Eileen Mozinski Schmidt The Internet—Friend or foe in material handling
The internet and the technological revolution – the shift these changes have brought to the workplace is unmistakable and unavoidable. From sales and shipping, to operations, to communications both internal and external, technological tools have infiltrated nearly all aspects of the material handling industry.
This month, Material Handling Wholesaler asked some of our readers how these tools are playing out within their individual businesses. Is the internet proving useful or challenging? How has it enhanced or changed the industry? Is it friend or foe?
Generally, it is the former, according to several leading material handling businesses. But the opportunities the internet offers go hand-in-hand with heightened customer expectations and demands on business performance. And some long-standing business practices, like personal service, still maintain an important place in the industry.
Sales and supply chain
At TEKLYNX International, Doug Niemeyer said the web and ability to deliver online has completely flipped the company’s shipping method. “We now deliver 90 percent of our software to customers electronically, compared to years ago when 95 percent of orders were shipped via mail,” he wrote, in an email. Niemeyer is general manager for the company in North, Central and South America.
TEKLYNX bills itself as “the world’s leading barcode and RFID labeling software developer and solutions provider. In a phone interview with Material Handling Wholesaler from the company’s Glendale, Wis. office, Niemeyer said Teklynx made a concerted effort back in 2009 to shift to electronic sales. “In the last five years, it has accelerated. It has really gone from 30 percent (of online deliveries) to where we’re at today,” he said, noting that the online sales effort went hand-in-hand with a company initiative to pursue some lean initiatives.”
The capability to ship electronically has increased the reach of the company, allowing it to ship to deliver software anywhere in the world and within minutes, according to Niemeyer. The challenge within the online shift, Niemeyer said, is that the online accessibility to the company’s software allows for downloading products without training. “The end user experience is often diminished in this situation,” he wrote. The company encourages end users to purchase directly from Teklynx or from a “value-added reseller” to ensure they receive the training needed. Niemeyer said he understands the “do it yourself” mentality many have in today’s environment, but said the system training is specifically designed to make the transition seamless. “We’re not trying to make it difficult,” he said.
TEKLYNX software is currently installed at over 750,000 companies, and e-commerce is a growing part of the business of those customers as well, pushing the need for agile and responsive supply chains, according to Niemeyer. “As a supply chain technology provider, this has created a ripple effect for our products as we look to provide scalable, highly responsive software solutions to support our customers’ increased need for greater supply chain visibility and speed to market,” he wrote.
But security remains a question. “How secure are things people are communicating and doing?” Niemeyer said. Others say outside of sales that key points of contact are gleaned online.
At US Integrated Battery Systems LLC, company CEO David Sterrett said about 30 percent of sales occur online but estimated 80 percent of the company’s leads and contacts and jobs are now found via internet tools.
Communication
At Direct Recruiters Inc., Cherie Shepard said staff spends most of the day on the internet and phone. “We are always looking for information about industry trends, companies that are growing or changing and movers and shakers in the market,” she said.
Still, Shepard, director of packaging, material handling and food processing, said there “nothing is better” than having human interaction. “Above and beyond emailing and phone calling, we feel in-person meetings, whether at trade shows or client visits, is the most effective way to truly get to know the people we work with,” she wrote. “To this end, the internet is a fantastic tool but it is only one tool in a large toolbox.”
Sterrett, at US Integrated Battery Systems, a manufacturer of “advanced intelligent energy storage products,” according to its website, agreed. After an initial view or request for information, the next steps are very important, he said, adding that sometimes those steps include face-to-face or phone-to-phone consultations. Staff still need to know logistics, shipping costs, and other pertinent information, he said.
But customer expectations, particularly online, have increased, said Lisa Brink, marketing director for Riekes Equipment, in an email. “They expect that we will not only know them, but that we personalize their experience,” she said, noting that expectations for an increasingly social experience online have also risen. “Customers want more communication and to see reviews and recommendations. With the use of apps like Facebook and Yelp customers can easily socialize buying decisions and they expect to get quick responses directly from customer service when an issue arises,” Brink said.
Niemeyer agreed. “The Internet has also expanded the ways in which we offer support to customers,” he said, noting the company provides live customer support via a contact center, while an online support provides 24-hour a day, 7-day a week support, year round. He added that being “highly responsive is ultimately the king” in the internet-driven business world.
The goal at Riekes, which is “a premier provider of material handling solutions and authorized Yale forklift dealer” according to its website, is to be “100 percent customer centric” and to create a seamless experience interacting with the company, according to Brink. “The last statistic I saw was that there is $62 billion lost each year because of poor customer service,” said Brink, who noted that the “2020 Walker Report” predicts that by 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as “the key brand differentiator.” “We need to be ready for that,” she said.
The demands for speed are one of the challenges of this online environment, however. “Immediate is no longer fast enough,” said Brink, who said clients and customers want their material handling partners to be proactive “not only for the needs of today but also future needs.”
Retail giant Amazon has been a driving factor in this shift, causing a shakeup in the way online business is conducted across industries, including material handling businesses, Brink said. “When you place an order, (Amazon) immediately confirms it is being processed, and then send an email communicating every step of the shipping. Then, as if by magic, Alexa alerts you that it has arrived within minutes of it being placed on your front step,” she said. “In addition, people are used to Amazon anticipating their needs with recommendations for products and automatic reorders.” This system has reset expectations, and Brink said buyers will now pay 25 percent more for a better experience. “But to create that experience we need to understand our customers better,” she said.
Leveraging data
Sterrett said the Internet has proven “a very powerful tool” for marketing” and in using the cloud services. “All of your sales people can access the database. It’s just amazing how simplistic it is,” said Sterrett, who noted the cloud provides a means for the company to be connected despite geographic distance. This is key for companies like US Integrated Battery Systems, which has OEM partners nationwide.
A company rep “can be in California and look at the cloud-based system and know everything,” he said, adding that the company now also produces a digital magazine. Sterrett added that the rise of the internet has made the gathering of data essential, requiring companies to track, document and analyze data in order to stay competitive. “It is important for marketing people to know not only who’s coming to your site, but what the hottest pages are,” he said, adding that data processing allows a company to also know what questions customers are asking.
Using data optimally means taking that knowledge and, circling back to the importance of communications, implementing it in interactions with customers, Brink said.
She described it as “proactively communicating.” “We need to use our customer data to anticipate their needs and questions before they even know them,” she said. “We have been successful with this by leveraging online chat on our websites and implementing a digital campaign so we are connecting with customers early in their discovery process,” Brink said.
Education
Some companies are leveraging the internet in an educational sense. TEKLYNX provides customer training via webinars and life software demonstrations to existing and prospective customers.
“We look at webinars from a real true professional perspective,” said Niemeyer, who with his own background in sales and marketing found the addition of such educational tools a natural fit.
The company has worked diligently to streamline its webinar experience; carefully planning how to incorporate material and going through dry runs to perfect each step. Niemeyer said the company has people he refers to as “talent” who make such initiatives successful, which he said was a necessary step in producing online material. “The webinars, from when I started in 2010, went from maybe 15 people to now when we’ll have webinars of 250 to 300 people,” he said, noting that such large audiences require presenters who are professional and comfortable in teaching virtually. TEKLYNX conducts five to ten enterprise software demos per week, receives daily demo requests for label design software, and produces between 15 and 20 downloadable content pieces including info graphics and e-books per year.
Eileen Schmidt is a freelance writer and journalist based in the Greater Milwaukee area. She has written for print and online publications for the past 12 years. Email [email protected] or visit eileenmozinskischmidt.wordpress.com to contact Eileen.
