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Mobile and Supply Chain Predictions for 2025

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 15:48:03 Z

My new crystal ball was delivered this morning, so it’s time to make some enterprise mobility predictions for 2025.

I ordered it on an early black Friday deal yesterday and got free overnight shipping. Even though my AI-driven shopping guide encouraged paying for same-day delivery, I saw no need to pay for faster amusement. But enough about my ecommerce buying habits; let’s look at what mobility and supply chains operations teams might see in 2025.

The robots are coming

In 2024, several labor disputes included concerns about the battle over automation – none more visible than during a strike by American dockworkers. The conversation about how humans and robotics coexist in operations will continue to be important.

These “cobots” save workers strenuous physical labor but should be just that: a support for workers, so they can accomplish more tasks each day. The roles these technologies serve may evolve, but labor discussions will continue to focus on how to ensure workers are given opportunities to grow into managers of the automation that makes up the “industrial internet of things.”

Overstocked with threat actors

From cyberattacks at ports to ransomware disruptions to enterprise systems, supply chains have proven a ripe target for malicious actors. IT and security teams will need to shift more budget into proactive threat prevention.

On the mobile front, where some of the most infamous breaches have occurred, this will include adopting threat prevention tools that secure the user, device, applications and networks over which users connect. Mobility is a highly dynamic threat vector, so it will be essential for IT teams – across corporate and operations, in partnership with their security colleagues – to seek out solutions that deliver security and management of all kinds of mobile devices in their enterprise ecosystem.

The experience matters

Compliance with IT policies and security mandates will continue to be a focus for IT analysts and security teams. No secret: The less intrusive the policies, the easier it is to get mobile users to abide with them. In that spirit, organizations will evaluate how mobile policies are implemented through their MDM tools to provide the least intrusive experience.

Solutions like single sign-on (SSO) and how secure connections are established will be key criteria for those IT teams evaluating new tools. Again, how these digital employee experiences (DEX) play for corporate mobile users and operational task workers will factor into those evaluations.

Growth of public/private 5G

Expect to see more deployments of 5G networks, particularly private 5G as organizations look for more ways to upgrade from legacy dark networks. Especially for large outdoor facilities like shipping container yards, stadiums and other large venues where frequent transactions occur among mobile users and enterprise systems.

The public/private 5G migration in operations has already been demonstrated by rugged device manufacturers. Consider Zebra Technologies, who introduced their first scan-intensive mobile computer with private and public 5G wireless data connectivity – the MC9450 – earlier this year. It's reasonable to expect more mobile computers with equivalent connectivity to come to market in the year ahead.

Predicting good success ahead

Good things will come in 2025, and we’ll share them together from the Everywhere Workplaces where we elevate our customers’ businesses. Wishing you and yours the very best during this holiday season, and a productive, secure and successful 2025!

Device Management Remote Control is for Remotely Controlling

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:56:39 Z

The title seems obvious enough, but if there weren’t a story behind it, this blog wouldn’t be necessary. How do you use remote control to keep your mobile deployments operating at peak performance? It turns out that the answers vary across organizations.

The most common and expected purpose is to troubleshoot malfunctioning devices or apps. When a mobile worker is idle, it costs your business money. Getting that incident resolved fast is essential so the worker gets back to task and meets customer demand.

However, there are organizations using the remote control functionality of their MDM product for mobile device management. Why? Is the MDM insufficient for remote device management?

What makes an MDM?

Using the mobile device management remote control functionality to manage devices compromises core capabilities that make an MDM valuable: automation is a primary example. Using remote control means manually performing various device management tasks, such as updating the operating system or configuring apps. This means touching (even remotely) each device in the estate.

An MDM should provide a centralized, scalable means to manage fleets of devices – including but not limited to security policy enforcement, updating apps and operating systems, and configuring device and application settings. It’s about efficiency; a single pane of glass to discover, manage and secure all the mobile endpoints across the ecosystem.

Especially for mobile deployments in operations, but valid for corporate workforces as well, actions like targeted updates to segmented workgroups make it easier for Systems teams to use automation to take action.

The benefits of remote control

If troubleshooting malfunctioning devices and apps is the most common purpose of remote control, a second benefit is tracking of remote session history. Logging remote control session actions give Support Admins a view into what has been pushed to the device. They can see what apps have been updated as well as any OS updates. Visibility to all these transmissions – over secure sessions, helps resolve incidents much faster.

A third is the essence of the word “remote” in Remote Control. And this matters in a couple of ways, the first is the worker experience. Without Remote Control, a worker experiencing a device failure in aisle 31 of the warehouse is not only down, but now much navigate the warehouse floor to wherever the local support station is to report the incident.

At best, the worker then gets another device from the local spares pool, signs in and traverses the floor back to aisle 31 and resumes the task; hopefully where they left off. At worst, they put the device down on a shelf in the aisle, walk to the spares pool location for a replacement device, sign in and travel back to aisle 31. No incident report is made, and a device is missing.

Remote Control lets this worker report, and Support teams resolve, that issue right at the point of activity in aisle 31. No one leaves their location, and when resolved, the mobile worker is right where they need to be to resume work. It is also important to mention here that attended remote control (where the worker authorizes the remote control session) is possible and adds security measures beyond those in an unattended session.

The flipside example of “Remote” is your Support Analysts. Remote Control allows these workers to connect to devices at other (remote!) locations to diagnose and resolve incidents. They are also able to determine if the hardware needs to be sent to a repair center, having tested and verified the issue to helping avoid the dreaded “no fault found” resolution from the repair depot.

Using an MDM with remote control functionality as a crutch to compensate for limited domain knowledge compromises efficiency. The automation included in reputable MDM solutions means more reliable uptime for mobile workers, and a better experience for systems analysts. It is important and worthwhile to invest the time to learn the robust toolset an MDM delivers.

The bottom line

Each tool has a purpose. If your organization is stuck using remote control to manage mobility, take a look at Ivanti Neurons for MDM, and let one of our partners help you with a process consultation. We have a library of training to help your support analysts get more comfortable with using MDM. Identifying how to best implement automation in your device management could save your IT teams countless hours each month and improve uptime.

