Role of Mobility Solutions in the Logistics Industry

Rishi Sareen, Vice President, Ecom Express Private Limited

  • No Image

The logistics industry rides on mobil­ity. Each day, the industry sees a massive movement of people and packages from one place to another. An efficient logistics structure stresses on a competent admin­istration of packages. For an industry on a continuous move, mobility solutions through applica­tions and devices come across as a predictable choice as it has the prospective to play a powerful role in ensur­ing precise data collection with constant and real-time information flow. Moreover, the shift towards a mobility structure marks the complete logistics and fleet adminis­tration systems to be faster and reliable. In other words, the influence of mobility solutions on the conventional logistics generates the best output.

With mobility making rapid inroads into the logistics industry, the traditional landscape of manual processes are getting replaced with automation impacting stand­ardized processes and workflows. Mobility can work wonders in every facet of the logistics industry - be it car­go, freight transportation, logistics services and freight documentation.

In fact, automating key processes such as sales and customer service functions, addressing capacity planning and archaic logistical workflows can go a long way in improving greater level of visibility, enabling quick de­cision making, better margins and higher productivity. Precisely stated, mobility is becoming the new face of customer experience and engagement, transforming the traditional landscape of the transportation and logistics industry.

On-Ground Monitoring

Seamless communication is essential for optimized pro­ductivity in the logistics sector. Even an existing effec­tive process requires latest solutions to remain current in the market. There is unceasing development in every sector and logistics is no different. Fortunately, there is a spectra of smart applications and solutions to enhance processes. With the field executives armed with smart­-phones, tracking operations at ground level is now pos­sible. Further, a customized device or smartphone that the field executives carry provides them excellent ability as they can update the information at customer locations or on a delivery spot which can speed up the process. It also helps in error free and up-to-date documentation.

Mobility solutions help capture and process critical data at the source and its distribution in real-time there­by helping employees take informed decisions on-the-go. Businesses that have incorporated mobility solutions have found it to be a great help in increasing their productivity and profitability. It allows greater visibility of the field staff making workforce performance management a lot easier with such solutions. Providing workforce with mobile or customized devices, maintaining real-time in­formation flow and giving them constant access to data, can boost employee productivity, reduce manual efforts and help them better manage time.

The conventional practice of documentation involves preparing hardcopy which are costly to handle and take time to be shared with customers. Logistics and trans­portation firms which establish web-enabled tools for paperless documentation and automated invoicing and reporting lead to improved internal productivity, reduce costs and expedite transactions for customers and con­signee/receivers.

Mobility solutions also bolster environmental impact by reducing paper usage. The business im­pact of switching to paperless operations typically manifests itself in terms of efficiency improve­ments and increased environmental responsibil­ity.

With the right technology, fewer amounts of time and resources are required to make the right scheduling decisions, thus, enabling ac­curate dispatch and scheduling. In brief, the information or data remain accurate and swift, and thereby save a great deal of time and cost.

Fleet Management

Fleet management is the backbone of any logistics, and vehicle tracking and man­agement form the basic classification of any fleet management. Introduction of mobile solutions in fleet management is set to revolutionize it and provide convenience in business by altering the whole processes of dispatch and scheduling, driver and vehicle track­ing, driver productivity, fleet maintenance, load manage­ment, pick-up and delivery.

With the implementation of logistics software and vehicles connected to a GPS, tracking the fleet and man­aging them has become extremely practicable. The ap­plications offer solutions such as intelligent geographic routing, optimizing the routes, examining vehicle per­formance, fuel monitoring, accident reporting, liability and vehicle maintenance cost, load management, driver efficiency and much more.

Monitoring through control tower using real-time information, directly coming from the vehicle, tracking solutions interpret the status of vehicles automatically without any user interaction required. Mobility solutions can help manage and monitor all logistical elements, in­cluding arrival times (ETA) and departure times (ETD) of transport orders, verification of capacity utilisation of hubs are a few examples that mobility solutions can manage for logistics providers. Any deviations in the lo­gistic chain can be visualised through the control tower, enabling each party involved to react swiftly. Not only does such a solution help to focus in the first instance on problems, but also offers the opportunity to evaluate and correct the planning of future routes.

The technology solutions provide opportunity to pro­cess data to receive insights that will set the alarm before any damage has been done and achieve better results more efficiently, thus giving companies the opportunity to take preventive measures and improve business performance and operations aiding tighter control over is­sues.

With transportation and logistics play­ing a key role to power the economic engine of a country, it is pertinent that traditional operational prac­tices need to adapt to new age solutions to cater to increasing demand for goods and services to stay afloat and competitive even in turbulent times. Mobility so­lutions can be an important fac­tor in transforming operations and other ancillary systems that are critical to confirm enhanced visibility for better decision making and enhanced perfor­mance for logistics providers.

🍪 Do you like cookies?

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Read more...