possibility of a total abuse of an individual’s privacy. This is already a concern in today’s social networking sites and this is only bound to increase in an effort to provide customized marketing.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Retail and Technology
As technology improves, companies are trying to solve their traditional problems by using new technology. RFID can be an answer for retail companies to locate and track their orders.
Some of the biggest problems retail companies face are stock outs, limited visibility into their supply chain and theft. All these problems could be solved through RFID. This leads to the interesting discussion on how much of technology is necessary for a company. Is it necessary to track a single can of coke; the answer might vary depending on the industry, the company and the products. Normally it would be enough to track a case or a lot but the need to track an item as closely as possible was highlighted in a recent food contamination case where such information was valuable in tracking the source of the contamination.
Many times technology requires infrastructure and in this case too, the technology a company can implement is limited by the amount of infrastructure they are willing to invest in. More granularity in tracking means more data stored and that means larger and more complex datwarehouse systems.
There are a lot of benefits realized by companies today by the visibility into their supply chain by technologies like RFID s and location radars. Demand fluctuations can be minimized by knowing what exactly they sell and even their inventory can be reduced drastically by knowing where exactly their products are. Also recently, one of the major transportation companies found out that their trucks were losing a lot of time and fuel trying to make left turns at traffic lights. They worked out an algorithm where the trucks mainly take right turns which are much faster and found out that it gave them both time and cost benefits.
But such implementations would separate the suppliers who could afford such technologies from those who could not. For some of the leading suppliers this might be a good thing because they could get a lock in from the retailer which would ensure business for them but this would also make it harder for smaller suppliers to compete. It is really tough for the retail companies to bring out any new initiative throughout their supply base unless they have a buyer power like Wal-Mart. Most of the retailers bring out new technology in phases by targeting the suppliers with high volumes initially and then gradually roll it out to the smaller players.
Some of the biggest problems retail companies face are stock outs, limited visibility into their supply chain and theft. All these problems could be solved through RFID. This leads to the interesting discussion on how much of technology is necessary for a company. Is it necessary to track a single can of coke; the answer might vary depending on the industry, the company and the products. Normally it would be enough to track a case or a lot but the need to track an item as closely as possible was highlighted in a recent food contamination case where such information was valuable in tracking the source of the contamination.
Many times technology requires infrastructure and in this case too, the technology a company can implement is limited by the amount of infrastructure they are willing to invest in. More granularity in tracking means more data stored and that means larger and more complex datwarehouse systems.
There are a lot of benefits realized by companies today by the visibility into their supply chain by technologies like RFID s and location radars. Demand fluctuations can be minimized by knowing what exactly they sell and even their inventory can be reduced drastically by knowing where exactly their products are. Also recently, one of the major transportation companies found out that their trucks were losing a lot of time and fuel trying to make left turns at traffic lights. They worked out an algorithm where the trucks mainly take right turns which are much faster and found out that it gave them both time and cost benefits.
But such implementations would separate the suppliers who could afford such technologies from those who could not. For some of the leading suppliers this might be a good thing because they could get a lock in from the retailer which would ensure business for them but this would also make it harder for smaller suppliers to compete. It is really tough for the retail companies to bring out any new initiative throughout their supply base unless they have a buyer power like Wal-Mart. Most of the retailers bring out new technology in phases by targeting the suppliers with high volumes initially and then gradually roll it out to the smaller players.
Companies and technology
I wanted to discuss the dynamic nature of technology and the direction it is evolving in especially the internet. Web 2.0 has given the user more control of data and the sheer number of users who can contribute to any application or service makes it so powerful. It has enabled more avenues for information sharing in the form of networking sites like facebook or various blog sites. New technologies have enabled sites like Amazon and ITunes to make a lot of money leveraging the power of long tail by reaching out to people more and offering services which could not be offered before. Even such blog sites are an example of the power of collective contribution of knowledge.
How do companies implement new technologies and assess how they will impact the way the company operates in the future. How do they align their strategy with the IT implementations and not treat it as an independent installation. For example, a successful ERP implementation is a transformation of the way how technology works in a company and also in the way how people operate within the company.
Another interesting discussion is Do companies need costly erp systems? And what is the tradeoff of spending millions of dollars on acquiring more information? In one of my previous classes, a professor had a very interesting framework which basically viewed the different elements of a supply chain as a whole.
Thinking from a retail perspective more information from an ERP system’s Supply Chain Module might reduce the demand fluctuation and reduce the inventory levels but the company needs to see if they can achieve the same or more cost savings achieved by lower inventory by reducing their transportation times or by building a new warehouse.
How do companies implement new technologies and assess how they will impact the way the company operates in the future. How do they align their strategy with the IT implementations and not treat it as an independent installation. For example, a successful ERP implementation is a transformation of the way how technology works in a company and also in the way how people operate within the company.
Another interesting discussion is Do companies need costly erp systems? And what is the tradeoff of spending millions of dollars on acquiring more information? In one of my previous classes, a professor had a very interesting framework which basically viewed the different elements of a supply chain as a whole.
Thinking from a retail perspective more information from an ERP system’s Supply Chain Module might reduce the demand fluctuation and reduce the inventory levels but the company needs to see if they can achieve the same or more cost savings achieved by lower inventory by reducing their transportation times or by building a new warehouse.
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