The common thread for everyone is smaller order quantities. I bet if you looked at your order records from three years ago and compared it to today, most of you would see that your trend line for full pallet orders is heading south, while the trend lines on orders for cases and individual items is growing at a much greater rate. The shift in product mixes is what is causing this tectonic plate shift in our industry. And we’re very early in the life cycle of supply chain evolution and plate movement.

 I read an interesting statistic the other day from Inbound Logistics Magazine which found that 90 percent of retailers had not yet settled on their fulfillment strategies. These next 24 months will see many strategic decisions being made.

It’s been interesting to compare the conversations and questions we engage with at Vocollect today versus those of a couple of years ago. Virtually every company we engage with today has as one of its top three topics of conversation our ability to help them better enable a multi-channel order fulfillment strategy. The need to address direct to consumer order fulfillment and smaller direct to consumer orders is forcing big change. These organizations are looking for what I call “flawless execution with flexibility”.

The other component we are seeing with increasing interest is around ensuring customers are able to support the growing maze of government and customer traceability requirements within their existing cost structures (as an example, see the recent public announcement from a well-known global grocery retailer around traceability and its announced support for Voice Pick Code functionality). It’s exciting to engage with thought leaders who are focused on optimizing their operations and thinking about what their world might look like in five to ten years.

Voice technology continues to excel as a flexible alternative for companies reconfiguring their operations to meet the challenges inherent in a multi-channel order fulfillment facility. As the need for cost- effective handling of smaller line item order quantities grows, the viability for voice technology as a logical investment selection choice expands.

Another area where we have seen increased interest and discussions is around optimizing the processes to handle what I call “bulk” product items. Organizations are looking to develop a more consistent best practices approach throughout their operational portfolios which will enable them to better utilize and cross-train a common worker pool.

We’ve seen a tremendous change in overall engagement these past years from businesses that several years ago were not a good fit for voice technology due to their highly mechanized environment and high levels of full-pallet order fulfillment. Today, we are seeing these same facilities adding voice technology to their existing environment. These businesses now need greater flexibility, without having to risk their present-day operation. Voice by its very nature provides businesses with the ultimate in flexibility. That’s why I stated earlier that we are seeing customers looking for flawless execution with flexibility. A changing market is causing businesses to change their previous methods and processes.