How Can Route Optimization Boost the Efficiency of Your Logistics Business?

Gone are the days when logistics industry used to experience a huge loss due to lack of infrastructure, unavailability of drivers, high transit time, the low turnaround of vehicles because of multiple checkpoints and excessive spend on fuel. Now the leading logistics companies are successfully planning their transportation routes and schedules to accommodate the growing level of short notice requirements of customers, the issue of unavailability of vehicles and the rising cost of fuel. Thanks to route optimization, it has become possible.

But what significance does route optimization exactly hold for the logistics industry?

Route optimization helps the drivers, as well as the companies, select the optimal route to deliver goods in order to ensure the lowest cost of transportation. It eases the issues that logistics companies usually face due to unavailability of enough vehicles or drivers while meeting customers’ short notice requirements. Moreover, route optimization in logistics takes into account the real-time events such as the condition of traffic, availability of equipment and personnel for loading/unloading etc. Be it any type of contingency that arises in the process of transportation, route optimization can quickly respond to it.

In short, route optimization helps in resolving various challenges that the transportation industry usually faces. Thus nowadays the logistics companies that offer user-friendly apps for streamlining their service have started adding route optimization as a feature for better benefits.

Let’s take a detailed look at the key challenges faced by the logistics industry and how the route optimization feature solves these.

Major Challenges Route Optimization Feature Can Solve

• High DemandsIn today’s high tech world, with the rapid development of technology and ease of ordering products or availing services, B2C and B2B customers expect far more than they used to. Nowadays customers prefer everything to be delivered at their doorstep within just a few clicks. There are high consumer demands that logistics businesses are experiencing.
  Despite the issues, route optimization can help you in:
       – Proper Planning
   – Opting from various available options
     – Increasing the accuracy of pre-decided arrival time
   – Delivering more in less time
• Diversity in Delivery Options
  When an e-commerce business offers product delivery at a customer’s residential address, the common challenges it often faces are:
       – Bulk orders
   – High demand for fast order fulfilment
   – Variety of home delivery options
  Consumers expect fast and affordable shipments and even to have a choice between:
  
  – Home delivery
    – Workplace delivery
    – The option of clicking and collecting the shipment from a designated place
  Thus, for e-commerce businesses, home delivery is no longer a simple delivery method. With all the diversifications in delivery options, to meet customer demand, they need a comprehensive order fulfilment system that can deliver them the chance to spot exactly where every product is in the delivery process. Thanks to route optimization, now this is possible.
  Route optimization for logistics industry ensures:
         – Constant optimization and real-time reporting after the order placement to help you balance
  customer expectations
         – Affordable delivery options
         – Improved customer assistance experience
         – Visibility of the entire shipment process’ progress from dock to every customer’s doorstep.

• How Route Optimization Helps Logistics Industry?

  Route optimization accelerates and amplifies the return on investment of a logistics company as it moves from implementation to integration and eventually optimization. With this, the logistics managers can integrate all the metrics associated with a transportation process in one dashboard, to see how performance evolves in real time or as a record.
• The key benefits that logistics companies get from route optimization are:

1. Immediate access to all the carriers in real time
2. Ability to customize service as per the demand of new customers, suppliers, and carriers
3. Data streaming across the network, allowing users to have access to accurate and robust information
4. Better management at a lesser cost.

Read How Can Route Optimization Boost the Efficiency of Your Logistics Business.