Supply Chain: Piercing the Invisibility of Distance

Problem Statement

You receive an urgently needed electronic device. You unpack it, plug it in and turn it on. The control panel is gibberish. You reread the manual and do exactly what it says. Same result. You call the vendor, but it's clear they don't believe you. They tell you to ship it back and they will fix it "if necessary". But you need it now. Will they cross-ship a replacement? No!

The Invisibility of Distance

The root cause is the invisibility of distance. Suppliers can't see what you see. Anyone watching as the device powers up would see that it's broken. But the supplier can't see that. They have your description and their (understandably paranoid) imagination. This scene plays out thousands of times each day. In our global, 800-number, FedEx, e-commerce world, you can't "open the box in the store". You can't ask the salesperson to plug it in to see if it works. You can only ship it back and wait ... and maybe wait some more.

Why not use video?

The answer may already be close at hand. It's called "video sharing" (aka YouTube). For millions of people, it only takes a few minutes to record a short video and post it to YouTube. Moments later, it is available to viewers around the world.

There are at least two big stumbling blocks. First, public video sharing websites are designed to be open, free and uncontrolled. Companies don't want the world to see their problems, what they buy, who they buy from, or the nature of their suppliers' problems. Second, most logistics managers aren't web video experts. They would need video sharing that is less hip, simpler to use and well integrated into their business workflow. Public video sharing tools like YouTube have no reason to care about those issues. Fortunately, iPOV has a solution to both problems.

interactive Video Sharing for Supply Chain Managers

iPOV's interactive video sharing for business (iVSB) service offers a simple solution to the supply chain visibility problem. You can record an 'industrial grade' video with a $100 camera and upload it to our dedicated video sharing site. It takes a few minutes more to email a link to the video to an external supplier. If you follow up with a phone call, the problem may be resolved a few minutes after that. You can view this entire scenario in action at our demo supply chain site and in the two video clips that follow:

The first video clip is a short (1.5min) example of an informal, industrial-grade video explanation that you might send to a distant supplier. The video quality is pretty rough, but the message is clear. It is unlikely that the speaker's point will be missed or misunderstood. The second video clip shows an entire sequence of actions that created this example - and put it to use. Sure, the situation is contrived, but is there any confusion or uncertainty? Fast, easy, inexpensive and accurate. How long would it take you to craft a memo to achieve similar results? iPOV's iVSB website for supply chain has two parts: our hosted software and our menu of supporting services:

• iVSB Website Software - iPOV will set up and host a video sharing website for your organization. We will customize it (within reason) to reflect your company's look and we will set up a basic set of standard video sharing folders and permission structures. iPOV is committed to continuous software improvement. We already offer a long list of features that far exceeds those of public video sharing sites. Moreover, we are committed to continue innovation that benefits all of our hosted clients.

• iPOV Basic Services - iPOV will maintain the site, help keep it clean and uncluttered, and promptly fix any problems that arise.

• iPOV Optional Services - iPOV can maintain the list of outside vendor participants and assist them to participate effectively. iPOV can develop customized interfaces and tools to integrate the video sharing site more effectively into your normal business workflow. That may involve the create of special web interfaces and functions and helping to design and implement easy-to-use video capture stations for your employees. Finally, iPOV can apply its video transformation services to material in the video sharing site. One scenario is that you can make a video clip like the one above and iPOV will transcribe your comments, translate them to Chinese, and add them back as English and Chinese subtitles with your movie.

Cost

iPOV offers iVSB as an integrated service so we can help you concentrate on doing your business. We can help you coach your staff and key suppliers, help you maintain participant accounts and passwords, help police the contents, help to re-use content in more professional communications, and help you link the system to other data and corporate systems. Our knowledge is deep and our service and support fees are very reasonable.

• The basic site hosting fee is $2000 setup and $950/month. You can end the arrangement with 60 days advance notice.
• iPOV charges $75/hr for optional website maintenance services and $125/hr for customer-specific software development services.
• If the extra service requirements are predictable, iPOV can negotiate a fixed monthly service package. An example might be where iPOV manages the external vendor registration and passwords and works with the supply chain manager to ensure that the vendor list is always accurate and up to date.

Bottom Line

If you are a supply chain manager, you can have a private, controlled video-sharing capability that will revolutionize your day-to-day communications with your suppliers. The more distant the suppliers, the more impact this capability is likely to have. The applications are limited mainly by your imagination.