Interactive Voice Response (IVR) has come a long way since it first landed on the market and is at this day one of the most widely used and progressive kinds of call centre software available. it is often overlooked in starting an internet business when access to a helpline or manned customer service is seen as secondary. 

Used by all kinds of companies throughout the world, the key purpose of the IVR system is to organize large numbers of calls that some organizations of a particular nature can experience and is for a human impossible to handle. A well-designed IVR system can drastically reduce operating overheads and assist organizations in supporting both their clients and staff as well as improving the client’s experience. 

The IVR systems are able to distinguish between commands, whether they are input as a voice command or via the dial pad. The system responds to the input with a pre-recorded script to direct the caller on how to proceed, this can be a request to state the number from a list of given options or to select a number using the dial pad. IVR systems are most suitable for any task whereby the instruction can be separated and put into a simple menu option. In telecommunications these systems are generally very competent and reliable when it comes down to dealing with large volumes of calls.

Interactive Voice Response systems are popular as they save companies time and manpower as well as money. IVR appliances are often used in telephone banking industries, for televoting and credit card transactions. If an organization utilizes an IVR system, then the organization can extend its business hours to round the clock if necessary.

Companies that experience a high level of callers each day requesting the same information, (such as a bank where the customer is checking their bank balance, the opening times of a store or visa and passport information), find automated systems extremely useful and time saving. The alternative for a company is to recruit staff according to the volume of calls and enquiries. This would cost them considerably more as they would need to hire at least 2 or 3 members of staff to cover the same hours as an automated service can provide.

IVR systems range considerably in their functions, the less expensive models are quite basic and instructions a simple yes or no voice command, or press 1 for….press 2 for….dial pad command. The more advanced systems ask for names, dates of birth and your address and recognize the answers, so speeding the whole process up greatly. Systems like these are very useful for situations where the same information is needed over and over again and will provide it much faster than if the phones were to be manually answered.

Many of the largest IVR systems are facilitated for voting in popular TV game shows, such as Big Brother and Pop Idol, TV shows which can produce millions of calls during a short period of time and would prove impossible to answer manually. The systems are also useful for mobile users who are calling to register a logo or a new ringtone for their phone, anyone calling to ask about the weather forecast for the following will experience an automated system.

Call centres are the main users of IVR systems and use them to identify and redirect the user to the correct department where their enquiry can then be dealt with. The ability to identify customers further enables the organization to adapt its services to fit the client profile. With an automated service, the client can choose the information he requires, including choose an automated service, request a call-back or wait in the queue.

Many of the largest IVR systems are facilitated for voting in popular TV game shows, such as Big Brother and Pop Idol, TV shows which can produce millions of calls during a short period of time and would prove impossible to answer manually. The systems are also useful for mobile users who are calling to register a logo or a new ringtone for their phone, anyone calling to ask about the weather forecast for the following will experience an automated system.

IVR systems are normally installed in-house and maintained by the IVR provider who sets up the system through the client’s network. There are limitations to IVR systems in comparison to having the telephones manually answered, but the advantages to clients and the organization by far overshadow these limitations.

RFID tagging is the system of choice for tracking objects - it will be interesting to see how biomeric systems such as voice recognition shape up in the world of communication and data tagging.

Senior executives need to understand RFID’s growing importance for supply chain efficiency, inventory accuracy and reverse logistics throughout each product’s lifecycle.

One agricultural company, using RFID to enhance its retail replenishment strategy, can now track its products with unprecedented levels of granularity, utilizing item-level tagging across its enterprise.

The firm will share how it employs RFID to make the most efficient and effective use of existing resources, and how it developed this strategy

Datacraft Solutions’ Demand Driven Supply Chain Network was profiled in the recent issue of Accounting 411 magazine

“The central hallmark of demand driven supply chain is a digital kanban system which achieves savings in several key areas,” according to Stephen Parker, CEO of North Carolina-based Datacraft Solutions.

It reduces the need to build inventory. All production is initiated based on the immediate needs of customers. Inventory turns for digital kanban parts are optimized (a definition of lean accounting.)
Time spent by customer service communicating on expedited parts issues is practically been eliminated through a demand driven supply chain. Often customer service staff members spend 40% of their time expediting part orders prior to digital kanban implementation.
Sales have increased with the benefit of the e-kanban program because the copper manufacturer no longer uses capacity to build parts without an order to buy NOW. 100% of production capacity is utilized to build parts that are already sold as soon as they hit the shipping dock.

Parker insists, “Capacity is expensive and a demand driven supply chain via digital kanban provides lean accounting efficiency and elimination of waste.”