Voice Picking: The Evolution of Mobile Productivity in the Warehouse

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 14:17:50 Z

Voice-directed picking is an established method for hands-free order fulfillment in warehouses around the world. If you haven’t explored it to boost productivity, now's the time.

As it has evolved, voice-based data entry – both text-to-speech and speech-to-text – can be installed into warehouse workflows quickly and economically, without changing your existing warehouse management or other enterprise systems.

As voice-directed application deployments became mainstream, implementation was the first aspect to evolve. Early to market were implementations requiring a middleware component to handle voice to/from text transmission.

A bit later, solutions that handled voice processing on the rugged mobile device the warehouse worker was already carrying simplified deployment and reduced costs. Choosing one or the other didn’t much affect the worker’s actual experience, but the evolution made voice enablement much more accessible to distributors, third-party logistics firms and supply-chain organizations of all sizes.

Eliminating worker stop times

The goal of the voice-enabled worker experience focuses on allowing workers to have both hands free by minimizing the need to interact with the screens in their mobile application.

One among many examples: It was discovered in process consultations that warehouse workers would often stop moving to read the next instruction in their workflow. Each stop took about two seconds. That’s 12 seconds in a six-step workflow – or over two hours of stop time per worker over the course of a shift!

Voice-directed apps eliminate most, if not all, such stoppages by audibly reading the next step of the workflow to the warehouse worker. But what happened on the other side of that voice app dialogue introduced another technological evolution in the way these apps are designed.

Voice apps grow more sophisticated

Early voice apps required workers to create a “voice profile,” essentially training the voice recognition engine to understand how each individual worker spoke. Think of how words like “potato” and “schedule” are pronounced in different regional dialects of English, then consider how much more varied dialects are in languages around the world. There are lots of differences in how common words are pronounced.

Each worker creates a profile and must select it when starting his or her shift so the voice app knows which user is speaking, loads that person’s voice profile and recognizes words more accurately.

Later entrants into the voice enablement space approach language by programming into a “grammar file” only words that would be appropriate for each field of a task workflow. For example, a worker verifying successfully picking the quantity of a SKU might say “27 confirm.” The grammar file in this kind of app listened specifically for a number, followed by the specific word “confirm.”

Grammar files improve accuracy by ensuring the spoken words translated into text entries in the task workflow are only words that would be appropriate for the context of the field the worker was populating or the voice command they were giving. A worker could talk to another worker about the previous night’s football game and not have words from that conversation become errant entries in their work task.

Choose your perfect voice-app solution

Each method has its strengths. Grammar files significantly streamlines training – reducing the worker’s time learning to use the voice technology and eliminating the time needed to train the voice app to recognize each worker’s unique pronunciation of common words. This faster ramp-up time offers significant savings – especially when equipping seasonal workers with voice-picking solutions.

However, having voice profiles as a backup is one way to further reduce errors in warehouse tasks. It may not be necessary for every worker, but when a particular user is experiencing speech-recognition errors, having the option to train the system to recognize that person’s unique pronunciation is a great way to improve your perfect order rate.

Does any voice-enablement solution provide both grammar files and voice profiles? Historically, voice software vendors aligned to one method or the other. But Ivanti Velocity Voice, the evolution of our Ivanti Speakeasy voice enablement solution, provides both.

Voice picking and other voice-enabled workflows continue to increase in supply-chain operations. If you haven’t given this productivity-boosting technology a look recently, let’s talk the universal language of mobile productivity!

Cloud Migration: Security Shines a Light on Operations’ Dark Networks

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 17:27:19 Z

Dark networks have provided a measure of security to supply-chain operations for a couple of decades.

These networks are closed to the outside world, only accessible via the connections between enterprise systems – think warehouse management, enterprise resource planning, etc. – and the rugged mobile devices carried by workers within these environments.

And, everything is managed by on-premises device management products that never connect beyond the business’s facilities.

Over time, more and more third-party participation has been introduced to your operations. Vendors connecting and sharing in business transaction data are one example of where third-party risk has been introduced. There are many other examples.

As a result, dark networks, or even modern private 5G networks alone, don’t mitigate as much risk as years ago. An expanded strategy of prevention and remediation is necessary.

Is now the time to make your move?

Headlines decry the increased vulnerability of supply-chain operations. Naming them isn’t necessary, because you know them, but the trend is real as evidenced by a 26% increase in supply chain breaches last year.

You have held out for years – but is it time to start embracing the cloud?

Perhaps you have had the conversation that would justify cloud migration based solely on the financial benefits. While many businesses benefit from a SaaS-based cloud model purely because predictable operating expense (OpEx) is lower on an annual basis compared to the capital expense (CapEx) of a single, larger license purchase.

The financial arguments are valid, but they don’t directly correlate to your team’s day-to-day. Still, we have all seen what can happen when a security breach brings operations to a grinding halt. Cloud solutions help mitigate that risk. Consider app patching: achieving 100% patch coverage across on-premises systems is a big effort consuming a lot of time and the risk of missing a single system or location could leave the business exposed. A cloud-based solution helps you deploy a patch much faster, more efficiently and comprehensively.

Of course, preventing a breach is the most desirable outcome of your operational security strategy, but what happens (not if but) when there is a breach? A breached cloud-based system might shut down that service, but not necessarily your whole operational tech stack. By comparison, containing a threat that has penetrated on-premises systems could mean shutting everything down to contain and remediate.

Start your transition with endpoint management

It might be best to start your cloud journey with endpoint management: MDM or UEM, whichever level makes the most sense for your operations. Zero-trust cloud solutions with geographically regional hosting help keep your data local – a firm requirement for organizations ranging from healthcare to critical infrastructure. This also helps reduce geopolitical risk to your operations.

It’s a big step to consider migrating to the cloud, especially from the comfort of the dark networks we’ve trusted in supply-chain operations for a generation. The security enhancements are just one area where it may yield advantages for your operations. Benefits to your IT bandwidth and opportunities for innovation are others – but more on those to be delivered in future blog posts.

Optimizing the Retail Returns Process

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 14:25:04 Z

January often means the longest lines in the retail store are for returns. And, maybe ironically, those returns are regularly processed at the Customer Service desk. That right there — that’s an annual challenge.

Consumers entering a store to make a return or exchange are already feeling inconvenienced. They bought or received an item they can’t use, and they’re at the store to resolve that problem. When the line is long, or the process is difficult (requiring a receipt, original packaging, etc.), it inflames an already irritating experience.

