VDC Research: Enterprise & Government Mobility Market Blog

Acquiring Direct Store Delivery (DSD) Optimization

Within the past week, the NASDAQ and NYSE witnessed the announcement of two major acquisitions:  Walgreens intends to buy Rite Aid for $17.2 billion and Snyder’s-Lance plans to buy Diamond Foods for $1.9 billion.  Even though Walgreens and Snyder’s-Lance reside in different industry sectors, they both heavily rely on direct store delivery; Walgreens to keep their pharmacies well stocked, and Snyder’s-Lance to stock their retail partners. 

Direct store delivery (DSD) is a system of selling and distributing a wide array of products in which the supplier delivers goods directly to the retail store, thus bypassing traditional distribution centers and warehouses.  Workflow integration within the DSD processes is often extremely complex and typically involves products which have high consumer demand or shorter shelf-lives.  Product lines which are regularly supported via DSD plans include baked goods, beverages, dairy products, ice cream, and other snack foods.  Other industries that frequently use DSD processes include wholesale distribution, gas, and pharmaceuticals.

In recent years, a primary hurdle for the DSD community has been the increased demand placed on mobile devices coupled with the constant need to optimize the numerous moving parts involved in the DSD process.  In a market space where spoiled, rotten, or out-of-stock goods directly impacts profits, employing mobile devices which are efficient and adaptable to the complex technological requirements of DSD applications is critical.  As such, those engaged with DSD must constantly assess their mobility solutions in order to keep their delivery operations running at peak levels.  A 2015 survey, conducted by VDC Research, found that three of the top five investment drivers are directly related to with the ideas of efficiency and adaptability.  These drivers include reducing order times, reducing out-of-stocks, and providing faster decision-making capabilities. 

Likelihood of Migrating from Batch to Real-Time DSD Processing

The vast majority of the DSD market is only now catching up to the significant advances seen in mobile and wireless technology.  Wireless coverage, performance, functionality, and cost of mobile devices are all factors which have drastically changed with little adoption into DSD systems  Through advances in mobile technology, DSD suppliers can now communicate with their drivers and with retail partners regarding inventory, payment, and customer support services in real-time.  Compared with aging batch-processing methods, WAN (cellular networks) connections or wireless DEX (Digital Exchange) support can significantly optimize every phase of the DSD structure.  The modernization of DEX from a hardwired solution, which required DSD drivers to carry a fragile and unreliable DEX cable, to a wireless Bluetooth solution greatly improves transmission reliability and reduces errors during communication.   A 2015 VDC Research survey revealed that DSD suppliers beginning to realize the opportunities presented by Bluetooth-based DEX and WAN.  70% of respondents indicated they are likely to migrate from batch processing to a real-time processing format within the next 2 years.  With increased migration to real-time solutions seemingly imminent, VDC expects the next generation of DSD solutions to address performance gaps and better support CPG operations.

Even though Walgreens and Snyder’s-Lance populate opposite sides of the DSD chain, the effects of emergent, real-time mobile processing features will be apparent for both companies.  They can expect to see more efficient customer support and faster response times to requests/inquiries.  More specifically, Walgreens can leverage their expanded reach to better optimize existing DSD delivery strategies by modifying routes to better coincide with Rite Aid and Walgreens locations.  Additionally, Snyder’s-Lance will be better positioned to react to real-time inventory information and will be able to consolidate Snyder’s products along with new Diamond products into the same DSD trucks and routes.  Clearly, if Walgreens/Rite Aid and Snyder’s-Lance/Diamond take advantage of new mobile technologies described above, they should see more efficient services and reduction in overall DSD costs.

Written by Cameron Roche, Analyst.  For more information, be sure to review our forthcoming full DSD report, set to be released in December, or contact us at [email protected].  The author can be contacted directly at [email protected].  

AT&T Analyst Event Recap

We just returned from Dallas after attending AT&T’s annual analyst summit. This year was the first time that the company combined its consumer and enterprise events. While we understand the reasoning behind that decision, in our opinion, it did not add much value to our experience of the event from an enterprise mobility perspective. The overall event was very well organized and provided us with good access to AT&T decision makers and also several high profile customers and partners. AT&T issued several notable news releases to coincide with the event—the announcements all show that AT&T is moving in a coordinated way towards becoming the largest integrated carrier for the enterprise. 

