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Although the holidays are supposed to be about resting, this couldn’t be farther from the truth for some businesses. In the field of delivery and shipping services, companies face almost-universal changes that threaten to topple their profit margins.

Which ones face the most significant trials, and how do they live up to the challenges? Let’s take a look at why so many have come to rely on delivery software.

THE MAGNITUDE OF HOLIDAY CHANGE

It’s no secret that the shipping industry contends with some of the worst seasonal hardships. From increased parcel volumes due to end-of-year consumer shopping binges, to heightened orders from businesses that want to use up their remaining budgets before tax season, couriers, delivery services, and carriers have it tough.

THE TRIALS OF HR IN FLUX

It’d be bad enough if these were the only problems companies had to face, but they’re just the beginning. For instance, in 2018, UPS announced that it would hire 100,000 seasonal workers to deal with the rush. On top of already needing serious help, the firm took on a logistics nightmare. For the vast majority of enterprises, however, this isn’t a viable option, so their courier tracking software has to step up to the plate.

THE WOES OF PRICE-WRANGLING

Even firms that don’t bring on lots of extra help might still need to adjust their operating practices. Thanks to the fact that Amazon, Target, and other big retailers try to win holiday customers with free shipping offers, some carriers may feel increased pressure to provide their business clientele with competitive pricing. In other words, there’s no time like the present to start reviewing fulfillment lifecycle processes with a fine-toothed comb in a hunt for savings.

THE CURSE OF SEASONAL TRANSPORTATION

The picture starts to look even grimmer when we consider what it really means to fulfill orders during the holidays. In addition to having to handle outrageous parcel volumes, courier companies need to fight off the ravages of inclement weather and stop-and-go traffic. Neither of these factors is particularly good news for fleet vehicles. Enterprises that head into the rush as if they’ll be able to do business as normal usually end up learning harsh lessons.

HOW DO COURIERS STAY AFLOAT?

Considering everything it’s up against, it’d be no surprise if the shipping industry collapsed spectacularly during the holidays. Year after year, however, firms large and small somehow manage to survive.

The secret may lie in using comprehensive dispatch software to keep vital business processes chugging along. For instance, a firm might use a courier management system to adapt to shifting traffic patterns or better maintain its vehicles so that they don’t need emergency life support in the middle of snow storms. By using delivery software to get a baseline before the rush, these enterprises have a much easier time staying agile when the main event happens.

How does your company plan on making it through the holiday season? Learn more about ringing in the new year the smart way by checking out Key Software Systems.

Technology has been shaping all aspects of our society, including how we conduct business. New advancements in software solutions allow businesses to increase productivity, cut costs, improve data tracking, and use resources more efficiently. Software systems have been changing and improving business practices including inventory management, payroll and accounting, customer relations, courier management, and security.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Inventory management software enables business owners to track and manage its current, future, and outgoing inventory. Controlling inventory is critical for a company to make a profit and cut unnecessary costs. Inventory software adds organization, efficiency, precision, and detailed tracking records to inventory processes. This decreases the amount of labor needed, raises efficiency, and minimizes the total cost of inventory management. In addition, the software can help prevent overstock, outages, and allows a business to forecast demand.

PAYROLL/ACCOUNTING MANAGEMENT

Payroll and accounting software manages employee income and expenses. New software for payroll and internal accounting offers businesses beneficial features, such as same-day pay and real-time pay tracking for employees to monitor their earnings. Using this type of software is quick and efficient, and can also eliminate human error, which can result in invalid payouts and serious legal fees. Accurate and efficient financial tracking is key in today’s business world, and this software provides just the right solution.

CRM (CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT)

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software empowers businesses to track contact with potential leads as well as current and past customers. For prospective clients, this type of software allows a sales team to nurture leads and convert them into sales. For current and past customers, a CRM helps a business maintain healthy customer relationships by retaining detailed customer profiles in its database. All things considered, effective CRM software can drastically improve sales overall from both new and return customers.

COURIER MANAGEMENT

Courier and delivery software make product distribution efficient and trackable. In today’s growing e-commerce market, customers are demanding fast shipping speeds at low costs. Using a courier delivery management system, businesses can organize and structure shipment schedules efficiently, which saves time, money, and reduces the amount of manpower needed. This type of software provides refined tracking abilities so a business may trace orders en route, as well as provide a customer with an accurate timeline of an expected delivery. From inventory to the final destination, this software ensures optimal delivery management.

SECURITY

Security software protects important customer and business data from users that are unauthorized to access it. This permits businesses to securely house data. Security software grows client relations as well as the brand’s integrity by ensuring that client information is protected against malicious cyber-attacks. It can also be used through a network, which allows employees to work securely even when they are traveling and accessing the information remotely. This software can protect businesses from attacks that could result in severe legal fees and damage customer trust.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Advancements in technology and software have been improving the efficiency and safety of businesses. Software helps a business productively allocate its resources, reduce labor, and cut costs. Software aids different business departments in managing, organizing, and storing data, enabling a business to run smoothly and efficiently. Above all, software provides a business with tracking information that it can utilize to make informed business decisions and forecast future demand.

