4 Digital Enhancements in Logistics Industry

Organizations within the Logistics industry have already started leveraging some of the biggest technological advancements such as big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) to be able to automate their services. The use of cloud based applications are further transforming the sector. There is no doubt about the fact that with disruption comes competition in the sector. The new entrants in the market are using customer centric business models which are helping them get the upper hand in the industry. Here are 4 of the digital enhancements which is revolutionizing the logistics industry:

1. Greater customer engagement: Internet of Things (IoT) can help businesses improve the experience of the partners and customers by giving them information in real-time in an easy and intuitive manner. This also gives the user visibility and transparency in the process while at the same time improving their engagement and awareness. To make this possible, the services that are offered need to be consistent throughout all the channels of engagement with the customers and partners. For this, it is critical to implement a secure IT infrastructure that has the capability to support the new functionalities.
2. Better efficiency and more productivity: Using IoT can help employees, customers and partners collaborate across the different platforms and provides better efficiency and productivity. For instance, it has been reported that large logistics firms lose up to $515,000 every single minute, due to the idle time of drivers. This can be cut down by the introduction of seamless collaboration across the various platforms. This also gives the employees, customers as well as the partners to get all-time access to applications and data. Due to these advantages, many companies are looking to implement effective IoT connectivity in the various flow of activities.
3. Maximize the trust and mitigate risk: Risks are ever-present. The proof is in worldwide cyber-attacks like NotPetya and WannaCry. This is what makes it vital to safeguard the data as well as the applications from any kind of threat that may come up. Companies need to adopt adaptive security strategies to be able to protect themselves from all kinds of threats. Particularly, there are 4 stages in creating an adaptive security life-cycle — preventative — making sure to block the attacks before they affect the organization, detective — limiting the time attackers spend on the system, to prevent as much damage as possible, retrospective — transforming knowledge about previous attacks into protection techniques for the future and predictive — monitoring attackers activity to understand what their next move maybe, so as to protect the company from potential attacks.
4. Just-In-Time deliveries: There was a time when JIT deliveries were reachable to only a few. However, with the introduction of digital technologies, JIT deliveries have become a norm. Digital technologies are helping companies make deliveries almost as soon as it is requested by the customer. Management of schedules has never been easier than it is today, and so is planning of routes and monitoring cargoes, all of which can be done in real time.