Business process efficiencies increase with digital kanban, since orders are no longer run through the scheduling department, cutting shop orders and batching them. Demand driven supply chain replaces a very long chain of events in the order entry and scheduling function. Customer needs are displayed in real time. Everyone, including the customer, can see the status of any digital kanban at all times.

This scorecard methodology along with digital kanban assists all manufacturing staff to understand the business and see the impact of their efforts manifested in better results. People want to know what they can do to make the business better, and link what they do to the financial results. Lean accounting provides a sense of ownership. Manufacturing staff now can understand what is occurring on the shop floor and make the appropriate changes.

Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) has experienced significant growth in the past twelve months by eliminating complicated, expensive, time-intensive software implementations as well as extensive training regiments and the need for internal support. The Datacraft Solutions’ replenishment supply chain digital kanban lean system allows customers access and fully utilize powerful lean benefits immediately for a low, predictable monthly fee. Services are scalable so manufacturers can design a Demand Driven Supply Chain Network.

Datacraft Solutions specializes in providing their clients with the tools they need to rapidly replace outdated manual systems with technology that speeds process flow and improves accuracy. Datacraft’s premier product, Signum has been developed around the Kanban concept of replenishment, and provides an invaluable tool for manufacturing companies to monitor process flow, lower administrative transaction costs, and improve decision-making ability.

Thomas Cutler
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/datacraft-solutions-digital-kanban-profiled-in-accounting411-69728.html

Unipart Logistics has started its tracking of Jaguar auto parts while the same are transported in cargo containers from the United Kingdom to the United States. Said auto parts were tracked by SaviTrak™, a Radio Frequency Identification-based (RFID) information service from Savi Networks. This is in connection with the automaker’s ‘Jaguar Tradelane Project’ which uses Jaguar car parts from inland warehouse and distribution centers.

Jaguar Tradelane Project is aimed to evaluate the standing of Jaguar car parts in some areas. This project also endeavors to improve real-time visibility of container shipments, lessen lead-times and time variances involved in the delivery, reduce costs linked to urgent cargo transportation which causes delay, develop information accuracy, and improve overall supply chain as well as customer service performance. Automakers parts included in the shipment include Jaguar S Type parts and Jaguar XJ Series parts.

Carl Powell, director and general manager of USP, the Supply Chain Consultancy Division of Unipart Logistics said: “As a long-time, leading provider and innovator of logistics solutions, Unipart is looking to continuously improve services to our clients, and we expect the SaviTrak information service will help Jaguar and potentially other customers gain greater value through improved supply chain performance. Within Unipart Logistics we focus on providing industry-leading levels of customer service and product availability. Within the project we are creating targeted measurements to quantify SaviTrak benefits to improve supply chain visibility and performance, security status monitoring, and overall economics.”

In addition, Lani Fritts, chief operating officer of Savi Networks, said: “SaviTrak delivers new levels of performance measurement and execution capability for logistics companies such as Unipart and for their customers. Our customers are gaining better control and visibility over their supply chains, which allow them to make better and more timely decisions on their global shipments.”

Unipart in cooperation with Savi Networks provided superb services to monitor the location, condition and security status of Jaguar auto parts container shipments. The monitoring also involves factories, ports and other supply chain nodes.

Michelle Crimson
http://www.articlesbase.com/suvs-articles/unipart-logistics-tracking-down-jaguar-parts-from-uk-to-us-57923.html

In 2002 a supermarket chain, Thriftway in Washington, USA introduced a new scheme that allowed customers to pay for their shopping in a different, simpler method. Once shoppers sign up they can pay at the tills using just their finger, specifically their fingerprint.

It’s an inventive solution to credit card fraud in that since all fingerprints are unique it would make them very hard to be used fraudulently. Once the customer has scanned their fingerprint they are then prompted to select which of the credit cards they have registered to their profile to use.

Three years later and Thriftway’s President Paul Kapioski pronounced the scheme a great success, not only that but the process has attracted much more business through it’s doors as word spread. He even stated someone drove 400 miles to use the technology!  But now at the begining of 2010 it’s time to review what role biometrics and RFID will play in llogistics manageent andtracking and in payment systems.

Mr Kapioski tated that the added security of using biometrics had seen many people feel more secure especially senior citizens, who welcomed not having to carry money around with them. Whilst it was still in its infancy back then Mr Kapioski assured that in the two and a half years that there had not been a single fraudulent transaction on the system, a great win against fraud with credit cards. However, the system has not seen widespread take-up elsewhere.

