Make Your Logistics Wings Efficient And Productive Today!

Enterprises today are looking at plethora of solutions available in the market, that help them make their logistics processes better. From building an internal team to deploying third party vendor solution, CxOs are investing resources in making the teams better. A recent report by Gartner shows that, Artificial Intelligence (AI) would be the top priority for more than 30% of the  CIOs.

Logistics with a mix right IT solution will help enterprises cut the cost, reduce the Turn Around Time, increase process efficiency and the productivity of the organisation. For achieving the desired objectives, companies are integrating logistics with IT function and CIOs today are rethinking their digital strategies to make their logistics processes ‘smarter.’

With a backdrop of IT, a well integrated logistics management helps in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation. From dispatching of the run sheets to providing 360 degree visibility to generating actionable insights, a logistics management solution will help enterprises work better.

The elements that go into the planning of integrated logistics include, planning inventory, transportation, information processing, demand forecasting, planning of pick-ups and deliveries and analysing the logistics operations.The logistics systems can also be incorporated in the company itself where there is lot of movement on daily basis. This will call for an appointment of bigger staff with logistics experience. The company will also need to invest in specialized equipments and transportation systems.

The investment required for all these would be huge and the human resource requirement would also be considerably high.  The outsourcing of this service is therefore advisable for cost effective and efficient logistics. There are many companies that offer this service as per your budget. These companies have their websites and online tracking system that can be utilized to track your shipment from tie to time. Many of these companies also offer quotes to make the job easier. The cost depends on the type of shipment as well as the source and destination of the shipment.

So, it developing customised solutions or deploying an integrated logistics management solution is important for building today’s connected landscapes.

Great customer experiences with Omnichannel Logistics

Omni-channel logistics has become a key focus area in supply chain management today, especially with the spurring growth of ecommerce. With customers becoming more sophisticated with the innumerous options available, retailers are gearing up to redefine their operations so as to  help them build a supply chain that will reflect the customer experience in the existing processes.

The reason behind this major move is the behaviour and preferences of the millennial customers. The customer journey typically moves across channels, starting and ending at different points based on individual preferences. A surge in the internet sales is fuelled by the growth of customer expectations and the purchasing power.  By 2030, APAC’s urbanization rate will increase by 30% and the similar growth is observed in the developing markets.

Great customer experiences start with great interactions at every opportunity. It is essential to understand the customer behaviour, his preferences regarding ordering a product, delivery options and payment options. Today’s customer is exceptional personalized experiences beyond the store, fulfilling customer journeys and fulfilling customer promises.

The need to create an agile, innovative supply chain has arised to deliver brand-promise ‘real-time.’ This helps in fulfilling the customer promises, collaborative customer journeys and visibility in the operations.

Building an agile supply chain framework:

The omni-channel trends are following the same path in the developed and developing countries, more often. However, consumer expectations are growing more than the pace at which the digital technologies are growing. Logistics providers today have to enable omnichannel logistics and here are the four pointers that help them support the concept and build a flexible supply chain:

1. IT back-end integration
2. Integration of payment options   
3. Automation of processes   
4. Flexible delivery options.

The omni-channel requirements are intensely cross-functional efforts, they are the product of a clear and focused strategy based on key insights about customers, they require a custom-designed supply-chain network, they build—or acquire—new supply-chain capabilities.

Critically, the companies that are doing omni-channel logistics well don’t pick and choose from these characteristics—they have all five. The reason all five are critical starts with an understanding of how omnichannel became such an urgent priority for all the logistics companies.

The online sales are growing 15 percent a year, against just 1.5 percent for overall retail sales. Last year, online sales accounted for 7.3 percent of total retail sales. Customers tend to order more when they buy online—up to four times as much as when they buy from a single-channel retailer. And when customers collect online orders in stores, they often make additional purchases while they are there.

This transformation in retailing is happening all the faster because new entrants are piling in and disrupting the market, dismaying incumbents and delighting customers. 

Create A Smarter Supply Chain

Creating Smarter Supply Chains is a vision of today’s enterprise. Ask the Chief Digital Officer of any enterprise, you will hear that building their smarter supply chain is the strategic objective. Gaining visibility has risen from the sixth most important strategic priority in 2015 to third in 2017. However, only 6% of firms said they had achieved this aim.