So, what’s happening to make returns easier?

A recent Retail Dive report predicted consumers might return over $82 billion of goods this season. Some brands have opted to deter returns by making the process more restrictive, adding or increasing restocking fees or shortening return windows and policies.

However, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty are positively correlated with easy, flexible returns. And more opportunity resides there. Loyalty, and share of wallet, can be built on a returns process that is frictionless and free.

Alternative Approaches

Earlier this month, at the NRF 2024 expo, I heard perspectives from several retailers who offered another increasingly common method of handling returns: “Keep it.”

For less-expensive goods, some retailers are finding it cheaper to issue a credit — online or in-store — without receiving the undesirable item back. What to do with that too-colorful sweater you received last month? It becomes your “ugly sweater” for the holiday party next year, and you also get to select a replacement item you actually want.

But that model doesn’t work for all returns. Consider the customer who buys goods online and returns in store. That customer enters the physical store with a product; a good experience means leaving the store with an exchange rather than a return — and ideally, additional purchases.

What if the desire to exchange is there but stock isn’t? Offering the option to match an out-of-stock item with a potential return at another location eases the burden on reverse logistics and delivers for the customer, all while eliminating carrying cost and time for items headed back to a distribution center.

Visibility and optimizing the returns workflow are essential to make this drop-ship exchange work. What if the workflow could immediately alert a customer service associate of a match with customer demand at another location? At the moment the return is accepted, the associate could set the item in motion for a direct shipment to where it can meet a customer demand elsewhere. Instead of return shipping, the item remains in last-mile delivery, where it satisfies a customer quickly.

Empowering the retail associate with an enhanced workflow changes the returns process for staff and customers. It transforms the last weeks of peak return season into a source of operational efficiency, developing brand loyalty and improved customer satisfaction.

Three Predictions for Supply Chain Operations in 2024

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 18:59:39 Z

The holiday season is here and it’s time for everyone’s favorite guessing game: predictions for next year. It’s an interesting one this year because there are a lot of dynamics to consider, and trying to dial in on just a few is a slight to many other topics.

Geopolitics, regional economic recessions — these are covered in a wide variety of industry publications, and I’ll yield the floor to them this year. Instead, we’re taking a look at three supply chain industry predictions many of you have your eyes on for the future.

Fun and games (and making money): gamified incentives

Competition is said to drive the very best businesses and products forward. But how about talent? What’s a little friendly competition among order pickers? That’s right — with more data available, operations teams can expand KPI visibility to their workers, and with it some creative incentives.

Consider the analytics we're all exposed to in sports. It’s easy to appreciate how performance data helps determine the most efficient workers, the fastest or the most accurate. KPIs work not just as a motivator, but as an incentive driver as well.

Think of the retail associate who can complete shelf audits faster than their peers. Get a spot bonus, or an early end-of-shift (with pay, of course), and their colleagues start aiming for the top of the leaderboard.

Gamification as a means to attract and retain top talent will become more common and help organizations throughout the whole supply chain address labor gaps.

What did you learn? Building resiliency

Experience isn’t defined as “what happens to you,” but more “what you learn from what happens to you.” And the last few years have included a boatload (technical term, here) of lessons.

This isn’t a recap of the doom and gloom we’ve all weathered. No, it’s a recognition of the silver linings that are more apparent after we’ve weathered the storms.

From stockouts and supply chain shortages through over-replenishment, we’ve been there. Freighters stuck in tight places? Check. Empty shelves that should be full of paper products? Yes. Commodities like chicken eggs tripling in price? Ugh.

However, the experience from all of this is that each disruption in the supply chain offers us opportunities to be more resilient in the future. Organizations — from raw materials providers to retailers — are more focused on optimizing inventory, and they are building safety nets into their demand planning that will mitigate potential disruptions in the future.

One-second wins: focusing on micro-efficiencies

Saving a second on a task has ripple effects on overall productivity when you multiply that savings across a team of workers accomplishing hundreds of tasks each during a given shift. A focus on little efficiencies, replicated throughout operations, will continue.

Adding automation is a big piece of that. Operations will continue to explore the potential of autonomous mobile robots and other sweeping changes to their tech stack, and 74% of supply chain leaders are increasing their supply chain technology and innovation investments, according to a 2023 survey from MHI and Deloitte.

However, smaller initiatives will get managers the 5% productivity gains they are looking for in the near term. Saving a couple of screen taps, scripting a sequence of keystrokes: these are the kinds of optimizations that accelerate supply chain workflows. So how do you find those?

Inquire with your supply chain mobility partner about performing a process consultation. You benefit from their experiences optimizing deployments in countless other operations to fine-tune yours.

Also, remember those supply chain workers looking to top the team leaderboard? Watch them and ask them. They’ll tell you what obstacles are slowing down their game, and the ideas they have for increasing speed.

This – and Every – Peak Season, It’s Partnerships that Deliver Success

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:32:06 Z

On a retail floor, there's a shopper with a question about product availability. And there’s a store associate with the opportunity to answer, creating a sale and building loyalty.

In a distribution center, a picker carefully lifts a fragile item out of a bin and places it in a tote. They confirm the item visually through an image presented in the picker’s application workflow. The order will be fulfilled accurately.

At a manufacturing facility, raw materials are delivered, inspected and signed for electronically — completing the inflow of components for production and initiating the reconciliation of accounts payable. It’s all immediately visible in the firm’s enterprise systems.

A healthcare facility worker identifies a misplaced carton of antibiotics while conducting the ward’s inventory cycle. A member of the pharmaceutical team is immediately alerted via email and can appropriately account for the additional quantities on-hand to treat patients.

An operations IT analyst has completed testing a critical mobile operating system patch and prepares it for deployment. The vulnerability risk will be mitigated across devices at all the organization’s facilities as each is checked in to a charging station. Work won't be interrupted, but threats are prevented.

Every scenario described above is the result of an ecosystem of partners combining their unique technologies and talents in partnership to solve specific business concerns.

The intensity of peak season aligns with the season of thankfulness, and in that spirit, we at Ivanti Wavelink are extremely thankful to our partners. We celebrate every innovative solution built on our Velocity platform and every managed service provider who keeps supply chain mobile deployments fully operational.

