This article is brought to you by Titan Cloud.

Technology is rapidly evolving in all aspects of convenience retail—including fuel supply and logistics.

The trend toward innovation will only continue, “as fuel operators quickly realize the power of integrated automation and fuel analytics to streamline not only inventory management but also compliance and maintenance,” said Brent Puzak, senior solutions consultant at Titan Cloud.

He noted that compliance in particular can often be an afterthought for smaller retailers who rely on spreadsheets, electronic shared files or third-party vendors who maintain records outside of the organization. “Without a centralized system, preparing for an inspection can take an hour or more because the information lives in too many places,” said Puzak. “That’s where we often see compliance violations start to pile up.”

Siloed systems also prevent the cross-analysis of compliance and maintenance data, which when leveraged can preempt avoidable costs: digital systems that use enhanced tank measurements and real-time leak detection reduce fuel loss, simultaneously flagging maintenance issues before problems escalate.

Another area of opportunity for innovative mid-market retailers is supply and logistics, Puzak said. Operating with smaller budgets and leaner teams, mid-sized businesses can use benefit greatly from integrated inventory, dispatch, route planning and load optimization tools that increase delivery efficiency, “making sure the right product gets to the right location faster.”

And as businesses scale, technology innovations serve to reduce business complexity and make daily logistics tasks easier for operators, Puzak noted.

For example, growth was never an issue for Estepp Energy. The Kentucky-based family business has expanded its retail footprint, acquired new sites and grown its wholesale division to over 100 million gallons of fuel annually. But with just one dispatcher and no forecasting tools, the logistics side of the business began to strain and couldn’t keep pace with growth, creating inefficiencies that threatened to slow the business down.

Turning to Titan Cloud, Estepp enlisted its inventory management and universal dispatch solutions to “refine demand forecasting with historical consumption data and unify their delivery systems with automated order creation and load planning,” Puzak said.

As a result, the team spends less time on daily logistics and more time on strategic initiatives that drive the business forward. With the right tools in place, mid-sized operators can execute with the same efficiency and precision as enterprise businesses, setting themselves for long-term success.

This is part two of a two-part series brought to you by Titan Cloud. Learn more about how technological innovations can help businesses scale in part one.