Supply chains across the globe are aiming to achieve complete visibility of all the processes for real-time collaboration and seamless visibility amongst all the stakeholders and the processes. Supply Chain Visibility is defined as connecting companies and giving the entire network access to information via a single platform.

FarEye has designed first Business Process Management Engine for mobility in supply chain to address greater visibility. Backed by advanced Machine-Learning algorithms and Artificial Intelligence, FarEye’s unique capability enables enterprises to customise workflows and blend logistics & IT to make supply chains ‘smarter’ with Cloud and Mobility.

Circumstances that call for changes in a workflow can be instantly accommodated with drag-and-drop ease on the FarEye’s BPM platform. With the help of advanced machine-learning algorithms, FarEye’s BPM engine adapts intelligent processes, blends it with the operations with minimal disruption.

Easy & Quick Adoption of Workflows: New modified workflow measures snap into place with minimal disruption, keeping the organisation agile and ready for new opportunities. Its ‘drag and drop’ tool help in blending the workflows with minimal disruption.

Decisioning – Flowcharts can be configured based on business events: The BPM platform can be leveraged to easily design and generate new processes/workflows.  Circumstances that call for changes in the workflow can be instantly accommodated with drag-and-drop ease on FarEye’s BPM platform.

Visibility in the run-sheets generation and work-order allotment:

The demand of the orders are volatile, the complexity and the volume increases. For e.g., planning the daily operations by efficiently allocating the orders to the right person helps in building the workforce. With real-time visibility into the run-sheet generation, you can now - assess the credibility of the job, efficient and responsive.

By integrating with the right mobility solutions, logistics companies can now improve their delivery happiness score as well as get a detailed view of what’s going on the field. Built on Business Intelligence and Machine-Learning algorithms, FarEye’s intuitive dashboard helps in solving the supply chain visibility challenge that all enterprises have been facing, in real-time. 

Enhance Your Customer Delight With Advanced Business Intelligence Platform

Every enterprise today is at the cusp of transforming its operations by leveraging digital solutions. With customers being at the heart of this transformation, enterprises have to focus on technologies that will help them ensure customer delight by providing ‘real-time’ information about their expected shipments. Logistics companies can take their learning curve to a higher level  through business intelligence platforms aka delivery happiness platform that enable ‘customer-delight.’

Using intuitive business intelligence, last-mile companies can visualise the data on the web and mobile platform through drill-down options available on the platform. This helps in getting a 360-degree view on the operations based on the location, job type and the hub.These intuitive dashboards and drill-down applications enhance the key applications and provide comprehensive information about the successful deliveries as well as failed attempts. This brings the desired understanding in terms of actionable insights at the right time. Therefore, the delivery operations can be managed more effectively. Often referred as the delivery happiness platform by the clients, the performance scoreboards and analytics tracks the  progress of  jobs towards pre-determined specific goals.

A delivery happiness platform understands the challenges that occur in the outlay of delivering customer delight ‘real-time.’ The visual representation of the operational data indicates  what’s going on the field. In simple terms, the core question for the logistics companies is- how to make use of this operational data to make the day-to-day operations smarter and more efficient?

Delivery Happiness Platform helps enhance customer experience with capabilities such as

1.         Estimated Time of Arrival

• a.         Real time tracker to engage and empower customers
• b.         Notifications/alerts to enhance customer experience       
• d.         Uberization: to cater to on-demand customer requests
• e.         Personalized and customized deliveries
• f.          New product developments like parcel & locker deliveries
• g.         Gamification in order to improve efficiencies

2.         Feedback – to measure delivery happiness score

FarEye’s delivery happiness platform uses advanced data visualisation tools that help turn the raw data into meaningful analytics. The toolset approach will help integrate with the operations on a day-to-day basis and further the capability of adding the enhancements for individual customers or even empowering them to create their own business intelligence environment.

Crucial Features of a Delivery Management System

Most of the people find online shopping to be more comfortable and less time-consuming. And they are willing to pay additional amount just to get the same day delivery of the ordered products. Keeping this mind, businesses need a well-managed system which makes deliveries on time without fail. Thus, every company which wants its customers to be satisfied adopts a delivery management system which can help in achieving better results.

Many top ranking organizations are already using this system. If you are also planning to get one for your organization, following are the features one is advised to look for:

Real Time Tracking:

In order to make it to the top in their respective niche, companies consider re-designing their system to make it more transparent for their customers by enabling them to track their ordered products during delivery. This helps companies in gaining customers’ trust which is crucial from competition’s perspective. A delivery management system helps companies in keeping a track of the location of the driver. Further, every order related to any particular customer can also be tracked. The sender too is benefited by staying updated with the timings related to every step of the delivery.

