The impact of technology on the logistics industry

Introduction

Technological evolution is evolving each & every aspect of human life. With the fast pacing implementations of technology, the logistics industry is also advancing to fulfill customers’ demands. Technological solutions add amazing features to the traditional logistics services that effectively reduce costs & generate more productivity.

Effective solutions technology brings into the logistics sector

Real-time tracking– One of the notable expectations the consumers of logistics have is they want real-time tracking of the delivery from the starting point to the ultimate location. Consumers want to have live updates to get a specific idea about the journey & identify if there are any issues that need further support or not. Before implementing the live monitoring facilities, there was an initial departure date  & an expected final delivery date only. And, in between this, there was no tracking of where the product was or anything else. Different miscommunications were created & customers’ complaints, product faults, etc. occurred many times due to this. But, with vehicle tracking solutions, the consumer can have live tracking of the products all the time & if there was any fault occurrence by chance, it’s not a tough task to identify & take necessary actions quickly. With the help of GPS & other software advancements, it’s easy to provide 24/7 tracking facilities. This helps a lot in solving the miscommunications & decreases customers’ complaints as they can have their tracking options to receive the updates. A smooth tracking service creates a communicative information network between the warehouses, drivers, and head office & it’s become easier for the officials for maintaining regular data sheets.

Behavior enhancement- With the effective technological advancement & necessary implementations, it’s obvious to enhance the employees’ behavior. With the use of modern technologies, a company can have detailed information about a driver’s behavior. How fast a person is driving, how a driver maintains the speed limit, is the person following the traffic rules, what about the fuel consumption, etc. are some of the primary parameters on behalf of which a driver’s behavior is measured & decided by the higher authority. By implementing advanced software, it can be easily calculated if the driver is giving adequate output or not. Companies can consider the data & give a warning to the employee whenever needed. And if the person still is not willing to work properly, the software will let the authority know about this by providing necessary data & needed actions can be taken further by the company. So, an overall behavior enhancement is certain with proper technological executions in the logistics industry. It maintains a healthy relationship between the company & employees, builds strong trust & generates a far better ROI for the organization as well. 

Time management– One of the major impacts of technologies in the logistics sector is that it provides genuine analysis, inspections & needed activities to solve the issues if any. With the help of advanced fleet maintenance applications, it’s now very easy for a company to identify the areas & work accordingly. This creates a compact process of structured activities which not only maintains a good atmosphere within the sector & provides hassle-free services but reduces time consumption notably. Effective use of technology in logistics manages the time distribution perfectly & gears up the process to optimize the return.

Consumers’ requirements– Before the global technology enhancement era, logistics consumers just expected that the product would reach the final destination properly, that’s it. But with the uprising technological implementations, the consumers’ expectation is also going high naturally. Providing the right product to the right destination is not just enough now for being called as good logistics services. Consumers want on or before delivery without any fault by maintaining a humble attitude. The delivery should be flexible enough that if a person changes the delivery location even after the product has left the warehouse, it must be possible to complete the delivery to the newly inputted location successfully and as fast as possible. The delivery should be smooth enough to provide the ultimate satisfaction to the customers efficiently with enhanced supply chains. Thanks to the evolving technologies, companies are capable to serve all the requirements & fulfilling customer needs to a high extent.

Routing– Technology has evolved routing to maintain a smooth process of channelizing the product to the ultimate location without any delay. With GPS technologies, the final delivery location is very easy to detect & there is no chance of getting lost & delaying the delivery by mistake. An effective routing helps the drivers to detect the most suitable path to take for a safe & secured delivery on time. This can be utilized whenever needed like the driver can have the detailed routing data before commencing the journey & channel the journey according to this or it can be advised during being on the way if any roadblocks or unexpected delays are occurring on the pre-scheduled path. An excellent routing saves a lot of money, time & energy and achieves a high customer appreciation for providing smooth services.

Roles of the implemented technologies

IoT– The Internet of Things (IoT) is evolving the logistics sector in its own way. IoT brings built-in sensors with high Wi-Fi facilities for automated vehicles. It can be controlled easily with personal gadgets. This can lower the costs & serve a smooth supply chain.

Social media– The role of social media is highly impactful in the logistics sector. These platforms can help the business to build a strong connection with the customers & communicate with them as per their needs. Also, different updates & responses can be shared by using this medium.

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI & ML)– The logistics sector is implementing AI & ML solutions to automate the services & unwrap the immense possibilities. There is a huge potential to be highly impactful & revolutionizing the logistics industry with AI & ML implementations. The upcoming time will surely add more to this.

Blockchain– Blockchain development solutions can open up a door of immense possibilities for the logistics industry. With the distributed ledger system, blockchain can enhance overall data management effectively. The data synchronization serves reliable approach in the network. Smart contracts can be executed also for fleet management solutions.

Automated Drones & trucks– With the technological implementations, autonomous trucks will be common vehicles to use in the logistics sector in the near future. This executed technology has enough potential to be a completely driver-free service to provide necessary fleet solutions. The leading shipping organizations are already on the way to launching doorstep deliveries by drones. It will be really an engaging step to take, reduce the costs notably & enhances the productivity.

Conclusion

Thus, it’s clearly seen that technology is a game changer for logistics industries. Current logistics experts are welcoming new technological innovations as much as possible to derive the best results. Many amazing solutions are on the way to optimizing this sector more. To use the best of it, a logistics service provider can connect with Techno Exponent. Hire dedicated developers from this leading IT company & receive the maximum benefits from result-driven technological implementations.