Logistics visibility software to overcome logistics visibility barriers effectively
By FarEye | October 13, 2022
Evolving customer expectations and an alarming need to make operations cost-effective are driving logistics businesses to act upon the monumental visibility problem. Organizations are finally waking up to the fact that disparate logistics units cannot work in silos anymore. As much as 94% of logistics businesses say that they do not have full visibility of supply chain operations.
Traditional ways of executing logistics operations, lack of system interoperability, and limited real-time insights are some of the major factors that fuel visibility challenges across supply chains operations.
Traditional methods of executing logistics operations have inherent limitations when it comes to ensuring end-to-end operational visibility. These practices are heavily dependent on manual processes making it difficult, if not impossible, to track and trace ground-level logistics activities like warehousing, delivery operations, and in-plant movements of goods. This increases operational expenses, risks and prolongs delivery cycles.
Systems working in silos is another major barrier to improving logistics visibility. If disparate IT architectures are not interoperable, it becomes impossible to gain a holistic view of ground-level logistics operations, accurately benchmark delivery KPIs and ensure seamless logistics operations. For instance, if there is a disconnect between an order management system and a transport management system, it will be extremely difficult to allocate delivery jobs and track goods that are in transit.
Today, achieving end-to-end visibility of supply chain and logistics processes is not a herculean task. An advanced logistics visibility platform can make disparate legacy systems interoperable, deliver predictive visibility, track fleets in real-time, keep customers updated on delivery proceedings and more. Together, these help enterprises deliver high levels of transparency in logistics functions. In short, it easily addresses the age-old visibility problem.
Why Logistics Visibility Matters
Even though logistics visibility is mostly associated with tracking and tracing fleets, it’s actually so much more than that. It encapsulates visibility of freight, customer experience, inventory availability, route planning, and insights into delivery KPIs. A logistics visibility platform offers a holistic approach to ensuring visibility across different functions and value chains. Here is how.
Enhanced Customer Experience
To thrive in the age of instant gratification, businesses need to provide visibility to customers at every step of the delivery process. A logistics visibility platform constantly updates customers as to what’s happening with a delivery, when was it shipped, who is going to deliver, and ETAs. Organizations that are transparent with their delivery process have a large base of loyal customers and according to Bain & Company, a 5% increase in customer retention correlates with at least a 25% increase in profit.
Reduced Delivery Costs
Leveraging a visibility platform helps enterprises gain crucial insights from real-time data generated by fleet movement. They can easily eliminate unnecessary diversions, vehicle idling time and prolonged breaks. This can help enterprises save millions of dollars due to fewer miles covered, increased driver productivity and reduced fuel consumption, overall reducing the cost incurred per delivery.
Improved Procurement
In a production environment, there are a lot of stakes in terms of managing continuity and keeping the production cycle up and running. Lack of proper planning of stocking at production time could not only lead to a chain reaction that ultimately affects the end customer but also causes undesirable disruptions in everyday operations. It also leads to unplanned activities that affect yard management, dock management and triggers a vicious cycle of contingencies that are difficult to handle. A visibility platform makes procurement processes transparent and therefore can help a great deal to avoid these above-mentioned scenarios which are counter-productive to the interests of the business.
Accurate KPI Benchmarking
Accurately measuring performances of 3PLs, delivery drivers, and routes are important to make logistics a cost-effective business function. A logistics visibility platform carefully analyzes previous performances of individual last-mile delivery stakeholders and routes by leveraging machine learning capabilities and recommends the best possible delivery partner and route to execute last-mile operations. It even motivates delivery drivers by empowering them to analyze their own performance with regards to the number of successful deliveries, delayed deliveries and benchmark their own performance against peers.
Risk Mitigation
Predictive visibility is indispensable when it comes to risk mitigation. Leveraging machine learning businesses can quickly analyze historical data regarding route performance and can significantly reduce the chances of theft and pilferage, helping logistics stakeholders get proactive when dealing with risks and delays. Large manufacturing businesses have successfully eliminated chances of theft and pilferage by more than 55% and have saved millions of dollars of worth cargo from being stolen.
To better understand how lack of logistics visibility is affecting your bottom line and learn how a traditional manufacturer leveraged digitalization to address the challenge, sign up for a quick demo here.