The concern about implementing such an advanced system was that not enough customers would join to make it worthwhile, far from it. The 60 day trial of the system had to be made permanent almost straight away with most customers signing up straight away. In an age where we’re more concerned about who has our personal data and what they do with it the public were very receptive of this scheme and has since become a standard practice with the supermarket chain accounting for 30% of electronic payments..

The main driving factor for the new payment process was cost, far from being too expensive to use it actually helped save valuable cents off credit cards and debit card electronic transactions. Whilst customers were receiving of this technology the move towards RFID (Radio frequency identification) has some consumers concerned about what their personal information is being used on and can be sceptical. Analysts believe that new technology should be marketed correctly and sold to the public highlighting the benefits such as in this scheme.

So with the added security and convenience this method of paying for goods with credit cards should help build confidence and ease of use for the card holder and with Paul Kapioski speaking at a recent Retail Fraud Conference in London it looks like we may see this kind of scheme this side of the Atlantic in the near future.

Manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler profiled Demand Driven Supply Chain Networks in the current issue of MetalForming Magazine.

According to Jeffrey Ball, Value Engineering and Information Services Manager with Luvata, “This presented a unique challenge for both plants. The two plants had separate planning, inventory, and scheduling systems and in order to ensure that the weld lines at Franklin never ran out of raw material, there was always a large amount of inventory “in the pipeline”. In order to prevent stock outs of a specific part number, a great deal of time was required by both the Buffalo and Franklin Scheduling Teams to avert disaster. It seemed as though, whichever parts were made, they were not the parts that were needed today at Franklin. Expediting of individual part numbers was the norm.”

What Luvata needed was a system that could integrate with both the Buffalo and Franklin Shop Floor Control Systems and provide a visual, easy to understand, and real time representation of the Total Supply Chain.

The Buffalo and Franklin Scheduling Groups went ahead and formed a team to address the need to reduce the amount of working capital tied up in the supply chain and improve delivery reliability. Jeffrey Ball noted, “There was plenty of candid conversation within the team that moved the two plants from a WIN/LOSE mentality, to group focused on developing a WIN/WIN result!”

During a visit to the Franklin plant, it was revealed that Franklin was using a new tool called digital kanban (also known as eKanban) from called Datacraft Solutions, a leading demand driven supply chain technology firm based in Durham, North Carolina. The Luvata team quickly decided that based upon the initial success of the digital kanban system at Franklin, that the Buffalo facility should take advantage of Franklin’s experience with digital kanban. In addition, both plants would now have a common Supply Chain Management Software that could be implemented easily, quickly, and affordably in Buffalo.

Over the next month, the Buffalo/Franklin Team worked closely with the Datacraft Solutions experts, to define the project costs, benefits and time schedule. The primary of objectives of reduced working capital (25% inventory reduction), improved delivery reliability (avoid stock outs), easy to use scheduling modules, and quick implementation time appear to be well within our budget and timeframes. Jeffrey Ball was pleased to report, “The Team is also highly confident that the large amount of time currently devoted to expediting material will be virtually eliminated from their daily routines.”

Datacraft Solutions specializes in providing their clients with the tools they need to rapidly replace outdated manual systems with technology that speeds process flow and improves accuracy. Datacraft’s premier product, Signum has been developed around the Kanban concept of replenishment, and provides an invaluable tool for manufacturing companies to monitor process flow, lower administrative transaction costs, and improve decision-making ability.

Thomas Cutler
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/metalforming-magazine-profiles-datacraft-solutions-demand-driven-supply-chain-network-61811.html

Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) has experienced significant growth in the past twelve months by eliminating complicated, expensive, time-intensive software implementations as well as extensive training regiments and the need for internal support. The Datacraft Solutions’ replenishment supply chain digital kanban lean system allows customers access and fully utilize powerful lean benefits immediately for a low, predictable monthly fee. Services are scalable so manufacturers can design a Demand Driven Supply Chain Network.

Datacraft Solutions specializes in providing their clients with the tools they need to rapidly replace outdated manual systems with technology that speeds process flow and improves accuracy. Datacraft’s premier product, Signum has been developed around the Kanban concept of replenishment, and provides an invaluable tool for manufacturing companies to monitor process flow, lower administrative transaction costs, and improve decision-making ability.

“The central hallmark of demand driven supply chain is a digital kanban system which achieves savings in several key areas,” according to Stephen Parker, CEO of North Carolina-based Datacraft Solutions.

It reduces the need to build inventory. All production is initiated based on the immediate needs of customers. Inventory turns for digital kanban parts are optimized (a definition of lean accounting.)
Time spent by customer service communicating on expedited parts issues is practically been eliminated through a demand driven supply chain. Often customer service staff members spend 40% of their time expediting part orders prior to digital kanban implementation.
Sales have increased with the benefit of the e-kanban program because the copper manufacturer no longer uses capacity to build parts without an order to buy NOW. 100% of production capacity is utilized to build parts that are already sold as soon as they hit the shipping dock.