To each of our partners: thank you! Continue building outstanding solutions that keep goods moving from the manufacturing plant to the retail floor, hospital supply room and consumer doorstep. We look forward to many more supply chain worker experiences transformed as we help advance businesses toward operational excellence together.

On-Trend in Operations This Peak Season

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:03:59 Z

Here we are, back again to another calendar fourth quarter and maybe the same for your business. But whether your fiscal calendar lines up or not, it is that most wonderful time of year we all know as peak season.

Each year's a little different, especially lately. But rather than re-hash what we have all lived through leading up to this season, it feels right to have a look at what operations — maybe yours included, are doing to make peak season 2023 a success.

Deploying robots

While talked about for years, the “cobots” or autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are an emerging presence across the supply chain. Most commonly, AMRs are being deployed to perform repetitive tasks and reduce the time human workers spend toting materials across warehouse floors.

But AMRs can't work alone. The human worker is at the heart of supply chain operations, as evidenced by dual investments from one of the world’s largest parcel delivery firms. Their announcement to hire more than 100,000 seasonal employees balances their investment in autonomous robots for handling repetitive tasks.

Smart inventory management

Each year, historical data and trends can determine what the hot items will be for holiday shoppers. Goods landing on store shelves in November might have begun on a factory line in May, or even last November. And this doesn’t consider the hot holiday gifts inspired by a trendy show, movie or other pop culture movements.

Unlike last year, where retailers found themselves either in stockout or an overabundance thanks to supply chain disruptions, many this year plan to run lean on inventory. The goal, of course, is to balance the risk of stockouts while limiting the deep or extended discounting.

No secret that accurate, real-time inventory visibility is essential to keeping replenishment matched with demand —whether at the distribution center or on the retail floor.

Mitigating returns

The final phase of the peak season cycle is returns. Online shopping convenience can also contribute to the reverselogistics pain retailers and consumer brands feel. Here in the United States, 16.5% of online purchases are returned. Returns rates may vary in your region, but likely correlate with the US average.

As suppliers, we can’t easily compensate for all consumer preferences and behaviors, such as the online shopper who purchases an item in three sizes to select the best fit and return the others. However, suppliers are working hard to reduce mis-picks and other shipping errors that contribute to their future returns. Voice-directed apps on our Velocity platform help supply chain organizations deter these issues.

There is so much happening within our supply chain industry, not to mention the outside pressures placed on it. As you’re navigating this annual marathon, remember to watch your operations for potential bottlenecks or process improvements. If you’re looking for help, consider a process consultation with your supply chain mobility partner. Now is the time to start building your list for peak season 2024 success.

Safety, Compliance and Savings with Digital Forms

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:00:02 Z

Paperwork. It’s time consuming. But across supply chain operations, documentation is necessary. And ensuring it is completed fully, accurately and timely is essential to protecting your workers, your business and your reputation.

Enforce safety

One of the most relatable and common forms supply chain operations teams relate with are the forklift and pallet jack inspection checklists. Before wheeling around the warehouse, it’s imperative to make sure the equipment is in good working order.

On paper, this form is completed wherever the forklift was parked, then either walked back to the manager’s office (unnecessary travel time) or stored on the clipboard in the forklift until the driver has a chance to deliver it later —leaving you hoping the form was completed before work started.

In the US alone, there are more than 850,000 forklifts in service. That means that hundreds of thousands of inspection checklists are completed each day (even more considering multiple-shift operations), and likely into the millions when you consider around-the-clock operations.

Digital forms are electronically sent to the proper recipient immediately, avoiding travel time. And, by building forms into your task workflows, you can make them mandatory – halting progression in the task until the form is completed. This gives you peace of mind that the form is completed and helps ensure a safe working environment.

Simplify compliance

What happens at your next safety audit? You’re expected to produce volumes of documentation to support your operation’s compliance with regulatory and safety standards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), requires semi-annual reporting of injuries and other incidents about worker safety, in addition to any equipment inspection or service documentation.

How do you keep an archive of so many forms every day, considering requirements to retain records for five years? That’s a lot of file cabinets, not to mention reams of paper, toner cartridges, etc.

Electronic forms make it easier to archive, sort and search among countless files. PDFs of compliance checklists are easily routed to the desired server destination, with notifications shared to key stakeholders for immediate review.

Discover savings

I mentioned the costs of paper, toner and other office materials, in addition to the time lost walking paper forms back across the facility for processing. But there is much more than this.

The savings can come in accident prevention — reducing damage costs, downtime and most importantly, protecting your workers. Add on to that the potential savings on insurance, and the intangibles such as labor relations.

With Velocity Forms, you’re able to reduce risk within your operations. And building these forms into Velocity task workflows helps you maintain control; to ensure required safety checks and inspections are completed routinely.

Learn more about Velocity Forms or jump into a demo with our product experts to get started.

Five Ways Voice Picking Raises Accuracy in Supply Chain Operations

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 13:40:39 Z

Accuracy in supply chain operations means so many things. There’s the obvious order accuracy in fulfillment, and all that comes with it — KPIs met, customer satisfaction ratings, etc. Every one of these is important. But there are several ways that improving accuracy affects the business, so we’re looking at how operations teams hit the target with help from voice-enabled applications.

Correct shipments

The obvious one first. Picking accuracy is the root of everything tied to product delivery. perfect order rates, customer satisfaction scores and a ton of other metrics are all connected to this. Deploying voice-directed guidance to your picking workflow keeps workers focused on the product they are placing in the tote or on the pallet, and not distracted by looking at a device screen or keying in pick data.

Bi-directional voice apps also keep workers’ eyes forward between pick locations, making the work environment safer for everyone.

Precision processes

When you add voice to your existing applications, it’s an opportunity to optimize the workflows you have in place. Taking time to get worker feedback and input, or maybe seeking a process consultation with your supply chain mobility partner will help discover the steps in your existing workflows that can be consolidated or adjusted to address bottlenecks.

The goal is to empower workers to work more efficiently. When they can pick more orders per shift, with improved accuracy as discussed above, you’ve enhanced both elements of the efficiency equation. Voice helps here because it is more than just changing the user experience.

