6 Factors To Consider Before Refreshing A Direct Store Delivery Deployment

By Jim Hilton, Senior Director, Global Manufacturing Principal, Motorola Solutions

Technology advancements for the Direct Store Delivery (DSD) environment have outpaced both the industry’s need for those advancements and its ability to quickly adopt these new technologies. Today’s DSD environment is well past its fourth generation of technology, and the original return on investment (ROI) for automation occurred in the 1970s. While times have changed, the DSD use case still requires the customer be served in the same manner they were more than 40 years ago — consequently, the ROI for new technology investments may not be obvious. 

Most DSD operations considering new technologies experience at least six forces, each exerting both pressure and resistance against the others. 

The forces that are accelerating the deployment of new technologies and advancements with new ROI include:

1. The latest field mobility hardware technologies have complex processing power, which permit the coexistence of applications that genuinely solve business problems and expand the capabilities of mobile workers to help increase sales, reduce costs, and take service to the next level.
2. The ability to have ubiquitous connectivity supports the real-time access and transfer of data, practical uses of GPS, and advanced imaging capabilities with photos and video for user guidance, training, or delivery documentation.  
3. Phenomenal new ways to license, use, and support mobile technology deployments. 

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