| |MAY 20179CIOReviewphones, tracking operations at ground level is now pos-sible. 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 there-by 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 in-formation 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 trans-portation firms which establish web-enabled tools for pa-perless documentation and automated invoicing and reporting lead to improved internal productivity, reduce costs and expedite transactions for cus-tomers and consignee/receivers.Mobility solutions also bolster environ-mental impact by reducing paper usage. The business impact of switching to paperless op-erations typically manifests itself in terms of efficiency improvements and increased environ-mental responsibility.With the right technology, fewer amounts of time and resources are re-quired to make the right scheduling de-cisions, thus, enabling accurate dispatch and scheduling. In brief, the informa-tion or data remain accurate and swift, and thereby save a great deal of time and cost.Fleet ManagementFleet management is the backbone of any logistics, and vehicle track-ing and management form the ba-sic classification of any fleet man-agement. Introduction of mobile solutions in fleet management is set to revolutionize it and pro-vide convenience in business by altering the whole processes of dispatch and schedul-ing, 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 man-aging them has become extremely practicable. The ap-plications offer solutions such as intelligent geographic routing, optimizing the routes, examining vehicle per-formance, 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, in-cluding arrival times (ETA) and departure times (ETD) of transport orders, verification of capacity utilisation of hubs are a few examples that mobility solutions can man-age for logistics providers. Any deviations in the logistic chain can be visualised through the control tower, ena-bling 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 eval-uate and correct the planning of future routes. The technology solutions provide oppor-tunity to process data to receive insights that will set the alarm before any damage has been done and achieve better results more effi-ciently, thus giving companies the opportunity to take preventive measures and improve business performance and operations aiding tighter control over issues.With transportation and logis-tics playing a key role to power the economic engine of a coun-try, it is pertinent that tradi-tional 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 solu-tions can be an important fac-tor in transforming operations and other ancillary systems that are critical to confirm enhanced visibility for better decision mak-ing and enhanced performance for logistics providers. Rishi Sareen
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