Fuel Oil News

Fuel Oil News July 2014

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T he energy industry is in the midst of a revolutionary trans- formation. Strong words to be sure but accurate ones too, because this change is a technological one; fueled, pun intended, by mobile communications, real-time intel- ligence, improved operations and the fulfillment of a business prophesy that, until now, would otherwise remain atop the pile of outlandish—and outlandishly wrong—forecasts. I refer specifically to the arrival of the paperless office, a milestone that will remake the way fuel delivery drivers perform their work, provide instant savings to their respective employ- ers, eliminate redundancies and give managers information about their drivers on a second-by-second, minute-by-minute basis. These advantages in addition to the rewards of creating a paperless office are many (and perhaps a bit overwhelming), but the technology to inaugurate this era of expediency already exists. Indeed, that technology is responsible for the entirety of this article—as it is a composition wrought with my smartphone, lap- top and tablet. That same technology, in the pockets of fuel and oil drivers, represents the difference between a mobile workforce and a mobilized one. This distinction is not a semantic one; it is, instead, a matter of having a mobile device versus maximizing its benefits. It is, to mix metaphors (to the dismay of the technorati), the equivalent of buying a car with no engine, or having a horse pull a Formula One roadster. If we are to achieve true mobilization and conduct paperless transactions, then we need a more expansive understanding of what this phenomenon means. We need, in short, an example of a company that already is a model of the future, today. To find that business we do not have to travel to Silicon Valley, nor do we have to patrol the precincts of Silicon Alley in New York City where coders, developers and venture capitalists vie for the next "Big Thing." We simply need to visit the family-run businesses, in the Northeast, the South, the Midwest and along the Pacific coast which deliver fuel, propane and oil to a variety of clients. These companies, with their respective legacies and multigenerational bonds of continuity, are not technology brands. Nor are they R&D factories, or laboratories for brilliant computer engineers. But these companies are nonetheless at the forefront of champi- oning new technology and real-time intelligence. The MulTiple AdvAnTAges of Mobile devices And ReAl-TiMe inTelligence Mobile devices and real-time intelligence offer a variety of advantages today. These include: • Time-stamped reports, which allow owners or managers to substantiate the exact amount to invoice a customer for a specific project. • The end of tedious tasks such as filling out forms, and the cancellation of accounting errors and special pricing numbers. With the right application, for a smartphone or tablet, employees can, instead, focus on ensuring they complete a job swiftly and successfully. That kind of professionalism generates revenue, elicits referrals and maintains a company's stature among current and prospective clients. • The automatic upload of a day's work through electronic batch posting, which significantly reduces or abolishes the manual entry of the same information. I would be remiss if I did not also mention another feature, which is absent from this process—paper. For these resources actualize an assertion made nearly 30 years ago in a Businessweek article concerning the "The Office of the Future," published in June 30, 1975. That column, with its claims about the paperless office (to have been a mainstream reality by 1990), misses the mark because the features described above did not then exist. With no papers to stack and sort through, and with no filing cabinets to stuff and drawers in which to store reams of documents, the fuel and oil industry can enjoy the rewards of mobilization and the dividends of the digital economy. Coupled with accurate data, a streamlined workforce and real- time intelligence (which also furthers communication among drivers and the ability to ensure, in the event of an accident or delay, deliveries still arrive on schedule), the fuel and oil industry has much to celebrate. Bill Stomp is V.P. of sales and marketing at Digital Dispatcher, which has a mobile field management software solution for the liquid fuel, propane and product delivery industries. The company is headquartered in Jenkintown, PA. He can be reached at 610-220-3906 (direct), 1-888-426-6764 (toll-free) and/or www.digitaldispatcher.com 36 JULY 2014 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com BUSINESS OPERATIONS The "Cloud" Above All The paperless office and the strengths of a mobilized workforce By Bill STomp, DigiTAl DiSpATCher l F O N Office desk image ©istockphoto.com/terex .

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