With a rise in technological advancements, the customers’ expectations for a better than ever delivery experience are also rising. To cope up with the growing demand, supply chain management and logistics need advancements too and that’s where delivery management software comes into the picture.
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What is delivery management software?
A delivery management software is an integrated solution for businesses wherein efficient deliveries are at the core. Delivery management software can be elaborated as a centralized solution for communication in the delivery lifecycle. This solution allows businesses to know about which stage the delivery has reached. Apart from this, this software gives you a bunch of capabilities for every stage of delivery.
A delivery management software integrates all features of delivery management like route optimization, customer support, reverse logistics and ePOD, into its comprehensive system.
An end-to-end delivery management software is one that offers you the following benefits:
- Procurement and shipment of deliveries
- First and last-mile delivery capabilities
- Real-time fleet management services
- Enhanced visibility and flexibility
- Efficient internal and external communication
An effective delivery management software might be defined as the one which uses all of the above-mentioned benefits together to create the desired result by minimalizing complications and errors that occur frequently while carrying out the delivery operations.
A delivery management software guarantees efficacious results as it is highly flexible and customizable for businesses across industries and is meant to adapt to the dynamic business environment.
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Need for a delivery management software
During peak business hours, it becomes very complicated for businesses to curate deliveries in accordance with their urgencies and costs. That is where home delivery management software can assist businesses in curating deliveries Since this software offers plug-and-play services, it eliminates the repetitive data entry on the business’s part.
By automating delivery planning, delivery management software can reduce the delivery time to a drastically minimum level and additionally polishes up last-mile & enables contactless delivery.
A delivery management software includes a dashboard to give customers access to real-time routes, updated notifications, and driver tracking for a finer delivery experience. It makes the process extremely transparent so it does not only help you in knowing how much time is spent in idling but also assists you in assigning tasks to the field workers. This can help in improving the overall quality of supply chain management.
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The current state of delivery management software and future trends to expect
In the last decade, the e-commerce landscape rose from nothing to peak and is expected to be doubled at end of the current decade. In India, digitization is luring businesses to utilize online means, which has also emerged as a threat to physical stores.
With the growing fear of the global pandemic, delivery management software has acted as a boon for organizations and has been offering a wide spectrum of opportunities for all, no matter what the size of the business is.
The future of delivery management software is brighter as expected since the global pandemic has persuaded businesses to go digital and reach out to an audience that they never could before.
The growth in the e-commerce landscape will not only make delivery management expensive but also complex owing to the growing needs and demands in the market. However, it is right to say that with digital at the forefront of the economy, one can expect a robust market for delivery management software in the near future.
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Risks associated with delivery management software
Like other automated and cloud-based software, delivery management software is also at forefront of certain risks. The risks with respect to delivery management software can be related to security or quality or even both.
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Security
As organizations grow bigger in size, they require more complex software. That’s where small businesses come at the facade of the risks because various unqualified developers sell this software at cheaper prices so as to create demand. The cheap delivery management software may have errors in coding which might create Trojan, worms, and other viruses, hampering the overall business.
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Communication errors
In case of any connectivity breakdown, it is highly likely that there will be a lack of communication. The slightest of errors might lead to poor communication between office staff and field workers. So businesses must analyze all the factors that might lead to inefficiency in communication. It is helpful for businesses if in case of such errors it keeps ashore all the stakeholders to remove barriers.
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Delays
Delivery delays might impact other parts of the chain. Delayed delivery can be a result of poor inventory management, complex management structure, and the size of the organizations. Since the software is automated, it is difficult for it to take care of such matters and respond to any issues arising in these areas efficiently.
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Which delivery management software should you choose?
Today the market is glutted with many delivery management software. Each of the software available in the market is unique in itself but the purpose of all these software is to enhance the delivery experience of the last-mile consumers. To know which software suits the needs of your organization, you must analyze all the capabilities of your business and select one accurately. The right kind of delivery management software will always lead your business in the right direction as it ensures highly accurate ETAs and shrinks delivery turnaround time.
These are some of the key performance indicators of an efficient and modern delivery management software:
- Route efficiency
- Fleet productivity
- SLA and on-time in-full adherence
- Delays in delivery
- 3PL performance
- ETAs