Cost efficiency has become a buzz word for business all over the world. More than 65% of businesses plan to cut costs in a year, of which less than 30% actually meet their target, says a PwC study. Cost cutting is only possible if a business maximizes its efficiency.

WHAT IS BUSINESS EFFICIENCY?

Efficiency of a business is not just about managing costs, it also has to do with operational efficiency and the efficiency with which goods are produced or services are provided in a given timeframe. In simple words, a business is said to be efficient when it is able to achieve the highest output using the minimum possible inputs.

Streamlining business operations is a proven way in which small yet complex businesses like courier companies can drive down resource needs, operational costs, and increase profits, says an expert at Key Software Systems. This can be best achieved with the use of good courier management software that leverages a central database to automate business workflow and achieve greater transparency through charts, graphs and reports.

NEED FOR BUSINESS EFFICIENCY

Business efficiency is a must for the smooth functioning of a company and competitive advantages over the competition. Efficient small businesses are also major contributors to jobs within an economy.

In 2015, small businesses created nearly 2 million jobs, according to data published by the US Small Business Administration. In fact, firms that had less than 20 employees were responsible for creating more than 1 million jobs for the economy, boasting the largest gains amongst all types of firms.

The prime aim, however, of increasing efficiency for any business is reduced costs and increased profits.

WHAT ELSE CAN BE ACHIEVED WITH BUSINESS EFFICIENCY?

Financial efficiency, often calculated as the percentage of expenses over revenue, is the main aim of increasing business efficiency. It is usually calculated in the form of:

• Asset turnover ratio
• Operating expense ratio
• Depreciation expense ratio

Then comes labor productivity. Increasing labor productivity helps businesses reduce costs in terms of wages, since less workers will be needed to finish the task in an efficient way. In a courier business, route planning makes it easier for the business to increase productivity, by saving time and effort, which would otherwise be wasted due to unexpected scenarios like traffic congestion, climate change and more.

Business efficiency is also dependent on the efficient efforts made to improve its operations, which can increase the return on investment (ROI).

If you are in the courier industry and want to provide your customers with the best possible results, you already know that Black Friday is the most difficult time of the year trying to please everyone. People find out their orders are delayed, and your phones may be ringing with complaints. Keep reading to find out how you can combat this problem with customer support and a courier management service. With this software, you can keep your orders on time and your customers happy.

INCREASED ORDERS

Black Friday shopping once meant people had to drive to their favorite stores early in the morning if they wanted to get the best deals of the year. That is no longer the case, and shoppers can now enjoy many of the same deals just by shopping online. A lot of companies are not able to handle the influx in orders and end up falling behind. You don’t want to face that barrier so use courier delivery software to stay on top of your game.

INCREASED SHIPMENTS

When a package reaches the buyer, sometimes it has not yet reached its final destination. Many people will order products online and then send them to friends and family as gifts. This situation makes it even harder to keep up with the increased order volume that occurs during the holiday season. Businesses that use courier software can reduce stress and keep orders coming and going efficiently by tracking shipments every step of the way.

INCREASED RETURNS

While increased orders and secondhand shipments can make your life much more challenging, they are not the only issues you will likely face. Some people take advantage of Black Friday sales and later discover they don’t even need the product they ordered.

Most businesses see a significant peak in return shipments in the days and weeks following Black Friday, putting even more chaos on an already overburdened system. Companies that use courier delivery software have much less trouble than those that don’t since the service is mobile device compatible, allowing you to work on the go.

COMBATING THE PROBLEM

Although Black Friday sales can make things difficult for your business, it does not have to be that way. Courier tracking software lets you find parts of your operation that need improvement. Making a few calculated changes can save you more time, and you will be pleased with the outcome. Also, letting your customers know orders take a little longer during this time of year will help.

FINAL THOUGHTS

People buy, exchange, and return many products during Black Friday, a situation that puts stress on the courier industry. You can overcome that problem by using tracking software to improve your productivity and effectiveness. Even if your shipments will still be a little behind, letting your customers know about it in advance makes a world of difference. You might be surprised to see how understanding your customers are when you make an effort to communicate. Using the latest software and crafting a viable plan can do wonders for your business.

Route planning without appropriate software and powerful tools can be a nightmare. And, it can take away hundreds of manhours every week, without any real value addition. Messy paperwork, managing the flow of documents, trying to stay connected with drivers and finding out the delivery status of each package can be harrowing. Not to mention the high probability of human error and the reshuffling and rerouting arising from low visibility and poor communication. All this effort is invested without any real data collated for analyzing issues and improving the planning process. All these problems can be avoided with software that has dynamic route optimization, saving manhours, improving coordination and enhancing customer satisfaction with on-time delivery.

