Why advanced delivery route planning is great for the global economy?

Customers want fast deliveries. Companies want to deliver shipments faster and more efficiently using more resources at lower costs. They also want to become more reactive and agile in their delivery movement. These industries are becoming more customer-centric which is good for the economy. When the companies promise elements such as a memorable delivery experience along with a great product and ensure that they stick to it, customer belief in the system grows. Their engagement with the business grows, and the economy benefits with a sustainable marketplace.

Where does advanced delivery route planning fit into this? Without this tech, the companies wouldn’t ever be able to deliver on their promises. Previous practices such as manual and static shipment scheduling and route planning led to many inconsistencies and delays. The customer didn’t trust the system to get their desired products on time. Without this trust, the e-commerce industry wouldn’t have taken off as it did, and retail wouldn’t have seen the resurgence of retail in such a way.

If you add the varying infrastructural restrictions within last mile delivery, it would have been next-to-impossible to overcome local bottlenecks and traffic snarls to keep the logistics movement smooth while handling processes manually.

Recommended Read: How The Retail Landscape Has Changed In The Past Five Years

What is advanced delivery route planning?

You have a thousand parcels to dispatch from your distribution center. Here, LogiNext’s delivery routing software would make your life easy and quite profitable.

The system would…

  • identify all active drivers and vehicles, along with their current location, their carrying capacity, their skill-sets (such as local knowledge, parcel/shipment handling experience and preference, etc. in terms of the drivers; and vehicle capacity, vehicle type, running speed, etc.);
  • identify territories and create geo-fences around them (drivers and vehicles would be associated with geofences depending on their skill-sets;
  • auto assign all shipments to the best-suited driver and vehicle;
  • asses the live traffic patterns and conditions to get the fastest and shortest routes to each shipment delivery;
  • automatically create the best delivery schedule for the shipments focusing on highly efficient and effective logistics movement;
  • instill fast loading with in-app scanning of all parcels and quick dispatch;
  • track all shipment movement live in a single dashboard;
  • give live notifications and alerts for all events along the route (delays, detention, attempted or successful delivery);
  • enable secure delivery validation with instant proof of delivery;
  • capture live on-ground customer feedback;
  • assign more ad-hoc order pickups/deliveries in a trip, without severely affecting any current parcels or their ETAs;
  • communicate each update instantly with all stakeholders.

Recommended Read: Cloud-Based Machine Learning In An Omnichannel World: Decoding Customer Satisfaction

How does this benefit the economy?

First, a technology which enables process efficiency and cuts down resource wastage is always good for the economy, not to mention the company and its customers. Let’s have a look at how it happens…

  • Better capacity optimization increases overall resource (vehicle/driver/shipment planning time) utilization. This means that the shipments can be transported with lesser resources, freeing them up to handle more load.
  • Even in the case of spot markets, a better understanding of the required capacity would help in cutting down losses. Moreover, available fleet in the market would be better and more evenly distributed as per need among all carriers, cutting down irregularities and fluctuations in freight rates.
  • Identifying the skill-sets of each driver (vehicle specifications) and matching them to the ideal shipment would help in better handling of the load, directly leading to a better delivery experience for everyone involved.
  • Fast loading and dispatch would cut down on lead time and help companies move shipments faster, getting more ROI for the manufactures, distributors, warehouses, carriers, and even the customers (with on-time deliveries). This is direct value enhancement along the entire supply chain.
  • Live traffic pattern analysis across all local routes is critical to avoid unnecessary bottlenecks. Delivery vans or trucks, especially in the last mile, need proper maneuvering or they can become traffic magnets. With live traffic analysis, the trucks can be directed through faster routes in real-time, which would help not just the company, carrier, and customer, but everyone else on the road as it would distribute traffic evenly in the city.
  • Even in cities where road infrastructure creates random bottlenecks, real-time traffic pattern analysis can help companies avoid these places and take alternate routes. It eases the strains caused by these infrastructure issues.
  • Live shipment movement tracking, companies can be agile in reacting to any eventuality, cutting down on multiple business risks and uncertainties. This directly gives companies more control over their logistics and improves their sustainability in the long run.
  • Real-time driver behavior analysis reinforces positive driving patterns, discouraging harsh or unsafe driving. This helps companies be more accountable.
  • As last mile optimization improves the final customer facing leg of most industries, ensuring accurate ETAs, fast deliveries, complete parcel movement visibility, proper delivery validation, and instant feedback capture improves customer experience multi-fold.
  • Consistently positive customer experience builds satisfaction and turns into loyalty, all the while generating repeat purchases. This confidence in the system is positive for the economy as it keeps all businesses healthy.

Recommended Read: Top CIO Checklist For Optimizing Logistics Management

That’s why advance delivery route planning is essential to the win-win-win situation for companies-customers-economy.

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