Insider Thoughts | January 2021
Our monthly Insider Thoughts blog explores the Real Time Intelligence supply chain visibility platform. In honor of the new year, we went back to the basics with this interview with Real Time Intel CEO, Dave Horvat.
Can you give us a high-level overview of RTI?
We help people see things moving around their supply chain, their warehouses, their logistics systems, the raw materials, the packaging. Not knowing where stuff is, has always been a pain point. Real Time Intelligence has the ability to leverage technology and wrap solutions around it to give people that visibility that allows them to avoid problems, cut costs, and become a lean organization.
Our eP360 product is a collection of SaaS modules that drive supply chain efficiencies. It tells you what has happened, what is currently happening, and most importantly, what is going to happen. The ability to recognize trends and predict what is going to happen is crucial in supply chain management.
How do you find employees who fit the framework of your organization?
At Real Time Intelligence, the people who we ask to join our team are handpicked. These people have a passion for “why” behind what we are doing. We find that it makes a massive difference for our customers when we focus on hiring those that understand the fundamental “why.”
At our core, we have a lot of exemplary and sensible businesspeople. We’ve been smart in layering in people from the industry – hiring people from the Automotive space and those with supply chain backgrounds, for example. We hire smart, and we are very proud of the team we’ve put together.
Tell us a little more about your customers.
Our customers come from around the globe in various industries. By mid-2021, we will be tracking and tracing over 65 million assets moving around the supply chain for our clients. But for us, it’s more than just the clients’ names or assets. Our goal is never to be looked at like a vendor; it’s always our goal to be a partner. We like to live in the trenches with our customers.” “At every turn, we hope that we are providing more value than our customers are paying for.”
What do you think differentiates you the most from your competitors?
Everyone wants things in “real-time.” A significant aspect of ep360 and how this technology works is that we see things and take action in real-time. We know when something has happened within milliseconds of it happening. It gets stored in the database and instantly becomes actionable data. The moment a customer is below a minimum threshold of assets, the second a rack goes onto a truck that causes a client to fall below a minimum threshold – we (they) know. We have built-in alerts, whether their phone vibrates, they receive an email notification, or an alert pops up on the screen – they see it.
The biggest differentiator is that our clients don’t’ find out about the problem two or three days from when it happens when it’s no longer a problem – it’s escalated to a disaster. They know about the problem when it’s still just a problem. That’s why people keep coming back to us – not only do we fix their problems, but we also give them supply chain visibility in real-time to what is happening with enough time to avoid problems. That makes a big difference to people.
What do you love most about working at Real Time Intelligence?
One of the cool things about working with our team at Real Time Intelligence is having the opportunity to see the significant impact we have on our customers. It’s a driving factor for a lot of our people. We are literally saving people tens of thousands of dollars using cutting-edge technology throughout their supply chain.
