The logistics industry, despite the disruptions in the supply chain and transportation, whether surface or air, ensured the global movements of goods and helped the wheels of all industries remain in motion.
Certain behavioral changes for a person or an organization is a natural progression and happens based on ability to adapt, learn and put to use. In some situations, this is circumstantially forced and the cycle of adapt, learn and put to use is drastically reduced. If I were to reflect on my behavior with regards to online shopping, personally I was not a supporter and did not enjoy. Some of the reasons were, fear of using online payment methods, skeptical whether what I will get will be what I wanted, will I get it in time, will I be home when it arrives, will they tell me when will it arrive, will it be, if not cheaper, at least the same price as offered by my favorite shop keeper, what if I don’t like it, how will I return, will they take it, will they give me my money back and on and on, my apprehensions were never ending.
All of this changed with the now everlasting lockdowns, I did not have a choice and hence I was circumstantially forced.
In this blog I am not going to talk about fear of online shopping or ecommerce, but I am going to talk about how technology has changed the world of logistics on all spheres of logistic business and what are the emerging trends. Can you imagine the usage of technology to fulfill a simple order of someone siting in Pune or Pilani, flawlessly, in time, intact, every time?
From the time an order is placed by an individual or a contract is signed for movement by an organization, your overall experience is possible to manage because of cutting edge technology, which manages and practically controls, the order processing, warehousing, primary sorting, secondary sorting, 1st Mile, middle mile, last mile, pin code coverage, service centers, delivery, customer updates, company updates, OTPs, proof of delivery & overall customer experience. This is truly exciting!
Geography Based Digital Platforms
These platforms are what is called “Uber Like”, it helps in executing the fulfillment with least cost possible in least time. Depicts resource availability till last mile delivery, creates transparency, traceability and updates. All stakeholders are constantly evaluating the most cost-effective way of delivery or fulfillment. Also, the use of an innovative tool the so-called DFM (Digital Freight Matching), a digital platform - generally an app - that using GPS combines the customer's request for goods with the logistic companies offer, like the truck capacity. In this way, transport is optimized, avoiding that trucks travel empty, with indirect benefits also on traffic and the environment.
Product Traceability
To ensure that the shipping organizing is in control of the shipped goods from the point of origin to the end destination, there is a continues series of data exchanges, digitized, IoT technology based and certified by the use of blockchain, this allows visibility and access to information which is very reliable, speedy and secure.
Artificial Intelligence, Robots & IoT
Managing warehousing, managing inventories, flawless identification of material, autonomous movement of material within the warehouse, managing loading bays, delivery drones, list is almost endless to what can happen when IoT, AI & Data analytics are put to use!
Needless to say, all of this is going to be possible with the support of the network availability at that point, at that time. It can be managed SD WAN, 5G, LTE, broadband, wireless, wireline, third party managed, self-managed whatever be the flavor, it will not happen unless you have a network connectivity which is redundant, robust, telecom agnostic and reliable, PERIOD!
In sign off I can confidently say, that technology in logistics is not a question of “to or not to”, it is a question of whether you want to be there tomorrow or not?
At Axon Networks we believe we can play a critical role in managed network connectivity & IoT for your organization, provided you are ready to leverage all of this to your advantage in many more ways than one.
Stay safe & healthy.
Regards,
Atul Ojha
Co-founder
Axon Networks