1.
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“Today, processes and entire enterprises
are going digital. Reverse Logistics is no
exception.”
Digitizing Reverse Logistics:
Enabling Visualization &
Optimization of the Entire Process
Returns can be extremely frustrating for any company, and if not handled properly
can actually drive away business, not to mention the financial burden they create.
Statistics show that 7% of all gross sales are swallowed up in returns, and
in the retail business 4-6% of all purchases are returned, which translates to
about US $40 billion a year. Fundamentally you want to make the returns process
as fast and efficient as possible, but reverse logistics goes beyond returns
management. Ideally, you want to avoid returns in the first place. You want have
a process in place to ensure a return really makes sense and identify when
disposal is appropriate, as well as handling other post-market related supply
chain issues. When done effectively, Reverse Logistics can even be a powerful
link bonding your logistics operation to your marketing efforts. Consider the
possibilities of opening up entirely new revenue generating channels through
a trade-in program, where your customers can ship in the old versions of your
products in exchange for the newly released version at an attra ctive discount.
Craig Templin
Business Director

2.
“Imagine the possibilities of digitizing the entire Reverse Logistics process,
deploying it into the cloud, connecting it to world class business intelligence,
and opening it up to smart phones, tablets and laptops - such that it can be
accessed at anytime, from anywhere.”
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Today, processes and entire enterprises are
going digital. Reverse Logistics is no exception.
Imagine the possibilities of digitizing the
entire Reverse Logistics process, deploying
it into the cloud, connecting it to world class
business intelligence, and opening it up to
smartphones, tablets and laptops - such
that it can be accessed at anytime, from
anywhere.
What would that mean? It would be possible
to truly visualize the Entire Reverse Logistics
Process and thus clearly see and understand
exactly what is happening to any given return
as it occurs - all through the eyes of your
digitized returns data. The impact of such a
visualization has potential for significant posi-tive
benefits. A deeper understanding of this
process has the potential to prevent returns
by clearly delineating root causes for subse-quent
correction. A new graphical view of the
data can help those tasked with screening
incoming inquiries to ascertain whether or
not a return is truly necessary, or flagging
when disposal is the best option available.
Through a graphical dashboard new observa-tions
could be visualized and data that didn’t
appear to be relevant would be seen to have
a deeper meaning than originally thought
and be more obviously relevant. This would
allow you to make discoveries not previously
feasible. Answers to questions which before
were unknown would become known.
With a dashboard that could resolve data
into images, insights that are now buried in
numbers on spreadsheets, would stand out
as graphics on your dashboard - enabling
you to see and understand the entire reverse
logistics process.
At a glance you would be able to determine
the root cause of returns, and track carrier
and vendor performance. Answers, insights
and discoveries that before were invisible,
would become clearly visible.
All aspects of return shipments would be taken
care of for you. If you designated items as critical,
then the delivery service level of such an
item would automatically be set to ‘Critical.’
If you or your customers requested an item
be analyzed for fault conditions, then both the
carrier and destination of that item would be au-tomatically
set based on criteria you established
from the onset. Likewise, if return packages
exceeded the thresholds you set for size or
weight, then that shipment would automatically
be set for ‘Freight’ Service.
In summary, the list of benefits that accompany
such a digital process include:
• Maximizing return on assets and asset recovery.
• Reducing repairs, replacement or re-shipment
costs – via effective handling.
• Differentiation of the firm’s services from those
of the competition – use the experience to gain
customer confidence and build new sales.
• Utilization of asset recovery to facilitate re-manufacturing
and resubmission into a secondary
supply chain/market.
• Improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Improving visibility to help determine the root
cause of returns that allows preventative measures
to be taken.
• Tracking vendor and carrier performance.
• Streaming operations to minimize operational
costs.
• Integrating returns information with inventory
management to enable predictive analysis on
future returns of product.
Most importantly, the main benefit would be
customer retention. In the future, Returns don’t
have to end with a frustrating experience for
customers. In fact, they can have a happy
ending for both the business and its customers.
“With a dashboard that could resolve
data into images, insights that are now
buried in numbers on spreadsheets,
would stand out as graphics on your
dashboard - enabling you to see and
understand the entire reverse logistics
process.”