WHAT IS DYNAMIC ROUTE OPTIMIZATION?

Dynamic route optimization is a feature that comes integrated with advanced courier management and logistics software that has been especially designed to cater to the needs of on-demand, scheduled/routed work and distribution environments. This software can be accessed anywhere and at any time on smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs.

Route optimization enables courier companies to plan routes within minutes, while considering real-time scenarios including traffic congestion, changing weather conditions and road construction or obstructions. The routes provided by such software are 100% optimized, accurate and obstacle less, says an expert at Key Software Systems.

ADVANTAGES OF DYNAMIC ROUTE OPTIMIZATION

Let’s look at some of the main benefits of dynamic route optimization for courier companies.

HELPS SAVE FUEL

Rising fuel costs have become the single largest and most volatile component of total costs of courier and logistics companies and account for more than 60% of total US logistics costs, says an article by the NAOIP Research Foundation. In the absence of optimized routes, drivers may waste time and fuel searching for their destination. Route planning can help identify the shortest and best routes to a destination and the specific vehicle that will make the pickup and drop-off most efficient.

INCREASES DRIVER’S SAFETY

Drivers of a fleet for a courier company are exposed to unfamiliar territories, congested traffic, harsh weather conditions and unexpected circumstances on the road. All these factors can increase their stress levels, which causes distractions and severely affects reflex time, making drivers more prone to accidents, says an article published by The O’Brian Firm. Having the best route in hand, that has been identified avoiding adverse weather and traffic conditions, can make driving far less stressful, ensuring driver safety.

REDUCES OVERALL EXPENSES

Dynamic route optimization significantly reduces managers’ time in planning the best routes and helps adjust quickly, with real-time data available at the fingertips. Managers can also easily track each driver and identify inefficiencies to take corrective action, reducing overtime payments. It also helps reduce vehicle wear and tear, thereby lowering maintenance costs.

Dynamic route optimization makes last mile delivery more efficient, resulting in higher customer satisfaction.

If you manage a business and ship items to your customers, you may be wondering how you can improve your productivity. We know it’s stressful to track orders and hope that your drivers are taking the fastest route to deliver products to consumers. Now, you can have much more control over your operations. You will soon discover how the internet has changed the way products reach the destination, and how you can take advantage of the latest technological developments. Key Software Systems has the latest courier software and last mile delivery software on the market.

ORDER TRACKING

Making sure your orders reach their destination on time starts way before they find their way onto your trucks. Staying ahead of schedule begins when you receive your order and prepare it for fulfillment, preventing your company from wasting time and money. Courier software allows you to see the second you get an order so that your team can respond without delay.

You will no longer need to waste time checking logs or calling the receiving center to know when to send a new shipment to a customer, and you can view all open orders from any computer or smartphone with an internet connection.

LOAD TRACKING

Our last mile delivery software allows you to have more control over the loading process than you once thought possible. When your dock workers grab the box and scan it before placing it in the truck, the dispatch management software will automatically mark the item as loaded. Knowing the exact minute your orders reach the truck lets you find areas that you can improve to enhance your delivery times. Increasing your productivity not only boosts your profit, but it also makes your customers happy.

FLEET STATUS

Those who use the solutions of Key Software Systems know where each vehicle in their fleet is at all times. If a truck does not arrive on time, you can review the logs and see where it went wrong so that you can avoid the issue in the future.

Your drivers won’t need to worry about getting lost because they will always know the best route to use. This feature makes a huge difference by letting you maximize your effort and efficiency. When you see how much faster your fleet can perform, you will know taking advantage of the latest technology was a smart move in the right direction.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The internet changes the way products reach end users by allowing businesses to have much more control. over their fleets. From tracking orders and load times to monitoring trucks on the road, dispatch management software improves the way you do business. The speed with which you can get your products to their destination will make you smile, and the people you serve will also be pleased with the improvements.

If you want to stay ahead of the herd and keep your business on track, embracing technology and looking to the future are the answer. Keeping track of your team will be simple and boosting your efficiency will make you shine.

Ask any e-commerce consumer what they most desire and they are likely to say – getting their ordered packages delivered to their doorstep in the least possible time. And, an online retailer who is able to do so will immediately gain a competitive advantage. But this means they need to take care of traffic navigation, parking regulations and increased fuel costs.

Recent years have seen a surge in digital buyers, which has led to the tremendous growth of online sales. According to data published by McKinsey & Company, the cost of global parcel delivery touched €70 billion in 2014, a figure that excluded the cost of pickup, line-haul and sorting. It was further added that China, Germany and the United States held a major 40% of the market that year.

