Micro Apps to Digitize Your Logistics Operations

Today, the logistics industry is one of the fastest-growing in India, generating employment for 22 million people and posting 7.8 percent year-on-year growth. The main reason for the boom is attributed to expanding e-commerce and infrastructure sectors. According to experts in logistics, service providers can utilise the boom by investing in digital technologies with micro-apps. Our warehouse in Thane is equipped with many such micro apps that help us to move faster and on time. 

Impacted areas

Today many freight forwarders and logistic service providers have already automated their processes and have benefitted from ERPs, SCM, and CRM, but all of these are used in offices, not by delivery professionals and truck drivers who play an important part in logistics supply chain management.
With the use of IoT, tools like RFID for cargo tracking and location finder can offer complete visibility and better decision-making opportunities for a business. Such micro apps come in handy for truck drivers. 

Empowering truck drivers

While transporting goods, drivers have to come across toll booths where they get vouchers for which they have to pay. They wait for the reimbursement, as they have to reach the office and then submit the vouchers which take a long time. But today, with smart apps, it’s an instant process, take a picture of the voucher and submit it in the app, the software will take care of it and reimbursement is also fast. What is required is internet connectivity which is quite a cheap affair nowadays. This saves time for the driver and he can easily get the money refunded for the next expenses. Now with technology enhancement, RFID tags can be affixed to a truck’s windscreen, wherein the driver even does not have to wait in tolls for a ticket but pass through it as the toll charges will be auto-debited from the company’s account. 

Assisting delivery professionals

With smart apps for route planning and optimization assisting the delivery professional, they can save time and cost in traveling. Another app, like the Delivery dashboard, helps to get acknowledgment from the customer as soon as the delivery is done and get updated on the system in real-time. The manager sitting at the warehouse can approve the records and analyze the delivery trends through the generated reports. 

Being techno-wise

Almost all the logistics organizations have legacy applications running, and the good features of the application can be turned into micro apps to speed up the legacy modernization effort. This can be done by using rapid application development platform (RADP) solutions. Logistics companies in India can also think of buying ready-built apps to automate their specific tasks to manage toll and fuel, Expense management, delivery tracking, etc.  
The best way forward for a logistics company in India is to ensure the app that is being used is relevant to the nature of the work and can be easily developed and updated by using the help of professionals. Building micro apps satisfy two important purposes, it does not hamper the resources in the big projects and improves user experiences as they are easy to use. 
A combination of technologies can help freight forwarders in a logistics company drive digital transformation for enhancing operations.