The COVID19-fueled financial meltdown that rocked world economies is still reverberating through global markets. The sector that’s suffering more volatility than ever before is the sector that serves as a buffer between consumers and sellers – the supply chain management industry. Managing supply chains has never been easy.
Tasks like procuring goods, maintaining product lifecycles, planning transportation routes, order management, and other logistical responsibilities make the lives of supply chain managers already very difficult. Now that volatility is part of the “new normal” in global supply chains, efficiently managing the flow of products, data, and finances are becoming extremely difficult for professional logistics experts.
Digital Transformation of the Logistics Industry
Following the impacts of the COVID19 pandemic, many retail companies and logistics providers are reconsidering their supply chain management strategies. Unprecedented events like the COVID19 pandemic will always catch businesses off guard. But, without good resilience, agility, and, most importantly, visibility across the supply chain, reacting to major real-time shifts in supply/demand is impossible.
To adjust to the “new normal,” supply chain managers are turning to the best logistic management softwaretool. Modern-day logistics management tools are helpful to all members of the supply chain. Suppliers, retailers, manufacturers, transportation professionals, and logistics providers can all benefit from advanced software tools that offer features like live product information tracking or consistent order fulfillment updates.
That’s why the global logistics services software market is expected to grow by $2.92 billion in valuation between 2021 and 2025. The market is experiencing unprecedented amounts of growth. Momentum towards digitalization is set to expand the global logistics services software market at a CAGR of 10.40%. Here’s how logistics management tools helped suppliers, retailers, manufacturers, transportation professionals, and logistics companies during the pandemic –
Visibility – The Perfect Antidote to Volatility
The pandemic and its after-effects proved the value of real-time inventory control and visibility. End-to-end visibility on all business processes across the supply chain is crucial for logistics companies dealing with increased levels of market volatility. Supply chains worldwide are frequently being disrupted due to sudden surges in demands and unexpected factory shutdowns.
A logistics management software tool may not help these companies resolve all the issues that come with unprecedented events like the COVID19 pandemic. But, these tools definitely make supply chains more visible, which in turn makes supply chain operators more agile. Overall, the resilience these software tools add to supply chains make it easier for companies to react to real-time variations in supply and demand.
- Obtain Real-Time Understandings of Different Supply Chain Activities – From the purchase of goods from warehouses to the delivery of products to their final destinations – logistics management software tools help supply chain operators and business owners maintain total control and visibility over all of their actions and responsibilities.
- Respond Quicker to Market Changes – If there are changes to service contract policies, with these tools, supply chain operators can respond in real-time. Simply tweak the costing and invoicing control functionalities on your logistics management software tool to apply any new rules/regulations to the invoicing system.
- Optimize Demand/Supply Fluctuations – Logistics management software tools constantly track demands and rejections. All such requests can be instantly addressed with automated logistics management software tools.
- Add Customized Features – These tools are customizable, so the vendors can manage their inventory, speed up certain stages of the supply chain management process, and eliminate the risk of stock-out situations, whichever way they want. Resource allocation becomes much easier when you can view every aspect of the supply chain on your logistics management software tool’s interface.
- Crisis Management – Even if one order fails to make it to its destination, supply chain operators will have prior knowledge of such inefficiencies, and they can start planning to make up for these losses in different ways. For instance, if one delivery professional fails to make it to a customer’s house due to weather-related issues, the logistics management software tool will instantly notify the supply chain operators about this incident. The supply chain operators can look at the real-time location data they receive from their logistics management software tool and come up with alternative solutions right there on the spot.
- Continuous Improvement – Logistics tracking software tools also collect vast amounts of information such as shipping data, inventory figures, product histories, etc. This data can be used by companies to incrementally improve their supply chain operations. At a time when there’s an urgent need for supply chain operators to cut costs, data-based decisions can introduce transparency into their day-to-day movements and activities. All members of the supply chain, from delivery professionals to warehouse managers, can use this data to contribute to their company’s cost-cutting measures.
By 2024, the Indian logistics market is set to expand at a CAGR of 10.7%. Even in other parts of the world, logistics isn’t a supporting service sector anymore – it’s a mainline sector. And like various mainline sectors in 2020, the logistics industry is ripe for modernization.
The COVID19 pandemic made it very clear that companies with outdated systems will continue to tackle with issues like untimely deliveries or disgruntled customers. On the other hand, companies that leverage cutting-edge technologies like advanced logistics management software tools will make the most of this growth period between 2021-2024.