Parker insists, “Capacity is expensive and a demand driven supply chain via digital kanban provides lean accounting efficiency and elimination of waste.”

Business process efficiencies increase with digital kanban, since orders are no longer run through the scheduling department, cutting shop orders and batching them. Demand driven supply chain replaces a very long chain of events in the order entry and scheduling function. Customer needs are displayed in real time. Everyone, including the customer, can see the status of any digital kanban at all times.

This scorecard methodology along with digital kanban assists all manufacturing staff to understand the business and see the impact of their efforts manifested in better results. People want to know what they can do to make the business better, and link what they do to the financial results. Lean accounting provides a sense of ownership. Manufacturing staff now can understand what is occurring on the shop floor and make the appropriate changes.

Datacraft Solutions’ Demand Driven Supply Chain Network was profiled in the recent issue of Accounting 411 magazine; the article may be read in its entirety at http://www.accountingsoftware411.com/Press/PressDocView.aspx?docid=8169.

Thomas Cutler
http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/digital-kanban-by-datacraft-solutions-profiled-by-manufacturing-journalist-tr-cutler-76499.html

Datacraft Solutions’ Demand Driven Supply Chain Network was profiled in the recent issue of In Tech magazine; the article may be read in its entirety at http://www.isa.org/InTechTemplate.cfm?Section=General_Information2&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=56925.

Kanban is a visual cue to manufacturers to replenish, said Tom Cutler, president and chief executive of TR Cutler, Inc., a manufacturing marketing firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. When a relationship begins between a manufacturer and a supplier, they define a service level agreement. This includes “items such as negotiated lead times, packaged quantities, order receipt confirmations, and advanced shipment notices,” which they need to spell out specifically. “An e-kanban system monitors to make sure each of these service level agreements is being met by the supplier in real time,” he said. “If they’re not, a series of alerts and notifications goes out to all parties. This gives everyone a chance to adjust their behavior to bring performance back in line in real time.”

E-kanban also makes all this real-time information available for historical analysis, Cutler said. It’s available over the internet 24 hours a day, so all parties can see trends in performance. Everyone is aware of late shipments, short shipments, and other supply chain performances, and “these visuals give everyone in the supply chain information about how to focus their energies.”

The old system at Luvata required personnel to send monthly Excel forecasts to the customer service representative, who entered it into the ERP system and re-entered data into the shop floor control system. Daily telephone calls changing order requirements meant the process had to start all over again, sabotaging efficiency in the manufacturing process.

The e-kanban system helps Scott Stringer, operations manager at Luvata’s Franklin, Ky., plant, link the customer’s demand with production efforts. The key is “trying to produce what they really need and streamlining the whole communication effort,” he said. Since it is Web-based, any computer that has access to the Internet can look at the e-kanban levels. So Stringer’s daily routine is, “get my cereal and bring up the Web site to see where the card levels are on the kanban. We’ll link up with customers via a third-party Web site kanban system. A large manufacturing firm will call the third-party company and say it wants the supply base delivered from kanban. Then the large manufacturer brings on one of its suppliers one by one,” he said.

Electronic inventory management (e-kanban) does more than cut inventory.

Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) has experienced significant growth in the past twelve months by eliminating complicated, expensive, time-intensive software implementations as well as extensive training regiments and the need for internal support. The Datacraft Solutions’ replenishment supply chain digital kanban lean system allows customers access and fully utilize powerful lean benefits immediately for a low, predictable monthly fee. Services are scalable so manufacturers can design a Demand Driven Supply Chain Network.

Datacraft Solutions specializes in providing their clients with the tools they need to rapidly replace outdated manual systems with technology that speeds process flow and improves accuracy. Datacraft’s premier product, Signum has been developed around the Kanban concept of replenishment, and provides an invaluable tool for manufacturing companies to monitor process flow, lower administrative transaction costs, and improve decision-making ability.

Thomas Cutler
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/datacraft-solutions-demand-driven-supply-chain-network-profiled-by-in-tech-magazine-69260.html

The Association for Operations Management, APICS builds operations management excellence in individuals and enterprises through superior education and training, internationally recognized certifications, comprehensive resources, and a worldwide network of accomplished industry professionals. APICS is the global leader and premier source of the body of knowledge in operations management, including production, inventory, supply chain, materials management, purchasing, and logistics. Since 1957, individuals and companies have relied on APICS for its superior training, internationally recognized certifications, comprehensive resources, and worldwide network of accomplished industry professionals.
The APICS Conference will be held in Orlando October 29 - 31, 2006. Datacraft Solutions can be found at booth 520 at the APICS Conference.