All-In-One Option:

With the high level of competition, most companies have already installed this system into their operations. But, it is still advised to have a system which is compatible and capable of executing all (or at least most of your processes) the processes. This helps in decreasing the overall cost spent on various systems. If a company has just one integrated system, executing and managing everything becomes quick and gives a better growth curve for the company.

Managing All The Orders:

Scheduling deliveries and pickups are necessary components of any delivery system. Thus, organizations need a delivery management system that can manage orders proficiently. Once orders are managed well, it becomes easier for organizations to keep a record of the further activities.

Apart from all these, a delivery management system can have varied features depending upon the needs of the particular organization which includes business-centric features to make it suitable to conduct all crucial operations efficiently.

Adapting Courier Dispatch Software Is The Need Of The Hour

The need for right technology has arisen when the logistics companies were looking for the automated software that could solve their day-to-day challenges easily. In delivery business, speedy dispatch is an essential part of the service to stay competitive. The customer who has been let down in terms of expectations doesn’t know the barriers in delivering the parcel at the right time with lots of hassles. An efficient courier software will help you to track all your order & shipment details through the admin panel which can spot the problem before it happens.

A global and proven on-demand software and courier dispatch software helps logistics companies to keep track of all their order & dispatch details easily, so the dispatcher can identify the problem before they occur. Courier software allows riders to dispatch the shipment at the right place with the help of mobile phone app and the customer can make a payment through online. Both the riders & customers no longer have to deal with the paperwork which makes delivery of shipments faster than ever. All data will be stored in the database and it can be retrieved for later reference.

FarEye - Making your Logistics processes 'smarter' with 'cloud'

Real- Time Communication Made Easy:

Push notification & messaging feature lets you connect with your employees & customers through the mobile application. Push notification can be sent automatically to both riders once the order has been placed by the customer. The admin & dispatcher can able to generate reports automatically by accessing data stored in the database. Automated booking options & online payments are the comprehensive features in efficient courier software.

Location tracker:

To trace delivery personnel’s location, and to help enhance the control of the workforce, tracking serves the purpose without which the purpose is not solved.

Intuitive Dashboard:

The dashboard provides a comprehensive view of what’s going on, on the field. The dashboard gives a 360-degree visibility of the operations.

Admin panel and tracking solution:

Dispatching and tracking panel is an essential for any application to get business, improve process efficiency, and complete the task. Business apps need proper update and upgradations on time for effective results.

Analytics Engine:

How if your operations are not being optimised? Where do you have to develop resources? So will be the case with the operating system without analytical data. If you are buying one, make sure it has the feature of smart analytics system.

In recent days, logistics companies are adopting courier dispatch software that helps them streamline their processes and help them in easy dispatching.

3 Benefits of Installing Logistics Management Software

Logistics is considered to be one of the most unorganized sectors, especially in developing countries like India. Businesses at different occasions have often experienced certain issues like late and unplanned deliveries, goods not traceable, etc. But thanks to the introduction of advanced applications like logistics management software, the entire logistics processes have been simplified and improved. The logistics deliveries can now be better handled and delivered on time.

Installing logistics management software can optimize transport and fuel costs, enabling you to make better decisions. These systems can also boost process efficiency, increase employee productivity and improve customer experience by ensuring on-time deliveries and real-time visibility.

Benefits of logistics Management Software:

1. Availability in the choice of transport and real-time freight rates

This logistics software application has a TMS feature that makes it easy for users around the country to receive live carrier rates over the Internet. When your business has multiple carriers to choose from depending on a number of factors like transit time, cost and insurance, it allows you to make the best choice for your shipments, thus saving a lot of money in the long run.

2. Improved customer service

Logistics management software has features like auto pick-up, real-time freight tracking and freight accounting. This way, not only the delivery executive but even the customers can know exactly how much the freight will cost and when will it reach the destination through timely notifications.  

3. Access to real-time freight data and analysis

Having access to real-time freight data will help you make better business decisions based on the prevailing trends and history. This software will provide you with all the valuable data with just the push of a button, allowing you to see the total cost of your shipments. It will help you to mitigate future expenses and avoid bad decisions accordingly.