Advancing on the Innovation Journey
Most of us are focused on the near-term in our daily lives, but sometimes it’s useful to get the longer view.
We wanted to learn more about where the foodservice distribution business has been and where it is headed.
IFDA’s Mark Allen, president and CEO, has helmed the association since 2004, helping the industry overcome challenges and drive innovation and success. He points to major advancements over the years in technology capabilities and investments. One of the most positive shifts is the growing level of technology customization available for this industry.
“Years ago, technology providers would create solutions for other industries and eventually move them into foodservice distribution,” he explained. “Now they are creating more technology specifically for this industry. They realize the importance of this $400 billion industry and understand that customized solutions are long overdue and warranted.”
Industry leaders today are more proactive about how they think about deploying technology. “They have advanced in how they leverage technology to achieve efficiencies, reduce costs, improve accuracy, and meet other needs,” Allen said.
Foodservice distributors are now investing in technology for applications including B2B ecommerce, pricing, enterprise resource planning, warehouse automation and training. Emerging technology such as AI is finding its way into more use cases.
The future is filled with opportunities but also risks for distributors that don’t invest in innovative solutions. “You could potentially become less aligned with customers if you aren’t investing in B2B ecommerce,” Allen explained. “You could fall behind from cost, efficiency or accuracy standpoints if you don’t adequately invest.”
IFDA has been enhancing its Solutions Conference to meet the expanding needs of distributor attendees. The focus is on people and technology innovation. As a case in point, the conference expo has been enhanced with a wider range of solution provider exhibitors. “We are constantly researching innovative companies and have added a Discovery Zone for hands-on innovation experiences,” Allen said.