Alone, that change doesn’t improve picking accuracy. But accuracy comes in because voice becomes a key ingredient of a multi-modal solution that confirms accuracy.

Trust in numbers

One downstream effect of optimized workflows is more accurate metrics. With workers navigating tasks more efficiently, key performance targets that were once believed to be unsurpassable have become the daily expectation. You’re able to be more confident in delivery commitments given to customers.

This is a big quality statement, and customers have Lean Six-Sigma certified their picking workflows to align with their corporate QA initiatives.

Plus, your workers gain confidence in the metrics determining their performance rank and incentive bonus opportunities. It’s no secret — you're more likely to attract and retain your top talent when workers trust the technologies and systems they use. And Zebra’s recent Warehouse Vision Study indicated workers and decision-makers agree that tech advancements in these areas make warehouse environments more enticing to workers.

Accurate inventories

Voice-enabled workflows easily handle the exception capabilities built into your enterprise systems. One familiar example is a pick-partial scenario. This is when the picking workflow instructs the worker to pick 27 of an item, but there are only 14 pieces of the item on the shelf. Instead of confirming the pick quantity (27), they respond, “14 confirm”. The system identifies the mismatch and asks for confirmation to override the pick quantity.

Once the override is completed, this can trigger purchasing or other areas of the business to review inventory on-hand, initiate another order, identify another location where the balance can be picked up or take other actions. Using the picking workflow to identify potential stock-outs in real time helps keep inventories accurate and offers proactive communication and stream and downstream through the supply chain.

Competitive strength

I mentioned at the top that customer satisfaction is among the key performance indicators greatly influenced by order accuracy. We’ve covered how voice helps improve those perfect order rates and other KPIs.

But it can’t be missed that your decision to employ voice and reap the advantages the technology provides also positions you advantageously against your competitors. Not only will your shipments become more accurate — both in terms of the right products and on-time delivery, your operations and systems will have more accurate accounting and workers will be more efficient.

Altogether, you’re likely to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction and advance further along the path to operation excellence, and advance further along the path to operational excellence.

A Truce in the Device Management "Turf Wars"

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 18:07:17 Z

“Why can’t you just use the MDM we’ve been using in corporate IT?”

Sounds familiar? If you’ve been in operations IT for the last decade or more, you’ve likely heard this question from your corporate colleagues at least once.

It may be a bit ironic that mobile device management may have been part of your operational tech stack for twice as many years as it’s been in the corporate conversation. Rugged mobile computers, forklift-mounted computers, and wearables in your supply chain operations have relied on MDM going back to the 1990’s.

In its earliest days, MDM handled OS updates for Windows CE and other early mobile operating systems (remember PalmOS?). For the earliest Wi-Fi-connected devices, app updates could finally be pushed over the air, rather than batch uploads at a centralized set of device docking stations. I’m aging myself, but wasn’t it a relief to be able to do that?

With the introduction of smartphones, BYOD became a thing and corporate IT teams needed to manage them. The users were in different teams from operations often segregated in rather cold terms as “knowledge” versus “task” workers, and at its peak, corporate IT had close to 150 MDM vendors to choose among.

Just as the products were different, the MDM products aimed at corporate IT were subscription products. So, every 1-3 years, when the contract was up, they likely came to the operations IT team looking for you to adopt the same product. It looked good on paper: more seats meant potential volume discounts on licenses. For some, it also became a “turf war” for control over mobile deployments.

Frustration mounted among operations IT teams. The device management needs are (and have always been) different for managing rugged/supply chain mobile deployments. We’ve grown up with the deep control over device-specific technologies; controls like enabling specific barcode symbologies in particular use cases, or disabling device cameras as a means to protect intellectual property. Not to mention managing these mobile deployments on “dark” Wi-Fi networks, deploying targeted app/OS updates and managing segmented workgroups.

Managing device functions like these requires close relations with specific device manufacturers. Where corporate MDM players cast a wide net with support for numerous Android and iOS devices, the few (Ivanti Wavelink included) whose solutions were built for supply chain use cases and operations IT users, continued ensuring strong management of devices from the specialized hardware manufacturers included in your operations tech stack.

As the vendors for corporate MDM have consolidated, it’s become clearer that these solutions wouldn’t meet your needs. One exception: MobileIron.

When Ivanti acquired MobileIron in late 2020, the MDM and mobile security strengths of that heritage have been blended with the domain knowledge and device manufacturer relationships that businesses have trusted in Ivanti Avalanche.

Bringing the best of these together opens new opportunities for the future of your operations: continue the deep device control you’ve trusted, with enhanced mobile security and the optimized device management experience required of an Android Enterprise Recommended MDM solution.

The product is Ivanti Neurons for MDM. And it delivers what you need to ensure your mobile deployments are ready for today’s and tomorrow’s business. But it also gives you the chance to say to your corporate IT teammates: “you should use the MDM solution we’re using. It’s got your users covered.”

Exceptions Happen. Handle Them Quickly.

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 13:42:05 Z

It’s ironic, but exceptions happen all the time. We all can relate to these in supply chain operations: the crushed package, the barcode damaged to the point it can’t be decoded, the misplaced or abandoned tote.

When these errors occur, what happens? The person who discovers it is responsible for reporting it. How long does that take? Who do they report the incident to? Should they address it themselves?

The reality is that the time a worker spends dealing with that exception is time taken away from the task the worker was assigned. That delay introduces risk to your business. It not only affects team metrics, but potentially delivery commitments or even revenue.

Automating exception reporting

Travel time is lost time in your operations. You can elimate this unnecessary travel time if you can empower the worker to report incidents right at the point of discovery.

With automation, consider the scenario of a warehouse worker discovering a misplaced box in an aisle. Standing right where it’s discovered, the worker reports what they find – including a photo of the carton, adding the aisle location and any business-specific info, and “send.”

The worker resumes their assigned task and the form is routed accordingly. In this case, maybe a warehouse manager receives the notification and dispatches a team member to gather and handle the misplaced box accordingly.

And that’s really the key. You need to know about the exception, or else your accounting could be inaccurate, a shipment might be incorrect or some other disruption flows through your operations. But you also need to shift responsibility quickly from any worker who discovers the exception, to the person who can swiftly remediate it.

