Transforming delivery via telematics
Andrew Tavener, head of marketing at Descartes Systems UK, discusses how telematics software can help fleets adjust to recent shifts in the operating landscape
The increase in home deliveries due to the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on the logistics industry. With repeated lockdowns, more people working from home and certain groups needing to shield, reliance on home delivery is at an all-time peak.
Increased demand has also come hand-in-hand with consumer expectations to consistently receive their items when, how and where they want; the pressures on delivery teams have never been greater. These challenges have highlighted the need for companies to utilise technology including implementing routing and telematics software in order to optimise delivery efficiencies.
Ecommerce has grown exponentially due to the pandemic – from 21.4 per cent of all retail sales in December 2019 to 31.3 per cent in December 2020. Delivery drivers are increasingly in demand, with thousands of people turning to delivery services as a way to get what they need during the pandemic.
There is of course a growing concern for manpower considering how quickly ecommerce businesses are growing and customer demand for flexible and fast delivery options. This increased pressure from the online sales channel, coupled with driver shortages, means that seamless and cost-effective delivery options for consumers are essential in order to meet ever-growing demands.
Additionally, with Brexit also causing delivery chaos and creating extra delays for goods coming into the UK from Europe, companies should be making their last-mile delivery as efficient as possible.
Using telematics technology in parallel with routing and scheduling software will significantly improve operational efficiencies and increase customer satisfaction in response to increasing demands for home delivery, rising concerns over driver shortages and growing customer expectations.
Integrating telematics and mobile data communications permits the fleet manager and end customer to have full visibility of a vehicle’s location.
Deliveries are visible in real-time against the plan and schedule established by the routing and scheduling software, providing transport operators with the ability to add new jobs in or implement corrective action to re-route a vehicle and avoid congestion or accidents.
This ensures that vehicles are committed to a delivery time, and should there be any delays or changes to delivery times, the system will automatically warn the end customer in advance. This builds trust in a brand from the customer as there is full transparency and customers are not left wondering why or for how long their package is delayed.
Telematics and advanced routing and scheduling software therefore has the ability to transform supply chain performance and the customer experience. The routing software optimises delivery efficiency through intelligent routing, thereby reducing mileage and fuel consumption.
Telematics data can be used to go further still and produce fuel efficiency reports by monitoring drivers’ habits including idling, revving, speeding and excessive braking, comparing vehicles and drivers’ for review.
This data also helps to identify improvement areas when training drivers to drive in a more efficient manner. In turn, this can also reduce the requirement of necessary vehicle maintenance and servicing – all contributing to lower operating costs and maximising profits.
Both telematics and mobile data communications combined with advanced routing allows transport operators to do much more with less. Use fewer vehicles to deliver more goods in fewer miles, collect more returns and also deliver the returns back to the warehouses for processing, placing stock back on the shelves for resale within the fastest time possible.
This is all to the ultimate benefit of the operators’ clients in delivering a trusted, reliable and cost-effective service and maximising the potential of the fleet. After all, improving the efficiency of delivery will undoubtedly help with driver shortages and increased ecommerce demand.
And that demand is here to stay: those customers that receive a high level of service through online deliveries are unlikely to return to the high street, even when it does reopen again.
