Technological means to a successful end

By Mitchell E MacDonald -- Logistics Management, 9/1/1998

All right. Let's review. The primary drivers of business success today, and for many years to come, are simple--speed and customer service. If by this point, you don't have your "quality" house in order, you'll be out of the game soon. If your company's product quality is at competitive levels, you've got to look for new ways to differentiate your firm from its competitors. The answer? You guessed it--speed and customer service.

In order to succeed in the marketplace, you must serve your customers better and faster than anyone else can. All things being equal, the company that can consistently fill an order faster than anyone else will be around for the long haul.

This is nothing new if you've paid attention over the course of the 1990s. It was way back in 1991 that noted business consultant George Stalk declared in an interview with Logistics Management, "Quality is dead. Speed is king." Although Stalk's words may have seemed like heresy seven years ago, time has proved him right.

Recognizing the importance of serving customers better and faster than anyone else is obviously a critical first step on the road to success. Making it happen in your company, though, requires acceptance of another fundamental fact: If you are going to attain your objectives, you must be prepared to harness all that current technology has to offer. Speed, productivity, efficiency, and reliability can be driven to new heights only by investing in cutting-edge technology and then properly training your employees to exploit that technology's capabilities fully.

Because so many companies today embrace this philosophy, large numbers of new software and systems providers are emerging to profit from the trend. From enterprise-wide solution providers to specialized software makers who focus on warehousing, transportation, planning and modeling, or some component of supply-chain integration, there's no shortage of choices once you decide to jump on the technology bandwagon.

The software and services that support supply-chain integration, in fact, are forecast to grow tenfold in the next two years alone. What was a $1.2 billion industry in 1997 is forecast to reach $12 billion by 2001. From there, who knows? The sky may well be the limit.

As a logistics professional, you occupy a "point position" for your company. In many cases, you run the department that plays the most important role in meeting your customers' speed and service needs. That means if you haven't already started driving investment in technology and training, there's no time to waste.

Simply put, technology is the means. Enhanced speed and customer service is the end.