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VENDMAN Vendman meets Vianet – one year on


It’s just over a year since the acquisition of software specialist Vendman by telemetry expert Vianet. In a Q&A with Heather Ramsden, Vendman managing director Rob Little describes a year of adjustments and hints at a future of innovation set to revolutionise the vending industry


make this happen is that operators ensure that all the machines in a route are enabled and online. These opportunities are all possible in the immediate horizon and


if the acquisition hadn’t happened, they would still be science fiction.


Q: CAN YOU DESCRIBE ANY CHANGES YOU HAVE MADE TO Q: ONE YEAR AFTER THE ACQUISITION OF VENDMAN BY


VIANET, HAS THIS HAS BEEN THE RIGHT DECISION? A: I said at the time that the acquisition of Vendman by Vianet would create an unbeatable wealth of knowledge, product range and technological expertise that our new combined team could take forward to deliver a complete end-to-end solution. By that, I mean we’d be able to incorporate telemetry, contactless payments, real time data, operational vending management and business information and insight from the same supplier. That’s the way it’s turned out.


Q: WHAT BENEFITS HAS THE ACQUISITION BROUGHT TO


YOUR CUSTOMERS? A: The next generation of solutions will unlock the full value for Vendman operators who use the Vianet system and deploy disruptive technologies to change the way they do business. In an economic climate where rising wages, high fuel costs and continued cost pressures on the consumable products reduces margins, it is the data that helps an operator adapt. Simple opportunities to reduce manual completion of the


operator stock replenishment visit can be replaced with an automated feed into the ERP, providing a reduced visit time and improved accuracy of reconciliation at the machine. Basic machine alerts can notify when the machine is switched off or there is no trade, and can indicate that there is problem which will reduce an operator’s sales because they are simply unaware of the issue. However, the imminent opportunity incumbent in the integration


of Vendman’s system with Vianet is the ability to pre-call the machines on site prior to arrival and to pick the stock needed to replenish without having to walk the site and note down what’s needed. Operators are about to have the capability of pre-picking orders at the warehouse ready for collection. All that’s required to


16 | vendinginternational-online.com


THE WAY YOU OPERATE AND TO STAFF? A: The biggest change as far as I’m concerned is that I now, for the first time in my life, have a boss! It took some getting used to, I can tell you. Seriously though, we felt we had to reassign our troops. This wasn’t so much because of the Vianet deal, as it was because we were fighting on multiple fronts. So, we created four divisions: The UK Commercial Team, led by John Forde; The European Commercial Team, led by Ian Forde; The Customer Experience Team, led by Nathan Little and The Technical Product and Support Services Team, also led by Nathan. The new formation allowed us to combine additional development resources to our existing know- how to introduce game-changing integration for contactless reconciliation.


Q: HAS THE ACQUISITION HELPED YOU WIN NEW BUSINESS


AND CAN YOU EXPAND ON THIS? A: Yes, it has; no I can’t! But I will say more in the New year.


Q: HAVE THERE BEEN ANY HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST YEAR? A: We’ve had some major, major new business wins but I’m not going to enlarge on that statement because, truthfully, the outstanding highlight of my year was becoming a granddad. Nathan and Emma’s daughter Felicity, my granddaughter, was born just an hour after we signed the Vianet deal. So what was arguably the greatest moment in my business life was immediately trumped by the greatest moment in my personal life.


Q: WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS AS PART OF THE VIANET GROUP AND DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW PRODUCT LAUNCHES


YOU WOULD LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT? A: It’s been a Holy Grail for some years now: pulling up outside a building, picking up a smartphone and seeing the pick list for the site in real time. A year ago, we made putting our customers in that position a priority and now we can do it. In the first half of 2019, we’ll begin rolling out our solution. That’ll be the first of a very significant cluster of new product launches. I’d tell you more, but careless talk costs lives.


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