A Richmond software company is now presenting itself in a more tactical way.
DSD Partners, which was founded nearly 20 years ago, has been renamed Tactiq. It works in the direct-to-store deliveries sector. Often consumer packaged goods companies ship products directly to retailers. The process gives them more control over how products are handled and presented in stores. The company was founded to provide professional services in the direct store deliveries supply chain.
“Our business was historically founded to work between the manufacturers and the retailers to help navigate distribution and make the supply chain better,” Tactiq CEO Mark Devooght said. “You lose some level of visibility and connectivity when you add that third-party distributor as a middle step.”
For the work, the company talked to a lot of retailers and consumer packaged goods companies. Employees identified several problems that the entire industry faced — communications and invoicing.
“Over time, our team built out technology products to help support some of those challenges,” Devooght said. “These were things that they were seeing on a repeating basis. This is one of those classic services to technology businesses. They looked in the mirror five or 10 years ago and asked, ‘Are we turning into a technology company? Maybe we are not a services business? Maybe one day we could call ourselves a software company?’ The rebrand is just another step in that journey."
The company took a calculated approach to the rebrand, starting discussions about a year ago. It listened to internal and external parties and tried to find a name that fit, Devooght said. He said the team realized the company’s approach to the direct store deliveries sector was tactical. It helps companies implement their strategy.
“It’s a very technology-forward name, but I also think it tips its hat to the fact that none of our software is technical,” Devooght said. “It’s very easy to use, but it always requires work on our side.”
Devooght said data in consumer packaged goods and retail sectors is complicated. There are often multiple sources, which can be hard to manage. Engineers at Tactiq work to unwind the data, making it easier for retailers and manufacturers to manage the supply chain and use the company’s software products.
The company says its platforms are in 65,000 retailers across the country. Tactiq has about 90 employees, the majority of which are developers and product engineers. Devooght declined to give revenue numbers but said the company has grown about 25% a year since he took the helm two years ago. Some of the company’s clients include AB InBev, Coca-Cola, CVS, Dollar General and Red Bull.
The majority of the company’s sales are in software, but Tactiq still does some consulting work. Rather than helping organizations navigate the supply chain, Tactiq mostly focuses on data analytics. It helps companies better understand the massive amounts of data created by the retailers, distributors and manufacturing companies.
Devooght foresees slow, steady growth in the future. The company has always grown from revenue and has never taken investment funding, he said. It has naturally evolved from a professional services company into a technology company.
“This is part of us continuing to grow this business,” said Devooght of the name change.