How Delivery Management Software Can Help Your Business Operations
Customers nowadays want a robust delivery system platform. They want feedback forms, deliveries powered by real-time information, instant notifications and alerts, emailers with regular updates, and so on.
A delivery management software, or DMS, is a digital tool that is used for scheduling, planning, optimizing, managing, and executing the growingly complicated dispatch activities. Last mile delivery software is capable of refining the delivery operations of all types of organizations, no matter their industry, scale, or size. A delivery management system comes with features like a customer support system, reverse logistics, scheduling and dispatching, and route optimization.
Even though this industry has gradually developed over the years, the progress in the last year has been groundbreaking, and it was a result of the emergence of the pandemic. Every business today needs on demand delivery management to enable higher customer engagement and enhanced operational management.
So, even if you’re not a large business, but you still had loads of things to manage in one day; from dispatch to scheduling, there isn’t a thing that will help you more than last mile delivery technology.
Benefits of Using on Demand Delivery Software
Following are a few benefits that come with using delivery management software.
Route Optimization
The DMS picks the most efficient and fastest routes for its delivery agents. The best routes are decided based on different factors, such as the drive’s availability, location proximity, and traffic conditions. This feature helps businesses make deliveries in less time and smartly, which in the end helps the business meet its end goals.
Real-Time Tracking
It can be quite difficult to monitor where your delivery agents are and, based on their location and availability, give them directions. This task doubles the resources, cost, and time if it’s done manually. However, with a DMS, you can quickly and easily get accurate and real-time information about your drivers.
Automation and Streamlining
Businesses can scale if they have efficient and faster operations. DMS helps businesses do this by cutting down the number of steps in the delivery process by automating the operations, including warehouse management, dispatching, and automated scheduling. This eradicates the need for thousands of phone calls and hours of manual activities. The whole process is streamlined and fastened.
Insightful Business Analytics
For your business to grow, it is critical that you gain business insights to see the performance of your business. A DMS is equipped with analytics tools that will help you make well-informed decisions by providing you with insights.
Timely and Cost-Efficient Deliveries
The need for manual entries will be long gone after you automate your tasks. Using a delivery management platform will save you both resources and time and will reduce the operational costs of running your business. Besides doing this, it will also eliminate the risk of discrepancies and errors. You will surely achieve the goals of your organization faster and make a good profit with an efficient DMS.
Management of Drivers
As your team of drivers expands, it is crucial that managers and dispatchers are able to monitor and manage each team member as efficiently as possible. Asking your drivers to periodically check-in or calling them can lead to delivery delays since the process is time-consuming for both your drivers and dispatchers, and managers.
Reduction of Fuel Costs
In correlation with the points we mentioned above, we want to point out that using the most efficient and short route to deliver an order will not only save you time but fuel as well. A DMS will track the conditions in traffic and recalculate routes so your drivers will waste less fuel and won’t get stuck in traffic.
Better Communication
Customers nowadays expect same-hour deliveries and instant notifications and alerts. In order to keep up with their expectations and to stay competitive in the industry, you need a DMS that will reduce the waiting time and cost. Also, you will increase customer loyalty since customers appreciate the extra effort companies put in to improve communication.
Delivery Management Platform: Do more in the last mile
When customer demand for next-day or same-day deliveries increases, maximizing the efficiency of last-mile delivery software operations has to be a high priority among retailers. In today's digital age, customer expectations for online delivery are growing rapidly - real-time tracking, free delivery, and same-day delivery. The consequences? Growing service requirements, increased costs, and a broader supply chain complexity. In order to address these challenges, retailers need to develop a delivery management platform that can automate the entire process, from route optimization to driver management, and delivering real-time information to customers. Third-party logistics providers are vital entities in launching and meeting new delivery models for retailers. With effective on demand delivery management software, online retailers can streamline last-mile logistics.
As online shopping continues to grow, here are some tips on how to improve your delivery management system to scale your delivery operations.
Characteristics of a Robust Delivery Management Software
Before you choose any delivery management platform, you should address the following points to make an informed decision:
- Does your business have a seamless returns flow?
- Does the route optimization compliments your delivery business – distribution, rounds, next day, on-demand, etc
- Can it help drivers perform tasks more efficiently?
- Does the delivery management offer intelligent auto dispatch functionality?
You can customize the dispatch software based on your requirements. Automating processes can increase efficiency and productivity for both the logistics provider as well as the online retailer.
How to Manage Vehicles and Drivers in the Most Cost-Effective Way?
To deliver strategically and abundantly, you should make the best use of third-party logistics providers, including drivers and vehicles. Here is what you need to know:
Driver Planning and Scheduling
To do more in the last mile, you need to establish automated driver scheduling and planning, along with quality dispatch software. It will allow you to plan, schedule, and dispatch orders based on your business model and the individual driver skills. Fleet management applications allow you to intelligently choose drivers based on delivery requirements. For example, there are some drivers who are restricted to a particular number of miles in a day. You can choose drivers based on their schedule for the day, their skills, routes, and how many orders they have to deliver.
Staging and Loading
To achieve complete last-mile delivery system success, you should determine the efficiency of the warehouse. That is, you can determine the efficiency even before loading the goods into the delivery trucks. The staging and loading phase is quintessential. Syncing your staging, loading, and delivery processes can speed up last-mile deliveries.
Route Optimization
Online sellers need to create a system that can streamline the entire process while establishing efficient routes. It is up to the sellers whether they want to create delivery routes in advance or on-demand. If you choose to go with real-time route optimization, you can adjust the routes based on weather, traffic conditions, unexpected demands, and also monitor the location of deliveries. Optimized and automated rules enable last-minute deliveries to be easily scheduled and assigned to ideal drivers within the given location, vehicle capacity and type, and more. An optimized route reduces delivery delays, ensures that delivery ETAs are met or any other disruptions, and maximizes resources.
Flexibility
Delivery demand is changing every day. In the digital world, where competition has become a lot tougher, relying on third parties or manual processes for managing deliveries can be restricted in terms of flexibility, agility, and control. Using the right delivery management technology solution can help online sellers create a robust team of drivers who can take care of the delivery needs. This allows you to adapt and manage your time and resources efficiently. As a result, you can tackle unexpected demands, improve responsiveness to real-time constraints, and enhance the overall delivery experience.
With the ongoing pandemic, online delivery has become prominent. But retailers need to have robust technology in place to be agile and responsive. With the right delivery management solution, you can improve your overall delivery services.