Not surprisingly, connectivity was a key theme of the event juxtaposed by the opening statements made by Chairman of the Board and CEO Randall Stephenson “AT&T’s core value proposition is connectivity” to the real world admission by Mark Dunson, President of Emerson’s Climate Technologies – who was presenting very interesting IoT use cases in the food service sector – that “connectivity is really hard”. AT&T is addressing these connectivity challenges through the flexibility it is integrating into its business model and infrastructure.

Key solutions such as NetBond, which enable enterprises to move mission critical applications to the cloud through a fabric that combines the control, security and performance of a private cloud with the economies of public cloud services, will be critical to realizing that vision. Similarly central to this initiative is AT&T API platform which appears to be gaining momentum as a means for service provides to complete significantly faster installations and help them customize their billing and payment solutions, driving new business models and revenue. Finally, security was a central theme across all presentations and interactions. At the event AT&T released its inaugural Cybersecurity report aimed primarily at educating C-level decision makers about threats facing their business. With the volume of traffic traversing AT&T’s networks on a daily basis, they will have an increasingly central role in monitoring this traffic and actively addressing potential threats.

NetBond

AT&T has a winner in NetBond. Rather than attempting to compete with the likes of Amazon, IBM, Google, and Microsoft in the commoditized cloud service market, the company is focusing on secure cloud connectivity solutions for their enterprise customers to connect their data and software with their cloud provider they choose. The NetBond cloud ecosystem continues to expand, and can now integrate with almost every prominent cloud player, including: Amazon Web Services, Availability Services, Blue Jeans Network, Box, CSC, Equinix, HP,  Salesforce, SoftLayer, Sunguard, and VMware. The integrations allow AT&T to seamlessly integrate its MPLS network with these clouds while reducing latency – most impressive was the live demo (always risky) that showed how quickly/easily services could be provisioned and how easily enterprises could make the cloud an “extension” of their VPN.

Industrial IoT

AT&T's focus on Industrial IoT market is beginning to pay dividends. The company is laser focused on being a trusted advisor to its clients and appears to be delivering on its promise to provide a flexible and modular IoT platform. AT&T is focusing on the right areas that are ripe for IoT enablement (asset management, connected-car solutions, instrumenting stranded assets, while pursuing a broader "smart city" opportunity). We liked AT&T's messaging and focus on helping its enterprise customers “collect real-time operational data and improve operation process”, and see the company having a great opportunity to gain traction with its various IoT solutions and support services. Mark Dunson, Emerson's President of Climate Technologies articulated the notable cold chain opportunity to gather and interpret significant amounts of data from its systems that they can then turn into insights for customers—specifically on reducing their energy usage and increasing efficiency for better overall performance.

Security – Software Defined

AT&T showed that it was serious about enhancing its security value play and articulated how it could take virtualization out of the data center and move it onto its network. AT&T revealed a new partnership with Cisco which will help it to extend the reach of its Network on Demand platform using software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). SDN-enabled security can enhance network security visibility and accelerate the pace of implementing new services by opportunities for intelligent response on a granular basis through selectively blocking malicious traffic. Additionally, SDN security applications can act on anomalies by diverting network flows to key enforcement points or security services, such as enhanced firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems.

AT&T also announced that it had released its first Cybersecurity Insights Report to show its commitment to helping customers keep their data safe. “Every company either has been breached or will be breached,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions said in a statement. “Keeping a business protected should be a company-wide priority. Every employee, contractor, and administrator is responsible for keeping security top of mind.”

The Report outlines primary security threats businesses face both inside and outside of their companies–specifically:

• Corporate espionage: Spies looking to steal intellectual property
• Nation States: Groups looking to access information for their own benefit or cause
• Organized cybercrime: Digital criminals who use malware and hacking to extract information for financial gain
• Hacktivists: Groups of hackers that use cyberattacks to promote social change or impact public policy
• Malicious insiders: Employees or those with internal access that use company information for their own gain

With Eric Klein, Director Enterprise Mobility Software