According to Chairman and CEO Stephen Parker, “Datacraft Solutions’ Internet-based on-demand delivery platform offers key benefits from the very beginning of an implementation namely, the elimination of lengthy, complicated and expensive infrastructure upgrades before you can even begin to see positive ROI. There is simply no faster or easier way to begin exploiting the power of Digital Kanban in your operations.”

Datacraft Solutions is applying the lessons of continuous improvement to their platform, making the replenishment supply chain digital kanban implementation more efficient and effective as time goes on. This optimization occurs on an ongoing basis. There is no need to reload software and retool hardware; new capabilities are added, ready for manufacturers and suppliers to use the next log in.

Datacraft Solutions’ unique solution will be demonstrated at the APICS conference and involves three key differences in Digital Kanban:

All aspects solutions are hosted on Datacraft Solutions’ servers, and backed by Datacraft Solutions infrastructure.

Datacraft Solutions supports their replenishment supply chain digital kanban solutions. There is no need to pay administrators to maintain the software and/or hardware.

Datacraft Solutions provides the solutions at low, fixed monthly costs. Companies pay only for what is needed and used, without any hidden costs and the cost of ownership is easy to calculate and contain.

Datacraft Solutions uses the on-demand delivery model because many of the kanban solutions used by Fortune 100 and 500 companies are well outside the budget of small to mid-sized companies. Datacraft Solutions provides solutions that allow even the smallest companies to remain competitive, without having to incur costly IT expenses.

Sharing knowledge is also a key new distinction in the replenishment supply chain digital kanban world; as the solutions continue to spread throughout the manufacturing industry, Datacraft Solutions draws upon the insights and experiences of their client base to enhance the functionality of their product offerings.

Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) delivers a revolutionary digital kanban process of automation solutions to lean manufacturers through a secure Internet gateway, eliminating the need to install and maintain a complex IT infrastructure. The company has experienced significant growth in the past twelve months by eliminating complicated, expensive, time-intensive software implementations as well as extensive training regiments and the need for internal support. The Datacraft Solutions’ replenishment supply chain digital kanban lean system allows customers access and fully utilize powerful lean benefits immediately for a low, predictable monthly fee. Services are scalable so manufacturers can design an appropriate digital kanban solution.

Thomas Cutler
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/datacraft-solutions-demand-driven-supply-chain-lean-methods-demonstrated-at-orlando-apics-conference-october-29-31-63651.html

This was posted on ReadWriteWeb today and provides a fascinating insight into the future of RFID

IBM Debuts Food Traceability iPhone App
Posted: 26 Oct 2009 04:19 AM PDT

Today at the IBM Information on Demand event, IBM will demo a new app that will bring the Internet of Things to the iPhone. The as yet unreleased iPhone app is called Breadcrumbs and it will give consumers access to information about grocery food items. The app will be able to scan barcodes and deliver a summary of the ingredients in a food item, along with when it was manufactured. That data is usually on the food label, but Breadcrumbs goes a step further - it can provide extra information such as product recall data. If a product has been recalled in the past, this app will tell the consumer all of the relevant details.

Breadcrumbs is able to scan barcodes using the iPhone’s camera. The consumer simply points their iPhone at a food item and gets back relevant data. Other than product recall details, the information returned to the user is mostly the same as what’s on food labels - only it is pulled from the Web.

IBM told ReadWriteWeb that when 4G becomes common place in mobile phones, then apps such as Breadcrumbs will become more powerful and be readily used on-the-fly by consumers when grocery shopping.

The larger trend here is the convergence of smart phones with the Internet of Things (i.e. Internet-connected real world objects). Devices such as the iPhone essentially become sensor and RFID readers, which allow consumers to interact with real world objects in a much more detailed manner.

Breadcrumbs is a glimpse of what we’ll see in the near future, when information will literally - finally - be at the consumer’s fingertips when they’re shopping for groceries or any other goods where data is plentiful. Up till now, data such as product recall information has largely been inaccessible to consumers - at least when at the grocery store.

In the long term expect to see apps like Breadcrumb provide data on where and when food items get consumed, together with how long they were on the shelf before being consumed. Apps like Breadcrumbs may even be able to tell who consumed the items (privacy advocates, start your engines!). These apps will also be useful in determining counterfeit items, for example when buying an expensive luxury good.

The date that Breadcrumbs will be launched on iPhone has not yet been announced by IBM.

Technorati Tags: IBM, readwriteweb, RFID, the internet of things