Lexington, KY (April 26, 2019) — Virtulytix Inc. continues to improve and expand the capabilities of SuppliesIQ the innovative SaaS predictive automated supplies replenishment tool. SuppliesIQ has proven the ability to accurately predict, for dealers and MPS infrastructure providers, when a printer supply item such as a toner cartridge or ink cartridge will be empty enabling the automated shipment system to ship on the date that ensures the supply item gets to the customer when the old supply runs empty. This reduces supply wastage at the customer site by up to 90% and provides healthier margins for the dealer and provider. Using data from the predictive models of SuppliesIQ Virtulytix data scientists and engineers have created new tools and dashboards that provide more accurate supply and demand forecasting as well as give views of device utilization to better manage the makeup and deployment of the printer fleet.
The new supply and demand forecasting tool of SuppliesIQ allows the service provider to know what supply items to order and when to order them from the OEM or their aftermarket supplier. From the predictive date that SuppliesIQ provides to ship the new supply item, and with the information contained in the SuppliesIQ dashboard about real-time page usage, a provider can now more accurately forecast their own supply inventory replenishment needs and improve inventory turnover rates of supply items without affecting customer satisfaction.
The new supply forecasting tool can also be used by OEMs and aftermarket suppliers to more accurately predict their sales demand in the future allowing for better overall supply chain management and JiT manufacturing of supplies. More accurate planning of supplies manufacturing, more efficient management of inventory, and increased inventory turnover rate throughout the supply chain equates to better cash flow for the OEM, aftermarket supplier, and service provider.
As MPS changes to device as a service (DaaS), hardware as a service (HWaaS) and seat-based billing (SBB) models, managing equipment costs in a services engagement is more critical for the dealer and services provider. Ensuring devices are not overutilized – resulting in more costly service calls, or underutilized – indicating a smaller, less expensive print device may be more suitable, has now become an important element for the dealer or services provider to manage than in the past.
Using device data collected by SuppliesIQ a real time dashboard can be created to show devices that are over or underutilized so dealers and service providers can more accurately assess which devices should be replaced, moved or removed. By managing hardware costs more accurately, customer satisfaction is assured, and the profitability of the services engagement is improved.
Accurate prediction of the real supply empty date, and not just a supply low alert, is critical to profit optimization when using an automated supplies replenishment system. Automating shipment of a supply item based on a ‘low’ supply alert means the new supply item may arrive when the old supply item still has up to 40% of its capacity left. Replacing the old supply item at that time can result in considerable supply waste and lost profit for the service provider. SuppliesIQ fixes this problem using its predictive analytics model to provide an accurate supply empty date so supplies can be automatically shipped to minimize or eliminate supply waste and optimize profitability for the service provider.
“These new tools from SuppliesIQ add more ways for dealers and service providers to improve the profitability of their printer fleet managed services”, said Tom O’Neill, marketing and product management at Virtulytix. “Growing use of DaaS, HWaaS and SBB models make it more important than ever for the channel to work together in managing overall services delivery costs in hardware, service labor, parts, and supplies to maintain profitability and survive. SuppliesIQ, with these new tools, can help dealers, service providers, OEMs and aftermarket suppliers better manage supply replenishment, hardware deployment and the overall supply chain – from manufacturing to the customer – to optimize profitability and improve cash flows.”
###
About Virtulytix
Formed in 2017, Virtulytix is comprised of two group services: the Virtulytix Imaging Industry Group and the Virtulytix Predictive Analytics Group.
Virtulytix Predictive Analytics Group is a leader in providing advanced analytics solutions which empower device manufacturers, resellers, and fleet managers to realize the full potential of their IoT enabled devices and fleets. As the developer of the unique SuppliesIQ service, an automated predictive supplies fulfillment solution, Virtulytix enables OEMs, distributors, and dealers managing fleets of imaging devices to achieve accurate just-in-time supplies replenishment. This ensures customers get their supplies WHEN they need them – not too early and not late. Using the IoT and tools such as IBM Cognitive solutions, Python, and R, the company’s team of data engineers and data scientists develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models to produce predictive and prescriptive analytics that help clients improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs, minimize replenishable item waste, and avoid unplanned maintenance. Used in the print and imaging, nuclear power, semiconductor, and manufacturing industry these predictive and prescriptive analytics solutions address inventory, supply, and logistics management challenges.