ACHIEVING EFFICIENCY

With consumer expectations rising by the day, with a demand for increased visibility and speed of their parcels, e-commerce businesses too have pulled up their socks. They are making every possible effort to increase efficiency and minimize cost of delivery. And, they might just have succeeded. According to Statista, in 2017, the mileage for diesel-based parcel delivery from urban consolidation centers amounted to 1.9 kilometers per cubic meter, which was 45% lower than a traditional B2B delivery.

Courier companies are embracing courier software to achieve last mile delivery. Leveraging mobile integration is allowing them easy and convenient access to last mile delivery software, regardless of their current location, says an expert at Key Software Systems.

Here are some of the best features of courier software that is helping companies achieve last mile delivery quickly and cost effectively.

AUTOMATED PLANNING & OPTIMIZATION

Today, courier companies are following different types of distribution models, like single pick and multiple drop or multiple pick or multiple drop. Courier software automatically optimizes the route, which drivers just need to follow.

DELIVERY ROUTE VISUALIZATION

Real-life scenarios enroute may not be similar to what has been planned. Anything that goes wrong, like bad weather or traffic jams, can affect delivery. Delivery software helps you to compare planned routes with the actual routes, while taking into consideration resource capacity and delivery locations to identify the bottlenecks and plan the delivery accordingly.

REAL TIME TRACKING

Even after meticulous planning, when vehicles are on the go, any unexpected situation can affect delivery. Courier software keeps managers in the loop and updated regarding delivery progress in real time. This way, any unplanned route change or customer demand can be responded to immediately.

Moreover, courier software keeps the management aware of the exact location of the delivery staff and vehicles. Drivers and packages can be constantly monitored, which allows for immediate intervention during a breakdown in the process.

It’s astonishing how quickly the world of commerce has changed since digital technology became commonplace in business. Most companies now market their products online, and even “strictly retail brick-and-mortar” operations find it essential to market their businesses via the internet. Those who sell products online face an increasing need to offer shipping that can be tracked with delivery software to meet customer demands and manage an ever-increasing number of deliveries.

COURIER MANAGEMENT SERVICE APPLICATIONS PERMEATE E-COMMERCE CHANGES

Almost all the important changes in e-commerce revolve around creating a great customer experience. Customers demand more from online companies because they can so easily migrate to a competitor if dissatisfied. Courier tracking software plays a critical role in the top five changes in e-commerce in the last few years:

1. NEED TO GENERATE REAL-TIME INVENTORY FIGURES

Customers won’t stand for delays. Slow-loading websites cause customers to leave a website within seconds. One study found that a 1 percent loss of customers occurred for every 100ms delay, and inaccurate or unavailable real-time inventory figures put up real barriers to sales conversions. The right software can collect inventory figures from multiple warehouses, brick-and-mortar stores, product returns, refused deliveries, and outside salespeople’s contracts to deliver real-time inventory counts to generate more conversions and faster fulfillment services.

2. DEMAND FOR CUSTOMER SELF-SERVICE APPLICATIONS

Chatbots for on-site customer service are becoming increasingly common, and companies now offer other self-service applications to research products, customize orders, and monitor deliveries with courier tracking software. Customers can choose their delivery carriers or use multiple carriers to reduce shipping costs. This is especially important in B2B sales and large orders of supplies. Last mile delivery software enables end-to-end tracking or orders.

3. MORE EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF DELIVERY LOGISTICS

Managing the supply chain and shipping integrations becomes increasingly complex when companies need to plan delivery routes efficiently from the nearest warehouse to reduce shipping costs and speed deliveries. Important issues in planning include anticipating traffic patterns, meeting tight delivery schedules, analyzing truck capacity, and other concerns. Pinpointing accurate delivery times can become a nightmare without last mile delivery software.

4. EXPANDED INTERNATIONAL SALES

Digital tech has turned the world into a global village, and any business can expand sales by selling in foreign markets. However, shipping products internationally and calculating taxes and duties in other tax jurisdictions become very difficult without built-in calculators and delivery software to manage multifaceted deliveries that might involve using multiple carriers, storing products temporarily, and other logistical problems.

5. MORE PERSONALIZATION

One study found that 79 percent of shoppers are more likely to convert on an offer that’s been personalized. How a company captures and uses data is at the heart of all customer personalization efforts. Intuitive business applications–such as courier management service software and last mile delivery software–enable companies and their customers to plan their deliveries and track them more efficiently. Customers can access their ordering histories when reordering, and companies can study ordering data to build better customer profiles for personalized marketing.

STREAMLINING DELIVERIES AND DELIVERING GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES

Key Software Systems offers user-customizable delivery software that supports the way each business works instead of requiring changes to how the business is run. Courier management software offers automated routing and simplified calculations based on cargo weight, vehicle capacity, highway load limits, and traffic conditions. Contact us today to find out how to manage the complex changes in e-commerce with route optimization and customizable software.