Telecom

The shift in the Telecom industry created by smartphones has created a new set of supply chain planning challenges. Here are a few:

• Short product lifecycles require carefully managed stocks to avoid lost value and obsolescence.
• High cost, value and margin products mean that inventories can significantly impact balance sheets and cash flows.
• Sales usually include not just the phone, but also the service contract. In order to maximize Average Revenue per User (ARPU), telecoms need the right stock in place to avoid lost sales.
• Product availability is even more important to ARPU in commoditized markets where consumers focus more on price and availability than brand preference.

In such a complex and challenging environment, OEMs, operators and retailers need to align their efforts to improve stock optimization and transform retail stores and online purchases to deliver positive experiences for customers.

ToolsGroup creates a Dynamic Response Network through the integration of demand planning and sensing and multi-echelon inventory optimization enabling Telecom operators and retailers to maximize the Average Revenue per User (ARPU). In this network, demand is sensed at the stores and translated into demand signals propagated through the entire supply chain of the stores/distributors, the operator and the OEM suppliers, such as Apple, Nokia and Samsung.

• Demand sensing drives “service-driven” pull replenishment for the entire network
• A “single model” approach guarantees customer service levels across the network via optimal inventory levels
• Multi-enterprise network visibility provides time-phased demand signal, replenishment and projected inventory

This new approach replaces store-initiated orders with a new centralized demand-driven planning model, which automatically generates daily replenishment orders.