PortCalls welcomes its newest columnist Amit Maheshwari, CEO and founder of Softlink Global, a leading software products company.
Mr Maheshwari will write a column entitled “IT in Logistics,” which will be published fortnightly.
Technology news that have a bearing on the logistics industry is IT in Logistics’ main focus. It will also offer advise on how IT products and services can increase productivity and ultimately boost the bottomline.
Mr Maheshwari’s maiden column makes a case for IT as a competitive advantage for logistics service providers. He writes that in today’s business environment, offering low costs alone is no longer enough to beat the competition. He then explains how IT can help catalyze and manage growth of logistics service providers, giving them a leg-up on the competition.
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Today, the rising demands of customers and steadily growing global trade are pushing Logistics Service Providers (LSP) to widen the range of services they provide. As competition cuts through their market share, simply being the low-cost service provider is no longer enough for LSPs to win the business. The business of LSPs needs to transgress beyond just offering lower cost solutions. To become successful, LSPs must employ technology as a competitive advantage. Information technology helps LSPs drive strategies to achieve their business goals and promotes stronger client partnerships, which is something harder for the competition to overcome.
But how will IT catalyze and manage growth of LSPs and provide them an edge over the competition?
Consistency in Service
LSPs must focus on managing the organization as a whole and must harness latest innovations in technology to provide consistent service to their customers. Centralizing operations using specialized logistics ERP software helps achieve process standardization and deploy other operational guidelines. Creating standard processes also helps in being compliant, saving time and costs. The mechanism to create Alerts and Notifications allows management to prevent costly mistakes. Effective work-flow management helps eliminate bottlenecks and thus, unnecessary delays.
Increase Productivity
In logistics, increasing productivity isn’t just about moving more shipments. Complicated processes and documentation bring down the productivity of logistics professionals. Successful LSPs automate their operations by using comprehensive logistics software which helps streamline operational processes. Automation has helped LSPs reduce Job Turn-around Time by lowering the amount of effort for every task. Productivity improves with reduced documentation errors, automated report sending and eliminating duplicate data entry.
Control Cost
LSPs that carefully plan and execute their logistics strategy can successfully control cost and realize substantial business growth. Logistics companies have effectively utilized powerful software tools for significant cost control. Complete automation of logistics functions helps reduce time spent on various business activities and significantly cuts Job Turn-around Time. By minimizing documentation errors and mistakes, LSPs have considerably reduced costs. Maintaining and retrieving the best suitable tariff rates and credit control mechanism allows LSPs to control expenditures. Using KPIs and reports to monitor the variance between planned and actual expenses is also a proven way to control costs.
Stop Revenue Leakages
All business functions and activities have an impact — positive or negative — on revenue. Thus, identifying and eliminating revenue leakages is the most important way of improving profitability. The integration of operations and finance with help of logistics software provides huge business benefits such as improved cash flows, reduced costs and a stop to revenue leakages. LSPs can send alerts on outstanding dues and collections, in the process improving fund flows. Integration also helps prevent unbilled service expenses and build an approval mechanism to avoid overpayment.
Keep Customers Happy
The need to ensure higher customer satisfaction is crucial for a service-driven industry like logistics. As supply chains get more demanding, customers today need their logistics partners to go beyond just delivering the cargo. LSPs are finding new and smoother ways to interact with their customers. Successful LSPs give better service experience to their customers. With the help of comprehensive logistics software, LSPs can send a customized daily status report or automated email and SMS notifications to customers. LSPs can provide additional facilities to their customers with Web-integrated customer service portals and mobile apps. Interactive and automated visibility software provides real-time information about shipment status. CRM solution helps logistics companies manage entire customer life-cycle and generate valuable customer insights.
LSPs serve customers from many industries with varying requirements. They have to differentiate themselves in order to stay competitive. By taking advantage of technology solutions LSPs can deliver more complex services while keeping operating costs low. The use of technology is rapidly changing the entire world of logistics making it faster, more reliable and responsive.
Amit Maheshwari brings over two decades of cumulative logistics industry knowledge, experience and technological expertise to the table. He is the CEO and founder of Softlink Global, a leading software products company, which he founded in India in 1992. Under his leadership, Softlink Global has grown to have a presence in every major city in India as well as overseas, including in the Philippines. A Bachelor’s degree holder in Electronic Engineering, his expertise spans Strategic Planning, Information Management, Financial Resource Management, Product Development and Marketing. For questions or comments, he may be reached at amit@softlinkglobal.com.
