Imagine managing 25,000 frontline employees across 500,000 weekly store visits—all crucial for your business's 90% revenue. In this high-stakes environment, even minor inefficiencies in your Direct Store Delivery (DSD) network can ripple outwards, leading to missed delivery windows, frustrated store managers, and ultimately, lost sales.
Blind spots and fragmented data
This was the reality for a leading retail chain. Limited visibility into their vast DSD operation hampered their ability to deliver exceptional customer service. Here's how it played out:
Traditional tracking systems lacked real-time insights, making it impossible to proactively address delays and ensure on-time deliveries.
Fragmented data across disparate systems made communication and issue resolution cumbersome, leading to frustration amongst store personnel.
Without a holistic view, optimizing delivery routes for their 18,000 routes was a challenge. This inefficiency translated to wasted resources and increased operational costs.
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| Figure 1: Architecture diagram |
The real-time solution
Imagine a constantly flowing river of data—location updates, inventory scans, order status changes, and so on—streaming in from route sales representatives' devices, warehouse management systems, and more. Apache Kafka acts as this data backbone, continuously capturing millions of data points every week, even for their massive network.
Microsoft Fabric seamlessly integrates this data stream, creating a single source of truth. It's like having a central command center with a complete picture of everything happening across the DSD operation, from order creation to final delivery.
Fabric's real-time analytics engine, powered by KQL, continuously analyzes this data with a refresh frequency of seconds. This is akin to having a team of analysts constantly monitoring the system, identifying potential issues and delays before they snowball.
Interactive dashboards built with Power BI empower stakeholders to visualize order flow, identify anomalies, and track key performance indicators (KPIs) in real-time. It's like having a transparent window into the entire DSD operation, allowing for informed decision-making at every level.
Measurable success
Real-time insights empowered proactive intervention, leading to a significant decrease in missed delivery windows and more satisfied store managers.
Optimized 18,000 routes, boosting operational efficiency and resource allocation for the 25,000 employees.
Real-time alerts and notifications enabled proactive problem identification and mitigation, minimizing disruptions and improving overall customer satisfaction.
Is your DSD operation stuck in the past? Contact sales@maqsoftware.com to see how a real-time Track and Trace system powered by Microsoft Fabric can transform your business, improve customer satisfaction, and unlock significant cost savings. Explore our Fabric services and Marketplace offerings today.