Tag: investor

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Digital Supply Chain

From Assembling IKEA Furniture to Streamlining Supply Chains: Zuper’s Journey

As the host of the Digital Supply Chain podcast, I’m always thrilled to bring you exciting and informative interviews with industry leaders. Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Michael Israel, Head of Field Service Evangelism at Zuper, a powerful platform for managing field service operations.

According to AMR, the global field service management market was valued at $5.2 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach $29.9 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 19.2% from 2022 to 2031.

In our conversation, Michael shared the story of Zuper and how it has revolutionized the field service industry. Zuper is a cloud-based platform that provides field service organizations with the tools they need to manage their operations more efficiently. The platform streamlines work orders, schedules, and dispatch, making it easier for field service teams to get the job done and improving customer satisfaction in the process.

One of the things that sets Zuper apart from other field service management platforms is its commitment to customer success. Michael shared how the Zuper engineering and product design teams respond to customer requests for new features and functionality in an incredibly fast and efficient way. As a result, Zuper has been able to add new capabilities to the platform that have been extremely beneficial to their customers.

Another key feature of Zuper is its ability to capture a vast amount of data about the customer’s experience. This information can be used to analyze the customer’s service history, the reliability of the equipment, and the profitability of the service contracts. With this data, field service organizations can make informed decisions that improve their operations and provide a better experience for their customers.

Throughout the episode, Michael also spoke about the importance of the “completed service work” philosophy. This concept is about anticipating the customer’s next need and addressing it without being asked. Michael shared how Zuper has integrated this philosophy into the platform, allowing field service teams to be proactive and provide a higher level of customer service.

In conclusion, this episode of the Digital Supply Chain podcast was a truly enlightening experience. Michael’s insights on the field service industry and Zuper’s innovative approach to managing field service operations were truly fascinating. I encourage you to listen to the full episode and to check out Zuper’s website at zuper.co to learn more.

If you enjoy this episode, please consider following the podcast and sharing it with others who may be interested. And as always, if you find the podcast of value, and you’d like to help me continue to make episodes like this one, you can go to the podcast’s Support page and become a Digital Supply Chain podcast Supporter for less than the cost of a cup of coffee!

And if you’re interested in having your brand associated with the leading Supply Chain podcast, don’t hesitate to check out these sponsorship packages and how I can help your company gain exposure and establish yourself as a thought leader in the supply chain industry, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thank you!

Photo credit – HS You on Flickr

Featured Posts, Trends & Concepts

Should FaceBook’s investors be worried that the site is sourcing energy for its new data center from coal?

Mountain-top removal
Photo credit: The Sierra Club

Should FaceBook’s investors be worried that the site is sourcing energy for its new data center from primarily coal-fired power?

FaceBook is fourth largest web property (by unique visitor count) and well on its way to becoming third. It is valued in excess of $10 billion and its investors include Russian investment company DST, Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital and Microsoft.

FaceBook announced last month that it would be locating its first data center in Prinville Oregon. The data center looks to be all singing and dancing on the efficiency front and is expected to have a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.15. So far so good.

However, it soon emerged that FaceBook are purchasing the electricity for their data center from Pacific Power, a utility owned by PacifiCorp, a utility whose primary power-generation fuel is coal!

Sourcing power from a company whose generation comes principally from coal is a very risky business and if there is anything that investors shy away from, it is risk!

Why is it risky?

Coal has significant negative environmental effects from its mining through to its burning to generate electricity contaminating waterways, destroying ecosystems, generation of hundreds of millions of tons of waste products, including fly ash, bottom ash, flue gas desulfurisation sludge, that contain mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals and emitting massive amounts of radiation.

And let’s not forget that coal burning is the largest contributor to the human-made increase of CO2 in the air [PDF].

The US EPA recently ruled that:

current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases–carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)–in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.

Note the wording “the public health and welfare of current and future generations”

Who knows what legislation the EPA will pass in the coming months and years to control CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants in the coming months and years – and the knock on effects this will have on costs.

Now think back to the litigation associated with asbestos – the longest and most expensive tort in US history. Then note that climate change litigation is gaining ground daily, the decision to go with coal as a primary power source starts to look decidedly shaky.

Then GreenPeace decided to wade in with a campaign and FaceBook page to shame FaceBook into reversing this decision. Not good for the compay image at all.

Finally, when you factor in the recent revolts by investors in Shell and BP to decisions likely to land the companies in hot water down the road for pollution, the investors in FaceBook should be asking some serious questions right about now.

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