Are you looking to maximize the useful life of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), such as routers or set-top boxes, to increase customer satisfaction? Working towards this goal can improve your cost efficiency by decreasing the volume of units you need to be manufactured.
Ingram Micro Lifecycle operates as a third-party logistics provider for technology customers around the globe. Our services go beyond that of a typical 3PL, offering value-added services, such as recovery and recommerce of products.
This article explains the benefits of outsourcing your CPE returns management to a 3PL so you can decide on a solution that best suits your situation.
The 9 benefits
1. One single inventory
Using a 3PL to manage products means that stock isn’t split across many partners. There’s less pressure on you and your business to stay on top of stock locations and volumes. The partner would manage this using intelligent live monitoring software and reporting for visibility, allowing you to call off stock and parts when needed.
2. Optimized transport
The partner distributes set-top boxes, routers, and other equipment from one location. As there are fewer dispatch locations involved in the process, there are fewer journeys made. Combining logistics improves efficiency, reducing the associated carbon emissions.
3. Increased speed
When shipping directly to the end user, there are fewer links in the supply chain. The customer gets the product into use faster. This enhanced speed supports positive customer satisfaction. The users get up and running with the product faster and have less downtime during returns or exchanges.
4. A single end-to-end solution
The partner will manage the logistics and value-added services like repair and refurbishment, parts management, maintaining a live inventory of reusable stock, and customer support centers. One partner managing the whole process ensures each step achieves a single set of criteria and standards. They can repeat the same processes across the complete product range where suitable.
5. Enhanced sustainability
Using a 3PL that can repair and refurbish presents the opportunity to use one manufactured product many times. This capability reduces the pressure on manufacturing by decreasing the need to buy new. Production needs fewer raw materials and releases less CO2 at this stage. Increasing refurbishment of CPE decreases consumption of new CPE.
With 5.35 billion people on the planet as internet users, that’s a lot of routers and other associated equipment that could become e-waste.
The extension of product lifecycles and reuse of CPE minimizes e-waste as fewer products contribute to landfills. This activity maximizes the useful life of the unit where possible. The partner can strip components from units not suitable for repair or refurbishment. The partner can then reuse these parts to repair similar products or recycle them.
There’s also financial sustainability from the cost efficiencies of supplying refurbished CPE to users as this is 5-10 times cheaper than supplying brand new stock.
All sustainability achievements tie into a single report rather than having different partners who work on separate projects, towards different goals.
6. Reduced product lead time
There is typically a 6-month wait for brand-new set-top boxes and routers from a manufacturer. This time can increase when affected by issues around parts sourcing, manufacturing time, logistics, etc. When using the 3PL refurbished inventory, these are on-hand immediately and supplied locally, which makes them quicker to supply.
7. Improved troubleshooting
The 3PL can use its resources to feedback data around returns, split by each region, providing important insights that customers can use to streamline their operations. This is particularly beneficial for customers who don’t have the resources to dedicate to obtaining and interpreting this data.
Not only is customer-facing troubleshooting catered for, but also internal problem-solving around firmware upgrades and packaging changes, for example. This enables seamless fault-fixing that can be rolled out quickly, utilizing the expertise, quality programs, speed, and drive for continuous improvement that the 3PL has.
8. Automation
As part of striving to be a market leader, automation technologies should be deployed to improve efficiencies, make cost savings, and provide a competitive edge.
9. Improved cash flow
This won’t be the case for all 3PLs but some can buy the CPE stock so the network operator doesn’t have to. This helps support cash flow and enables the use of finances for other core business functions and development.
Gain the advantage for your CPE with 3PL
Above we’ve outlined 9 different benefits of partnering with a third-party logistics provider to boost the effectiveness of your CPE returns. These enable a reduction in operating costs, speed up supply, and cut customer downtime while boosting your sustainability achievements.
Ingram Micro Lifecycle is a 3PL that provides value-added services, working to deliver all the above benefits. We’re backed by Ingram Micro Inc. so have the financial backing and global footprint that can be leveraged for complete agility and sustained growth. We strive to innovate for better customer solutions that save costs and improve end-user satisfaction.
Get in touch with our team today to discuss how we can improve your CPE returns management program.
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