If you are not represented online, your company does not exist for the majority of your target group. Unless, of course, your target group consists of elderly ladies aged 70-80. However, the use of contemporary technologies is not limited to marketing campaigns and providing information on your services to potential clients. Various software solutions are here to help you improve the quality of your services. This is especially crucial for logistics companies.
These companies have almost limitless opportunities for improving their performance and cutting costs thanks to a diverse set of technologies that can be applied. Experience has shown that web applications are the best possible solution to introduce such improvements. Web apps can run on any platform, so you do not need to develop different apps for Windows, Android, and iOS from scratch. There are even progressive web applications, a new trend in the industry, that are indistinguishable from native apps but require less time or finances for development. Besides, web apps ensure that all the data is synchronized, so there is much less possibility of errors due to outdated information. These pros are common for all industries, should a well-known company or a startup opt for web application development. So, let’s take a look at why should a logistics and transport enterprise pay special attention to logistics application software.
Transportation costs are, obviously, a big deal for any business that provides logistics services. The benefit is obvious as well: the more you reduce the costs, the more competitive are the prices that you can offer. Basically, you can use a web application to manage what gets delivered where, when and by whom. A web app can track the location of the vehicle via GPS and allow dispatchers, drivers, or the app itself manage the delivery by choosing the fastest delivery route. The last option is worth your particular attention as it can help you reduce labor costs as well. If you decide to build custom logistics software for business, pay particular attention to the navigation feature. The app should not choose the shortest route. It has to take into account other different variables, such as the height, size, and weight of the vehicle, traffic jams and car accidents, as well as load type (hazardous materials may be prohibited in certain areas).
Logistics software for business comes in quite handy to monitor and, consequently, improve the performance of your employees. For instance, you can use a web app for tracking daily logs of drivers. In this case, daily log’s purpose is to track the mileage and hours of work. These are important because these indicators must not exceed the limits set by the laws of the state. Tracking can be done with the help of GPS trackers. Surely, driver daily log should include the information on the driver and the vehicle he or she is using (plate number, vehicle model, driver license number, etc.) for authentication purposes. Besides that, you can also track the driver’s behavior on the road: speeding, violating the laws, or car accidents involving the vehicle can be reported automatically to the manager. This is especially important if you are outstaffing or outsourcing the delivery process as you need to ensure that the drivers you hire fulfill their tasks efficiently and on time. Bonus point: if there is a GPS tracker installed on the vehicles, you can make sure that your employees do not use them for personal purposes like going home for lunch without your knowledge.
One thing is fair for any business: the more satisfied your customers are, the better word of mouth advertising is going to work. When it comes to logistics services, customer satisfaction level is based on many factors. They include the delivery speed, the quality of customer support, the absence (or presence) of delivery errors, the company’s website or app UX (user experience), etc. As it is truly difficult for a small or even medium company to survive in the cutthroat competition in the market, the importance of customer satisfaction can’t be underestimated. First of all, logistics software decreases the number of delivery errors. As automation replaces employees that take and process orders, there is a lot less room for human error. Secondly, if your customer can track their delivery in real-time and receive push notifications for any messages regarding it, he or she is more likely to find such convenience and the overall experience satisfying. The reason is that the whole process is transparent to your customers. They can plan their time according to real-time updates on the delivery status and be confident that their delivery is not lost somewhere. Last but not least, you should pay particular attention to the way your clients experience the whole process of placing an order, making the payment, waiting for the delivery to be done and receiving it. The whole cycle should be automated as much as possible and there must not be any bugs in the software. Bonus tip: order processing can be automated as well. This means that the second a client places a delivery order, its details are added to the database, the item is assigned an identification number and put into the delivery queue.
You may use logistics app development to improve the way you manage the cargo that needs to be delivered. Every item can be identified and tracked using near-field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID) or QR-code technologies. NFC and RFID technologies have proven to be way more efficient than traditional code scanning. They are based on radio wave technology to detect and identify items. All that is needed is a tag and a scanner. If you opt for RFID, items can be identified within up to 100 meters radius. In case you use NFC, the tags should be placed close to the scanner. In case you opt for assigning unique QR-codes for every item, there is no need to worry about special scanners: the code can be scanned by a smartphone with special software installed on it. This can make finding the required items in huge warehouses a lot easier and you can create a digital map of your warehouse with the current location of every cargo item. Besides that, you can use these technologies to improve tracking every item on its way to the client while allowing the client to observe the delivery status in real time as well.
Custom application development for logistics companies can help to take advantage of all the potential benefits mentioned above and even more than that. Technologies that are used should contribute to one common cause: making delivery faster, more accurate and more convenient for both the company and the client. Time is of the essence, so use both your time and your clients’ time wisely. In case your mind is full of ideas on how to improve your logistics company’s performance while cutting costs, feel free to reach out to us 24/7. Our specialists gladly provide with answers to any of your questions that may arise, from development costs to the most suitable technologies for the project implementation.
Source: WEBCASE Studio BLOG
