Delivering news – and
satisfaction
Technology brings efficiency into the newspaper distribution chain.
L.N. REVATHY
I
f one were a newspaper agent sup-
plying papers and journals to various
business establishments, residential
houses and retail outlets, how would
he/she manage the distribution network,
ensure that the said paper/journal is deliv-
ered to the addressee regularly and on
time?
The agent assigns the task to delivery
boys who probably use a cycle or two-
wheeler to deliver the paper/magazine at
the mentioned addresses.
Invariably, though, these boys do not
report back to the agent or make sure if the
right paper (a subscriber can choose to buy
more than one paper/magazine) is deliver-
ed at the right doorstep.
The agent gets the feedback only when
he goes to collect his dues or when alerted
over phone about non-delivery of the issue
on a particular day.
How does one bring efficiency into this
chain? Technology shows a solution.
“Earlier it used to be a mind-boggling
task. We had to alert the boys early in the
day about the lines/routes they have to
supply, push the copies and the subscrib-
ers’ addresses and ask them to rush.
But after the installation of ‘Invent Mag-
azine,’ a software solution that takes care
of the entire distribution process, our job
has been made easy,” says newsagent
Thangavel.
The distribution chart is drawn up well
ahead of the paper/magazine supply and
the delivery boys alerted about the route/
line and the subscriber’s address.
The boys pick up the requisite number of
copies marked in the chart and proceed to
deliver at the customer’s doorstep. ‘Now,
even if a particular delivery boy does not
turn up, we are able to substitute with
someone else.
We are able to take a printout of the
address list and the supply details at the
click of a button,” says Thangavel.
The solution is nothing on the lines of an
ERP but a basic tool. It helps agents, who
invariably are not tech-savvy, to tackle the
distribution of supplies, he says. Adding to
agents’ woes is the fact that the delivery
boys invariably do not stick to the job and
are not organised. During the holiday sea-
son, school boys looking to make some
pocket money take up such jobs.
TWO-MEMBER TEAM
Recalling his attempt at developing such a
management tool, Pradeep of Liquified So-
lutions says “these are the people who ac-
tually need an automated solution, but are
an ignored lot.” Liquified Solutions is a
two-member team. While Pradeep, an
electronics engineer with some marketing
experience, goes over the various distribu-
tion processes systematically, his friend
Anbazhagan develops the solution.
“Our maiden attempt was at automating
the operations of my business – a gas agen-
cy. We then took up this assignment, of
developing a package for a newspaper
agent.
Distributors, be it newspaper agent or
milk vendor, have no holiday, no time for
their family.
We, therefore, resolved to develop pack-
ages for such segments, who are among the
ignored lot today,” says Pradeep.
The billing process has also been auto-
mated. So now, when the agent goes for
collection and is informed by the subscrib-
er about non-delivery of an issue on a par-
ticular day, he is able to refer to the chart
and pin the boy to recover the dues.
“The bill generation time has been
shortened, the outstandings curbed and
the working capital flow is generally bet-
ter,” says Thangavel.
Pradeep has not stopped with offering
the package. He is now on the job of devel-
oping a hand-held device such as a mobile
handset for recording the collection de-
tails.
“The chip embedded in the device can be
uploaded to the system. In the next phase,
we intend to work on online transaction
monitoring, whereby the collection details
will be available real-time,” he says.
lnr@thehindu.co.in