(US and Canada) Venu Gutlapalli, CEO and Co-founder of Tag-N-Trac, speaks with Andy Park, VP and Co-founder of TeamCentral, in a video interview about the organization’s business, the supply chain problems it solves, how it works with legacy systems, implementation, and the hurdles it has to overcome.

Gutlapalli has a career background in wireless technology and has worked with chip manufacturer Qualcomm for almost 20 years. He worked on first-generation IoT (Internet of Things) like connected homes. With Tag-N-Trac, he entered an IOT vertical more specific to purpose-built IOT for logistics and supply chain. The goal was to make it easier for enterprises as they lacked the expertise in wireless technology like sensors, low-power design, and wireless radio frequency management.

He mentions that Tag-N-Trac hardware is pre-integrated in a repeatable solution. So supply chain enterprises can just plug in their warehouse management system (WMS), transportation, or ERP applications on top of it.

Speaking about the advantages of Tag-N-Trac over traditional processes, Gutlapalli highlights the case study of a European air logistics company which had to perform around 17 scans for each parcel. Tag-N-Trac’s sensors automated the process end to end eliminating the effort and saving the time consumed at every chain of custody of the supply chain.

When asked about the challenges of integrating with legacy systems, Gutlapalli states that the solutions aim to be backward-compatible and forward-looking. So, the platform follows an API-first approach to integrating end-to-end with any legacy SAP, TMS (transportation management system), or WMS.

He then goes on to speak about the factors that contributed to the success of the company. The key factor according to him is the goal of taking the complexity out of the technology for the enterprises. The customers generally work in intense operational environments, making deployment difficult. So, the solution also has to be robust and work with zero failures.

The typical customer engagement is based on a 3D model – design, develop, and deploy. Gutlapalli reveals that the engagement starts with requirement gathering. Getting the problem statement is followed by a solution architecture document that articulates how a problem will be solved. This is followed by a pilot of one to three months. Once the complete solution is showcased, it is followed by contracting and final deployment.

Further, Gutlapalli discusses the challenges of addressing customer requests while staying true to the product roadmap. He says that it is tempting for startups to commit to customization but it becomes challenging when such requests start piling up. He reveals that some of Tag-N-Trac’s investors are strategic and the company deploys or designs solutions for them first. It helps with learning how to deploy at scale. He however maintains that given the roadmap progress, there won’t be a need for too many customizations moving forward.

Concluding, Gutlapalli adds that Tag-N-Trac is trying to be a platform-as-a-service for hardware and software for data acquisition in supply chain. The company is looking for application developers who can write supply chain applications like FourKites and project44.

CDO Magazine appreciates Venu Gutlapalli for sharing his insights and data success stories with our global community.