Leadership through Building Integrated Solutions

One of the strategies adopted by the leadership organizations in their bid to construct their market share and retain their leadership is by growing client centric; client focused corporation as a whole. When “were talking about” being client centric, we are not talking only about the sales or product developing personnels. More importantly, the management and all the cross functional teams are patron centric . These organizations believe in get into understanding in depth about the Customer’s business and building solutions around the customer’s the requirements and pain levels. Over a time periods, these organizations have recognized the need to embrace a brand-new logic of becoming complete answer provider to the customer instead of designing and implementing answers and selling products and solutions. Today organizations partner with their clients with long term view, design solutions and manage those solutions too. The better examples can be had from the logistics industry where the traditional hardcore shipping service providers and courier corporations have integrated other products and services in their fold to offer integrated solutions to their clients not only in one location, but across the globe.

Let us try and identify some of the strategies adopted by these leader organizations that construct them so successful and profitable in the long run. First and foremost, these organizations have recognized the need to become solution providers which may necessitate acquiring complimentary new products and expertise and do not pause in making such investments. DHL as an international logistics service provider has perhaps the best system of warehouses and transportation functionings across the whole of China today. The corporation has entered into several local partnerships, picked up neighbourhood expertise, constructed core capabilities on the ground and married the neighbourhood solution to the internal freight thus being able to provide doorway to door solutions to its patrons. DHL has had to shape major investments in the country to establish such footprint and constructed its abilities. Moving forward, the company has invested into building customized solutions for garment, Retail and other industries. Each answer for a specific industry calls for significant investments into building suitable technology applications, designing processes, training and implementing processes across the board. Furthermore, facilitating seamless co-ordination across crews operating in several continents while presenting a single face and single window to the client calls for continuous be concentrated on developing as well as construct and orienting cross functional, cross culture squads. When Wal-Mart, Nike or GAP chooses to generator from China, they just call DHL and ask to meet with their report managers and they get the customized answer in place in a matter of few days.

The logistics service providers stir dedicated investments to set up dedicated storehouses, dedicated fleet of trucks as well as other infrastructure including in flower facilities on long term basis for their clients and thus engage with the customers with long term view. They do not look at retrieving gains on transactionalbasis, but base their peg points on the total customer spend.

Technology happens to be the linchpin of all of these customized and integrated solutions that have been adopted by the logistics providers. With the help of communications technology, customized applications and world connectivity, these Organizations are able to transmit the data and documents electronically via EDI to all the attached offices thus making sure that the information is available to all concerned in the chain well in advance. They have systems that can be interfaced with the Customer’s systems and offer regular updates, uploads and downloads with client’s offices across countries without manual interface. It is the systems and applications that are driving all of the operations in integrated logistics solutions today. The patrons are able to know the shipment planneds, the exact statu of the present shipment, view its movements, get updates, reports and meaningful data at their finger tips.

Thirdly, these Logistics Companies have found the right recipe for bringing in the right kind of resources and building dedicated Account Management structure that caters to and focuses on a particular patron and provides the client with single window service across products and services as well as across continents. At an operating tier, additional resources are brought in with particular industry experience and expertise. At each product tier, regional level, country level as well as at the senior government officials level, account managers and account administrators oversee the world customers. The Organizations spend a lot of effort in committing with the customer to understand his future schemes and identify needs that are likely to arise as well as refining and modifying current operational simulations to augment their efficiencies.

In most cases, the global clients and their logistics service providers have become partners in the business. Thus endearing oneself to the customer and constructing business solutions around his business has proven to be a highly successful formula for leadership.