Local and global economies are encountering interruptions on-and-off & that’s no secret- courtesy Covid disruptions. On that note, transportation companies all across the globe have witnessed their fair share of difficulties, in spite of the industry playing a key role in keeping the lifestyles on a roll during these tough times ( think of those frequent doorstep deliveries! ).
Whether it’s the ‘unforeseen changes in the supply chain’ or the ‘new standards imposed upon cross-border movements’ or a hundred alike factors- each one of them has significant say in deciding the economic stability of the transportation industry. If one has to pinpoint the most impacting factor or call one as the biggest pain point of the transportation industry of recent times, drawing reasonable profit would be ‘the one’. Talking about the way to profit, here are the contemporary transportation industry challenges and how you can overcome them successfully!
Transportation Industry Challenges & Solutions
Remember when we thought mall trips were mandatory to stock monthly groceries or even pick up that dress for a party? The apps proved us wrong and we weren’t disappointed either, as there was no looking back after being able to get almost everything under the sun just in a few clicks, without having to leave the couch. Bring that story in, change the context to business and you’ll be surprised to see how you have been neglecting the aspects that actually need your prior attention, as you have been draining all your efforts into something that a machine can do better!
Challenge 1 : Skyrocketing Operational Costs
The prices of essentials are on a rise and the climb in fuel price from last year to this, surely burns the pockets somewhere between a little to a lot to every transport business. The reasons backing the price rise are mostly socioeconomic, implying there's nothing you can do to bring it back to what’s ‘affordable’ in your dictionary. Then what’s the solution to optimize the costs? Here’s what!
Solution 1 : Autonomous tracking is the remedy to the burnt pockets!
What if your vehicle never went ‘out of your sight’ and thus, its real-time updates would always be in your mind and even better, in front of your eyes? No, I’m not going to ask you to go where your cars go. Autonomous tracking driven by AI helps you track every bit of real-time update along with route-optimization. With all alternative routes handy, choosing the most cost-optimized route is as easy as ABC. The benefits of autonomous tracking go beyond route optimization, as it enables fuel efficiency, preview of road conditions, and even report the drivers’ behavioral factors along the trip meaning, more control over business operations.
Challenge 2 : Managing ‘Men’ Right To Harness ‘Power’
Manpower management, the second one in our transportation industry challenges list, is a forever-there issue in the transportation space and it has only gotten worse with passing time. While onboarding them is a hassle in itself with their custom conditions, managing them is no less than a nightmare as it requires the business opportunities to tally with the agreed upon working standards of the available workforce and to make it all a mess, all these are to be taken care of in real time!
Solution 2 : Power Up With Auto Rostering & Scheduling!
It’s all nice & fine to put things like booking details, drivers’ timings, shift information in an excel or a notebook as long as you have like 3-4 vehicles and maybe 5 drivers, but the struggle gets real when both the numbers start going up. You end up allocating a busy driver to a newly booked trip & that leads to a potential customer falling off your radar. That’s exactly a situation where the auto rostering module adds value to, making sure every driver’s calendar is in sync and updated with their schedules & the scheduling module maps the available driver’s free slot to a new booking, while running a compliance check in the background.
Challenge 3 : Rising Grievances On The Clients’ End
“This transport company I tell you..I tried calling 3 times to request a change in timing & they didn’t pick up! How unprofessional..” If this is how a part of your clientele is speaking about your business, trust me the fault is not in their patience or your efforts to keep them happy- the fault clearly is in your management process. With too many things going on within a transportation business, the customer service calls and emails often go unnoticed. However, they cause grievances and grievances block further opportunities.
Solution 3 : Make Your Clients Feel Heard With A CRM!
Record your customers’ enquiry / requests or give them a form to fill up, provide them with instant response if theirs is an FAQ or send away reminders prior to their booking to make them feel that you care - and all these without appointing an entire team to do so, simply by deploying a solid CRM fed with your business USP.
Challenge 4 : Painful Paperwork Killing Time
Paperwork is an unavoidable part of every business but in the case of transportation, it gets uncontrollable when a business gears up for growth. Think of all those documents that you have to carry around and keep a track of - from ‘CMR’ to ‘AWB’, from ‘insurance certificates’ to ‘B/L’, the list goes on & on. Managing these is not just time consuming, it tends to get overwhelming for anyone to maintain the scrupulous attention while making related entries. And then, one error can make or break your business as the transportation documents mostly involve legal consequences.
Solution 4 : Get on the cloud and access documents at a single-click
A cloud document manager enables easy & convenient storage and management of ALL such documents and helps you get the information you want at just one click with a proper document management system synced with your workflow. That way, errors are well avoided & compliances are always maintained. Sounds good?
Challenge 5 : Load management closely becoming synonymous to nightmare
Overbooked drivers for some and empty miles for others - either of the two is the shortest horror story based on a true transport scenario for most earning bread-and-butter off the industry! Everyone knows how tracking the fleet data, analysing and optimizing routes and miles could lead to some solutions for both the type of suffering transport businesses. But finally, the ‘how-by whom-with what’ questions keep that ultimate solution at bay.
Solution 5 : Load Boards + Autotracking = Voila!
Technology, fortunately, has enabled a one-stop solution for effective load management as well. Saving the bucks and hours is now just a little of your effort away, if paired up with the right software development team. A well-developed load management software has:
An array of load boards available to capture location-wise fleet requirements to map to empty journey post delivery completions, while keeping the dispatchers on the same page E-tracking of entire fleet operations from pick-up to delivery, to maintain transparency throughout
…...and more based on your average order processing style and quantity!
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