A quick hand-off maximizes the time your mobile workers spend on their assigned tasks, while empowering them to report incidents they encounter along the way. There’s good news – you can make this happen.

In-app digital forms

You can now make it easy for supply chain and retail workers to complete exception handling forms within Velocity applications. Without exiting their assigned task workflow, workers can pull up a form, capture a photo (if necessary) forward it on and get back to the task at hand.

By incorporating Ivanti Neurons for IIoT onto the Velocity platform, you can define the routing for various forms, from exception handling and incident reports to inspection forms. Workers don’t have to worry about their completed form getting to the right person. You’ve made sure it gets where it needs to go, automatically.

How much time can you recover in your operations? Let’s figure that out together. Ivanti Wavelink will be at ProMat 2023 in Chicago, March 20-23. Visit us at booth S4718. You can even sign up in advance for a tour of all that’s new as we continue to transform the supply chain worker experience.

Big Productivity with Small Wearables

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 18:53:37 Z

“If that doesn’t work, try a bigger hammer.” It’s an old saying we can all appreciate, but it isn’t always the best solution. Regarding the mobile workforce, smaller is sometimes better.

As consumers, we’ve watched cell phone handset sizes change: first from large 1980’s car phones to pocketable “brick” phones. Then, smaller “flip” phones were replaced by our larger smart phones, which vary on screen size but remain pocketable.

For mobile workers, devices sizes stayed relatedly consistent for a long time. Size typically reflected the level of durability a device could sustain. A device with a 6 foot (2 meter) drop specification was larger than a device that was rated to a 4 foot (1.2 meter) drop. Form factors could vary: brick or “pistol-grip” depending on how intensively users would scan barcodes, but the device sizes were bulky by today’s standards.

With 46% of respondents naming faster delivery as a top challenge they are facing, small wearable devices can give your mobile workers a big boost to complete their tasks at faster and more efficient rates.

Wearable scanning solutions

Wearable devices were rare ten and twenty years ago. They were used for specific job roles, like parcel sorting, which required a lot of hands-on work. And while the form factor and the use cases were different, workers using these devices often connected to the same enterprise systems as their rugged mobile device-toting teammates.

Apps and screen sizes

Wearable devices have often used the same (or similar) components common to traditional rugged devices – sometimes the display was the same part, turned into a landscape orientation for readability while worn on the worker’s wrist.

The applications flipped to landscape view as well for easy adoption. But for many, the term “wearable” evokes a different image today: smart watches and fitness devices. Zebra Technologies recently added the WS50 form to their wearable portfolio. This form has its own user experience.

One size fits… small?

With a 2-inch display, on-screen interaction may be different from the 4-inch (or larger) displays on other Zebra mobile computers, but the productivity gains are equally achievable. For example, navigating a picking task workflow means presenting the user with concise step-by-step direction: proceed to aisle, then shelf and bin, then SKU. This added automation eliminates non-essential steps in the workflow.

Big opportunity

Smaller wearables, like the WS50, have a chance to leave a big footprint in empowering mobile workers. Using Ivanti Velocity to optimize screens for faster task completion can be further complemented by adding voice with Ivanti Speakeasy for Velocity. This wearable pairs nicely with a wireless headset so workers can speak through tasks, reducing or eliminating the need to glance down at a device screen.

Mobile workers keep both hands available to pick products, easily complete tasks and communicate with enterprise systems. Using a device light enough to be easily worn all day gives mobile workers the edge they need to accomplish more each shift!

Celebrating Ivanti Wavelink’s Partners of the Year for 2022

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 19:45:55 Z

Success is sweetest when shared. And in business, the best successes are those that deliver the best outcomes for customers. The 2022 Ivanti Wavelink Partners of the Year have delivered solutions to optimize workflows for mobile workers and increase the Perfect Order Rate for businesses throughout the supply chain.

These solutions are built on the Ivanti Velocity platform, and in many cases, added voice-enablement in several languages around the globe.

Our partners innovate on the Velocity platform, and we are proud to celebrate their creative development. This journey is still in its early days, and we’re really excited to see what each of our partners can do when they add their specializations onto Velocity. These award winners are selected by Ivanti’s global executive team, who recognize partners from each region around the world.

This year, we celebrate the following Ivanti Wavelink partners for delivering success:

Distributor of the Year

Americas: Bluestar
APAC: Sektor ANZ
EMEA: Bluestar Europe

Partner of the Year

Americas: Peak Technologies
APAC: Digital China
EMEA: Renovotec UK

Ivanti Wavelink 2022 Value Award

Americas: Stratix
APAC: ABSS Thailand
EMEA: Orca Mobile Data

Global Innovator of the Year

Procensis

Congratulations to our award winners and to all our partners for a successful 2022. We look forward to celebrating with you in the year ahead!

Not an Ivanti Wavelink partner? Learn more about our program and start delivering more value to your customers in 2023.

Three Supply Chain Predictions for ‘23

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 15:00:01 Z

Yes, it’s that time of year again! It’s time we look ahead with hope for a successful wrap to peak season and consider the trends influencing the year ahead. The last few years have been anyone’s guess, but recent data shows us optimistic points on the horizon as we head towards 2023.

Even though supply chain disruptions are fading, there’s new questions to address – the backlog of orders are making their way through distribution and to the retail floor, but what will happen to the demand?

Supply chain predictions for 2023

So, what does 2023 have in store? Three areas to focus on will be related to productivity, visibility and the direction of global markets.

More focus on productivity and uptime

The struggle to have enough workers has been a topic since the start of the pandemic. The worker shortage will be compounded by internal pressures to control operating expenses – with the infamous “more with less” phrase increasing in both frequency and volume. How do you prove operating expenses are already controlled? By demonstrating productivity.

You know your teams are already working hard. They’ve been executing and carrying the load even as some of their peers have moved on. How can you help them be even more productive? You need to maximize their uptime.

Preventative maintenance on your operational tech stack will certainly be part of this because few things weigh down your workers more than being idled by malfunctioning tools.

Expect to invest some time, and hopefully you’re already doing so during this peak season, to clear bottlenecks and streamline processes to keep them running at full speed. Anything you can do to keep tasks in motion will help get you to the numbers you need.

