“All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the timeline by reducing the non-value adding wastes.”

~ Taiichi Ohno, Father of the Lean Manufacturing Strategy”

A lot of companies want to be able to say the same thing but they can’t. Why you ask?

Companies who thrive and stay ahead do so because they constantly had to evolve. They changed before they had to, finding new ways to do old things with the goal of cutting down downtime and increasing efficiency and productivity by automating processes.

The sales cycle is an important process businesses need to optimise and to do this, visibility is key. The conventional method of gathering information manually using paper and collating the data in solutions like Microsoft Excel can only get you so far, apart from the obvious fact that it slows down the overall operations of a business, it also severely limits your ability to make accurate strategic decisions based on raw market niche data.

Imagine you were in charge of 20 field officers or a fleet of 15 or more trucks and you sent them out to deliver goods to customers or pickup goods in different states, but you had no way of knowing the following:

• What the Field officers were doing during their work hours
• If they had visited their customers
• Where the deliveries are till they get to their destination
• If a driver has made an unauthorized stop (picked up and delivered goods that weren’t yours for personal gain)
• The exact time they arrived and how long they spent at each location
• If the customer received the goods and in what condition (unless the customer calls in to complain or the driver/field officer returns with the physical waybill as confirmation of the delivery).

If you had visibility in these areas, you wouldn’t have to resort to asking the public for help in tracking your field assets like Dangote did here.

These and other blind spots could be costing large, medium and even small businesses in Africa a huge loss in revenue and a waste of company time and resources.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Gathering accurate market data is a huge problem in Africa, especially Nigeria and that is partly the reason why goods are so expensive, because businesses constantly have to factor in variables they have no control over.” quote=”Gathering accurate market data is a huge problem in Africa, especially Nigeria and that is partly the reason why goods are so expensive, because businesses constantly have to factor in variables they have no control over.”]

Recent research by professional services firm Accenture estimates CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies can capture US$152bn in accumulative value by 2020 in Africa by leveraging digital ecosystems and mobile applications along the value chain.

“Yet African CPG companies have been slow to apply digital strategies,” notes Roze Phillips, Accenture’s management consulting business lead for sub-Saharan Africa.

This means that while Africa’s economy and consumer packaged goods market is growing, so are the value of its losses. This happens due to a lack of transparency in the data gathering process and the common culprits responsible for the loss are usually;

• Theft
• Productivity losses for people who work in the field like delivery personnel, truck drivers, marketers (foot soldiers) e.t.c
• Supply chain inefficiencies that cause losses in sales or stock from damaged goods or empty shelves.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Businesses require supply-chain efficiency to maximise sales and minimise losses, but this is extremely hard in a market with limited connectivity to collect data.” quote=”Businesses require supply-chain efficiency to maximise sales and minimise losses, but this is extremely hard in a market with limited connectivity to collect data.”]

Gathering accurate market data (i.e. real-time collection and aggregation of market share, customer satisfaction, quality-of-service information and any other important information a business would like to gather from the field) is a huge problem in Africa, especially Nigeria and that is partly the reason why goods are so expensive because businesses constantly have to factor in variables they have no control over.

So who is Delivery Science and how do we help?

When most people hear Delivery Science, their first guess is we are a courier and logistics company because of our name and they aren’t too far from the truth because part of what we do is to help businesses optimise by automating their sales and delivery processes but we don’t deliver goods. We don’t even own a bike. Think of this way, Uber is a taxi ride hailing company but does not own any taxis. This is similar to what we do; we are a company offering technology solutions to business in the Supply Chain and Logistics space but don’t own the assets in the field.

80% of people in most businesses work outside the office, basically in the field trying to push their products and brands, while the rest work in the office. There was no complete solution that ensured 100% supply chain visibility and so Delivery Science was founded to solve this problem.

Who is Delivery Science? We are a supply chain management technology company passionate about helping businesses in Africa plug the holes and get visibility in their supply and sales department by automating most of the processes involved.

Our Product

Our Software as a Service (SaaS) solution; Fieldinsight, is a tool that provides data transparency for businesses and helps in optimising and improving efficiency within their Supply Chain operations. Below are some of the features Fieldinsight has that makes it possible to achieve the above goals;

1. Data Aggregation: Fieldinsight helps businesses collect and aggregate in real-time; market share, customer satisfaction, quality-of-service information and in the future, any other information from the field.
2. Accept Orders: Fieldinsight makes it possible to get orders in real-time from customers in your distribution chain. It also manages restocking and replenishment automatically.
3. Proof Of Delivery: Fieldinsight optimises your logistics operations and reduces your Day’s Sales Outstanding (DSO) by 50%.
4. Accept Payment: Fieldinsight helps you cash in on settlements from your customers in real time.
5. Reporting: Fieldinsight allows you see your company’s data on an interactive dashboard and export it when and where ever.
6. Live Map: Fieldinsight provides you with information about where your field staff are and what they are up to at any time on a fully interactive and intuitive map.

Businesses using our solution can gather market niche data, have visibility, better control and make more informed decisions as opposed to gut-based ones.

Fieldinsight can capture over 8,000 data points per user daily and automatically analyse and present this data visually on a dashboard to help businesses have a bird’s eye view of their assets in the field and therefore make smarter decisions, faster.

The best part is, our solution is capable of collecting data in online or offline environments, so you never lose sight of your supply chain.