How automation can be your point of difference for startups
Not here to reinvent the wheel but still want to make waves in your industry? Gaining a point of difference that can go up against your competitors and give your customers more value is the place to start. But how do you do this when you’re battling the start-up woes? You don’t have the large amounts of cash, manpower or network that you’re established competitors do. It’s hard to compete, especially if your competition holds the majority of the market share and potentially lower-cost products.
So what’s the next step? We bet our bottom dollar it isn’t about growing your manpower but rather using systems to your advantage to automate the backend of your business. Automation can create a more efficient and streamlined process for your customers, which in turn creates a more positive experience. The less work, headaches and admin your business partners have to deal with, the more likely they will become repeat customers. And that is exactly what we did for our customers.
What was the issue they were facing?
Our client came to Single Source with this exact issue. They were trying to make a mark for themselves, attempting to grow in their market and acquire new businesses in the food service industry. They wanted to deliver sanitary, premium cooking oil trolleys to cafes, restaurants and venues but the incumbent suppliers held large market share with their cheaper, less sanitary existing product. Our client needed a point of difference and a way of driving efficiencies with a small startup footprint so they could scale and compete within the low-profit, high-volume space.
What Was The Solution?
Single Source worked collaboratively with two of our ecosystem partners to deliver an all-in-one hardware and software solution. Incorporated in the hardware was a flow metre, battery pack, IoT device, harnessing and power box to both power the unit and record all vital information. The software was used to access the location of the trolleys, identify which trolleys needed to be refreshed (creating orders and delivery runs automatically) and enable visibility over the entire operation Australia-wide.
Imagine being able to see all of this from one dashboard; better yet, imagine how your customers would feel knowing their orders are being fulfilled at the right time, and not having to do this themselves. Hours saved per year are hours they can reinvest into their business to grow, rather than doing the day-to-day.
What Were The Outcomes?
By utilising one provider, they were able to have a cohesive solution and drive their cost per unit down for both the hardware and software parts of their solution
By optimising delivery runs and knowing when a customer was due to purchase more product (via their usage history data) it enabled them to save by only servicing customers when required and to ensure they had fresh trolleys ready to go when the customer needed them so they never missed a sale
By having visibility of their entire operation in real-time they were able to see where they needed to either purchase more trolleys for a warehouse or shift inventory before it was too late to meet demand
Through the IoT data capture of every drop of oil as it was dispensed they were able to offer billing on usage for smaller customers or prove where a batch was sent/dispensed in case of issues with the product.
Automation is key to better financial and overall business performance. If you want to cut through the noise of your industry and be a stand-out, a positive customer experience is not a luxury but a necessity.
Book a discovery call to see how our Single Source team can help you automate and streamline your business to achieve growth this year!