Real-time insights more important

Numbers will to continue to be the name of the game in 2023. Data on its own is just a bunch of numbers until analysis delivers the necessary KPIs. The challenge is that there is a lot of data but tying all those numbers together gives you the information to locate problems, and it’s not just a traditional KPI.

According to VDC research, 46% of respondents named faster delivery the top challenge they are facing. Imagine being able to simultaneously alert a driver that a package didn’t make the truck it was supposed to be on, and the distribution center so the missed package can be prioritized, picked and brought to the dock for immediate action.

2023 is going to extend the conversation around real-time insights to improve operations.

Economic conditions will improve

The supply chain catch-up has led to plenty of inventory on some goods. Retailers are offering big discounts on goods that have high inventory as they work to get inventory off the books during the shopping season. With the latest reports suggesting inflation may begin to ease, these discounts should only help the downward trend.

The results? Global markets will begin to stabilize, albeit slowly, leaving geopolitical risk as the remaining anchor on markets that will otherwise be ready to return to a normal economic recovery by mid-2023.

So, as 2022 wraps up, on behalf of the entire Ivanti Wavelink team, we wish you all a successful peak season. We’re looking forward to navigating these topics and all that 2023 delivers with you. Stay productive and have a wonderful holiday season!

Securing Productivity in Supply Chains

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 20:57:47 Z

Mobile device management – it’s been part of your operational technology portfolio for a long time. You’ve been using it for years – or maybe decades – to stage device configurations, push software updates and more.

You might be using our Ivanti Avalanche MDM solution to manage your rugged mobile deployments. The device, OS and app management capabilities remain at the center of your mobility management program, and that isn’t going to change. What is changing is the prioritization of security as part of MDM.

Mobility as a threat vector

Mobile devices are a threat vector that has been on the rise in recent years. According to the 2022 edition of Verizon’s Mobile Security Index, 45% of surveyed companies said they suffered an incident, resulting in data loss, downtime or other negative outcome involving a mobile device.

The report further explains that 53% of respondents acknowledged that mobile devices have access to more sensitive data than they did one year ago.

Bringing down the house

You don’t need to look hard to read recent headlines about these types of attacks. A retailer breached by a threat actor who entered via the HVAC system was early evidence of third-party risk exposure. The breach of a pipeline operator in 2021 highlighted the risks to critical infrastructure. Unfortunately, there are countless examples out there.

Enterprise mobility risks includes users carrying all kinds of devices, like smartphones, commercial tablets and rugged mobile devices. Plus, there are also users with mobile point of sale (POS) tablets.

All these devices connect to your business’ critical infrastructure. A software update that isn’t deployed could leave the door open for a threat actor to steal gigabytes of customer data from your CRM system or ransom your warehouse management system, bringing your operations to a halt.

Now, what should you do to increase prevention and resilience in your operations?

Mobile security and device management

Be sure your mobile security strategy includes these protections, and consider how they are addressed on diverse types of mobile endpoints across your organization:

Know what you have. You can’t protect what you can’t see. It may be easier to account for your corporate purchased rugged mobile computers (including spares!) and even corporate-owned, personally enabled (COPE) devices. You also need to see, secure and manage any bring your own device allowed into your ecosystem with a cloud-based platform like Ivanti Neurons for MDM.
Patch efficiently. Yes, patching is both a difficult and manual process – but it’s important. You need visibility to the vulnerabilities across your estate to update operating systems and third-party app software. And don’t discount device firmware.
Don’t disturb the user experience. Device security and management should be virtually invisible to the end user. You don’t need a retail sale stalled or a warehouse order delayed while a device update happens.
Validation has value. Android Enterprise Recommended MDM solutions are required to meet specific standards for user experience and performance – a nod to your operational tech administrators as well.
Protect against the latest threats. Optimized threat prevention includes protecting against known and zero day threats. Adding Ivanti Mobile Threat Defense, part of our MobileIron heritage, adds real-time intelligence to help you detect malicious apps.

Protecting productivity

You work hard to be sure your rugged devices and wearables in mission-critical operations are ready for daily use. Making sure security is covered manages another risk, so you can focus on ensuring your workers deliver on KPIs.

To dive deeper, sign up for our webinar and let us show you how Android Enterprise Recommended MDM and mobile security work together to keep your mobile deployments secure, available and accessible.

Take Stock During Peak Season

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 13:23:07 Z

It’s that time of the year again and peak season 2022 feels different. With supply chains and global economies in flux, businesses have a lot to consider. Shipping woes are subsiding in many areas – consider that a year ago, the queue at the Port of Long Beach, California was approaching a peak of 110 vessels, down to eight freighters in September of this year.

East coast ports in the US and others around the globe are seeing rising tides. Economic headwinds keep adding to the “fun” as data emphasizes inflation and producer price increases. It’s no wonder truck and rail shippers are seeing freight demand cool down.

Still, this is the season to deliver. While the macroeconomic news isn’t exactly celebratory, you’re still focused on meeting the demands of your customers. There is a theory that peak season isn’t as high a spike this year but may have instead started earlier – resulting in a longer, flatter wave. Maybe. But that’s something to assess afterward.

As for right now? You’re already locked on your goals for this season. No major technology changes are likely to roll out during this time of year, but there are some aspects you can focus on.

Worker training

Given you need to train seasonal workers every year. But look at what you’re training. One good way to flag workflows that need improvement is when trying to walk new or seasonal team members through the task.

If a task workflow is difficult to explain, it should be reviewed for improvement or simplification. Changes may not be something you will implement now but make a note of it for review post-season.

Process bottlenecks

In the same way you look at training, sometimes a bottleneck isn’t as apparent until you observe one with increased frequency during a period of higher activity. Or a bottleneck can appear only during this busier time.

For example, a warehouse picking process may seem fine under “normal conditions.” Still, a bottleneck becomes visible when a more significant number of pickers navigate various workflows in greater volume. Again, if you can tweak the process immediately, do it! Otherwise, flag it for post-season review.

Team incentives

Some major retailers are bringing on fewer seasonal workers than in years past. Depending on your business, this might be an effective cost control – especially to counter some other areas where cost increases are squeezing margin. Some retailers are offering extensive overtime and other incentives to existing team members.

The efficiency gains here can be valuable because it reduces the need for worker training, builds morale and loyalty among team members who reap additional compensation.

