Gap Identification in Real Time Creates Revenue Opportunity

GAP IDENTIFICATION

in Real Time Creates Revenue Opportunity / By Andrew Dawson, MD, Cognizance /

We use an open API to integrate into most mobility platforms to ensure "direct to individual tasks". The process, insights and quantification of the revenue changes are made available into a perpetually live dashboard.

We use KPI alignment to ensure the relevant data arrives at the right person in time to make a difference in revenue growth.

The process, insights and quantification of the revenue changes are made available into a perpetually live dashboard. We use KPI alignment to ensure the relevant data arrives at the right person in time to make a difference in revenue growth.

Distribution to Retail

In the formal retail sector the bulk of the use of AI and data science has been in the mining of till point, stock on hand and stock in distribution centre data to give meaningful input to the shopper experience, ensure shelves are correctly stocked and that stock from warehouse to the retail store is optimal.

This utilisation of AI and Data Science will be further influenced by the advent of “autonomised revenue opportunity recognition platforms” but that is subject matter for another article!

My focus here is to touch on one of the most important links in the retail supply chain.

The role of the Distribution Business and how AI and Data Science is a pre-requisite to ensure survival and profitability in the midst of the most chaotic turbulent times, where the operating margins and commissions are so thin that delayed response to a costly deviation can cripple operations.

At Cognizance we were blessed to be given the opportunity to work with five significant distribution companies simultaneously, the companies operate in different regional geographies being SA , Namibia, Eswatini, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

The result was the creation of a data lake that was optimally structured to ingest massive volumes of ERP and third party generated data that we were able to mine and visualise in our own proprietary dashboards.

We have completely negated the need for the customer to acquire BI and Visualisation tools, and employ data science teams to interpret the visualised results.

Who/what is Cognizance?

We provide similar technologies to the platforms that perform the above functions such as: Tableau, Power BI, AlterX, Qlikview and Yellowfin

 Data Lake within GCP (Google)  ETL Pipelines for data ingestion  Advanced processing structured for speed of data ingestion and analysis  Proprietary Dashboard structure for visualisation of data  Unique data deviation detection methodology aligned to business rules and

KPI's

In essence:

We use your data, our technology, experience and expertise to identify gaps in your distribution and retail supply chain (stock and sales) and converting those gaps into revenue.

Gaps are identified as but not limited to:

 Rates of sale vs stock on hand and stock in manufacturing  Product mix per supplier region per community at sku level  Stock out and over stocks, including returns  Predictive ordering and forecasting  Price elasticity defined by Promotional

Influence Analysis Our platform identifies, quantifies and directs action and accountability to an individual via task allocation, measurement and tracking.

Cost to Serve

In a distribution environment where margins are thin, any impact on the “cost to serve” commission negotiated with the principal can have a negative impact on the bottom line, Sales to retail need to be “profitable”, deliveries need to show a profit per load, promotions need to be optimised so that sales pull through and there are no returns to impact on earnings.

The Cognizance auto-analytics layer can be set up to report on benchmark deviations direct to the finance person accountable as it is detected through the data.

In essence, if given access to the right data feeds the platform will create an income statement per category per principle where profits and losses are identified as they happen and the right individual who is accountable for the action to rectify is advised accordingly.

In Closing:

As our customer base grows our data science team becomes more and more exposed to new territories so our Intelligence layer gets more adept at identifying gaps and pattern changes and making sure the gaps are met with action instructions to resolve.

The next horizon is the science of forecasting and scenario planning using the layers of data, Micro and macro influences per market that we are involved in. To make sure that we lead the way in this space we have partnered with one of the leading Global Forecasting and Scenario planning companies based in the USA, The company DecisionNext and Cognizance will use our combined technologies and data science teams to create a differentiated value proposition in the food, FMCG and liquor distribution space.

We are working closely with a number of business consulting houses across Europe and Asia and the USA. If our technology offering can add value to your customer base, please reach out directly.