The Power of Route Optimization Apps and How You Should Select Them
The importance of interconnected delivery cannot be understated in the present world, where a number of stops need to be made before the delivery makes the last stop or before the job gets done. Oftentimes, all or most of these stops have to be made to either receive or deliver important materials. Both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer(B2C) have now become more complicated than what they used to be in the past. Thus modern businesses that operate on logistics are demanding both affordability and efficient methods of delivery. This is confirmed by statistics. 73% of people say that they have abandoned shopping carts when they’re met with a delivery fee and 43% of them now choose same-day or next-day delivery.
Since the consumers and the marketplace has changed, the logistics companies have also needed to change. Last-mile delivery software have entered the picture, to help decrease or eliminate inefficiencies that are associated with last mile delivery. Last mile delivery is the last phase of the delivery where the customer gets the actual product handed over to them, and it is now considered the most important phase in delivery. Such software uses what is called route optimization to efficiently get the delivery agents transported from the packaging stations to their destinations where customers wait for them.
Features of a Route Planner App and How They Help the Logistics Business
These days, a route planner which is automatic and can handle multiple different variables that affect the final delivery process. Such apps are used by both the business and the delivery agents, and the same app is responsible for providing detailed reports and analytics to the business and individual delivery data to the agents. Following are some of the many variables they handle in the business.
- The pickup time window
- delivery or service time window
- distance
- package details (weight, volume, cost, quantity, services vs. goods)
- Window for on-site time spent by the delivery agent
- Financial constraints for deliveries
- skill sets of agents
- Vehicle details
So as you can notice, these apps have a lot up their sleeve.
How To Select Between Different Route Optimization Apps
As with any type of software, there are many companies that sell the same type of software and it is up to the logistics company to decide between them. If the logistics company is aiming for better fleet management across all its fleet, it must select a software that is capable of doing it, or else it can suffer huge losses in this competitive industry. Following are some things such an app must be capable of before being one of your viable choices.
Flexibility
Any software that can only do what it is programmed to do is bound to fail in the logistics industry, as situations in Ecommerce logistics always are the one of constant change. The software you pick must help plan, schedule and dispatch each parcel when every delivery might be something important and delivery constraints change for each delivery. We are not just talking about the time constraints, but also about special constraints that may arise due to various situations and obstacles that may be created by individuals or the environment.
Integrity and Scalability
Flexibility alone is unfortunately not enough in the competitive modern logistics business and the software must be capable of scaling itself when the company requires it to. The scalability is not just in terms of its size, but also in terms of its performance capability, feature integration and user experience. It must also be secure from any threats against the software, and must prevent important or sensitive customer or business information from being compromised by someone who may try doing the same.
Real time tracking
This is one of the most important features a parcel delivery software to possess, and this feature helps both the customer and the business to track the order in real time. This feature must be presented in different ways to each member in the logistics. The customer will receive tracking information about each of their deliveries. Delivery agents should receive tracking information about routes and businesses on the other hand must receive tracking information on each delivery agent and order. This information can later be saved for future use.
Robust data analytics and reports
This is also an important part of the delivery management software that will relay analytics of their profit, resources used, ratings and report it in a consistent timely manner. Artificial intelligence can also be used to track the behaviour of customers and what they are interested in ordering through the delivery system. This report can be sent to the headquarters of the business where it can be used to determine future plans for the business.
Proof of delivery
Every transportation management software must provide its customers with some kind of digital proof of delivery. This can include a verification process that is initiated by the customer side of the app after they have confirmed all the specifications of the delivery product. Both delivery agents and the customer should be provided with options of reviewing the other, and this information can help the businesses in finding out problematic behaviour in their staff or with some customers.
Conclusion
While deliveries in the world have seen more demands in the industry, these demands are hard to meet without the right technological advancements integrated into the delivery source. These days, logistics is handled by the use of apps that tell the delivery agent where to go and help the business make efficient but required logistics choices. Deliforce is a delivery management system that helps employers that handle complicated deliveries keep track of their delivery agents in real-time and record all analytics and reports related to such deliveries. It also has extensive fleet management features that monitor the state of a business at all times, and uses advanced route optimization to make deliveries as efficient as possible. .