Some supply chain firms are adding more incentives for workers who achieve specific key performance indicators (KPIs) on each extra shift they take – bonuses on top of overtime.

Ask for input!

Supply chain workers appreciate being heard. And often, the best suggestions for process improvements will come from the people who experience the pain of a broken process.

Sometimes, they bring more than just the problem – sharing the workaround they have already been using or the process improvement they wish they could have that could make their tasks easier. It could be a change in physical procedure, a software workflow update or resolution to some other challenge they experience daily.

Pay attention! Your next 5% productivity gain could very well come from their ideas.

Take note for next year

One theme among these peak season considerations is that while possible, you’re unlikely to make changes during the current season. However, stay objective and acknowledge the opportunity for process improvements to review once the season wraps.

When you’re ready to tackle the list, we’ve got you covered with mobile app workflow optimization in our Velocity platform. We can help you integrate industrial IoT into your operational tech to track KPIs. Now is the time to take stock of what initiatives will make next year’s peak season your best.

Wearables Are Hot! And Zebra's WS50 Is No Exception with Velocity

Wed, 04 May 2022 19:01:16 Z

A new generation of wearable computers has entered the market. These new devices are the result of technology convergence, which is the tendency for technologies that were originally unrelated to become more closely integrated and even unified as they advance. The first wearable computing systems were introduced 20 years ago and are commonplace in warehouse and transportation environments, as they provide workers with a hands-free work experience that is ideally suited for workers who require the use of both hands to perform their job.

Until now, wearable solutions generally consisted of a central mobile computer, often attached to the worker's forearm, with peripherals such as a barcode scanner connected to it. These new variants combine the computer and scanner into a single device that is worn on the hand. These new devices reduce the number of batteries to charge, eliminate cabling between devices and reduce the overall device weight and size.

At the core of these new devices is the Android operating system, which allows them to be programmed like other mobile computers. Velocity from Ivanti Wavelink is already powering these devices and providing customers with the ability to integrate them into their existing environments with no changes to their warehouse management system (WMS) or transportation management system (TMS) solution.

The Zebra WS50 is one such device that targets scan-intensive workflows with a limited need for keyed data entry and display, like loading trucks, sorting boxes and picking orders. Using its scripting capabilities, Velocity makes it easy to convert traditional mobile computer application screen images to the smaller WS50 format by only showing the user the information required for each specific step of the workflow. For example, mobile workflows that are designed for traditional mobile computers generally display lots of information on the screen at one time (shelf, bin, part number, description and quantity). With Velocity, this same screen image can be rendered on the smaller WS50 in multiple pieces as the worker proceeds through the task: shelf and bin, followed by part number and description, followed by quantity. This approach helps focus the mobile worker on the specific task at hand without interfering with workflows being performed on other devices or requiring changes to the WMS or TMS application.

The WS50 is one of a long list of validated Zebra devices that run Velocity TE or Web app framework with millions of devices in use today.

To learn more about Velocity and the wide portfolio of mobile computing devices we support, visit the Ivanti Wavelink solutions directory.

Optimize Your Warehouse Operations with Actionable, In-House Data

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 13:29:23 Z

“We are surrounded by data but starved for insights.” – Jay Baer

The complexity of warehouse operations in the past few years has increased, with the high demand for better products and services. Managing warehouse processes requires real-time and comprehensive analytics that can provide measurable insights to help businesses make informed decisions. And more than ever, warehouses and distribution centers recognize that top-performing supply chain organizations are driven by data.

Although supply chain businesses may have different preferences as to which key performance indicators (KPIs) are most meaningful to them, there is one common need that everyone shares – eliminating downtime and improving productivity.

Faster, efficient and effective

In order to improve productivity in supply chain, businesses need to optimize processes, reduce costs, monitor process effectiveness and take corrective measures. What if you were able to gather information in real time from your mobile barcode scanners and visualize the KPIs in a meaningful way? Our dashboard display will help you make data-driven decisions for enhanced shipments, inventory management, workforce streamlining and productivity management.

Bring it all together with Operational Insights

You can bring it all together by joining forces with Ivanti Velocity and Neurons for IIoT! These solutions allow the kind of connectivity warehouse operations need for enhanced visibility on picking, replenishing, orders, inventory and transportation management as well as resource planning. Our out-of-the-box offering allows your existing Ivanti Velocity customers the ability to connect with Ivanti Neurons for IIoT platform to start collecting reliable data in real time. Take action to identify areas of improvement, and fix the most common issues that impact warehouse productivity that often go undetected and unreported, such as damaged barcodes, bad barcodes, picking inaccuracy, scanned barcode errors, etc.

You can’t fix what you can’t see

We have good news! You can easily improve your productivity with actionable data from the edge.

Operational Insights will give you what you need to fix common issues immediately and measure the impact of those changes in real time. This type of purview will allow your operation to act today, not next quarter or next year, and you will be able to fix the issues that often go undetected and unreported. With the right actionable insights, you’ll be proactive, not reactive.

4 common challenges resolved in the supply chain warehouse

When it comes to increased demand, heightened productivity and labor shortages, there are obvious commonalities to everyday challenges:

Damaged barcodes.
Bad barcodes.
Tracking productivity and training.
Error tracking.

With our Operational Insights offering, customers with Ivanti Velocity can immediately connect to Ivanti Neurons for IIoT to achieve enhanced and customizable data to help mitigate risks and build on what works to help your business thrive.

Leverage automation and optimize to measure results

Whether you are using Terminal Emulation (TE) or Web, you can extend Velocity capabilities to introduce automation and start leveraging device-specific insights that help you measure performance-driven processes. This will result in helping you make decisions that improve warehouse productivity. With Velocity, it’s easy to know what the state of your device is – what data is available, what data isn’t available – all because our Velocity client runs on the device itself without having to modify or replace your backend IT or WMS systems.

Creating an effective supply chain dashboard

With the information in hand, customizing an operational insight dashboard that reflects the critical KPIs and supply chain metrics is crucial. Don’t get left behind! Drive data-driven decisions to streamline your warehouse operations by identifying the most opportune areas of productivity improvement that help you address unique business requirements.

To explore our full capabilities and the power of mobile productivity, visit our product portfolio.