How business leaders can offer staff the Holy Grail of benefits: less pressure and more time

Ian Robertson
15 August, 22

Pre-pandemic, the logistics industry was an almost hidden supply-chain essential. The disruption of Covid-19 on the supply chain threw it firmly into the limelight – and it has faced a myriad of challenges since. The imbalance in supply and demand has created a seismic shift in the way goods are bought and sold. This led to demand for increased digitised omni-channel strategies, which is now driving a real need for scalable solutions to manage this evolving demand. With labour challenges also being a key factor for logistics firms, finding ways to reduce pressure on staff to help with retention and recruitment, and create more time for senior and operational management to focus on business development and growth, is vital.

Technology is helping the logistics industry achieve the agility needed to weather the storm of demand fluctuations, meet the growing need for delivery speed and achieve process efficiencies for scalable growth. A fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution provides the automation and AI-enabled functionality to enable logistics firms to meet these objectives – and access a real-time 360 degree view of the business.

Integration and automation eliminates siloes that can fuel inefficiencies

Having forecasting and budgeting, accounts payable and procurement operating as disparate processes across multiple solutions or spreadsheets will sound the death toll for any logistics business. Agility and efficiency is key to survival, and it is only by using an integrated cloud-based solution that offers automation when true efficiencies can be created; visibility across the whole business is the way to ensure the right decisions can be made at the right time.

For those working in accounts payable, managing and keeping track of purchase orders, invoicing and electronic payments processing – among other accounting tasks – is no mean feat if managed manually. Not only will an ERP solution automate these time-consuming tasks, but by removing human intervention, will negate errors. Information and data will always be up-to-date in real-time, providing one single version of the truth. An ERP system such as Oracle NetSuite features customisable dashboards that enable instant access to elements such as financials for true visibility of the organisation’s financial and operational status. Streamlining business critical functions such as this creates real efficiencies in any organisation – but for multi-subsidiary operations, the efficiencies are truly transformational.

Technology provides the flexibility to adapt to changing customer behaviour and expectations

The 21st century consumer wants rapid fulfilment at an affordable price, which makes the logistics market a competitive one. On-demand delivery is becoming more than an ‘add-on’, and companies are looking to use this to their advantage and make it a differentiator, by adding new sites to retain inventory and using technology to optimise localised delivery solutions – including ‘last mile’ delivery.

Only by using cloud technology can firms access the insight they need to ascertain inventory location and levels to be able to meet rapid delivery demand. Furthermore, an ERP solution offers AI-enabled predictive analytics to deliver insights that can help anticipate and plan response to disruptions. This helps logistics firm operators, from accounting staff through to procurement, and operational managers to forecast; how much stock should be held, where to store it and how will it journey onwards. Technology can help avoid over or under-ordering: a business with cash and warehouse space tied up with inventory unnecessarily, and a business without enough inventory to meet demand, are equally detrimental scenarios.

Customers also expect in this day and age to access up-to-the-minute information about stock availability, order status, delivery location and expected arrival. Rather than placing the burden on staff to manually provide this information – which would be extremely time-consuming and inefficient – the right technology needs to be in place to track this and provide information automatically. And when it comes to returns, customers expect that to be as easy and efficient a process as delivery. Technology that provides automated and transparent returns handling is key to maintaining customer satisfaction.

Optimisation in warehouse management frees up staff time and helps keep customers happy

Operations are being hugely streamlined with the use of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and mobile scanning technology – helping operatives do their jobs more efficiently. Not only is the use of such technology helping to speed up picking, packing, shipping and putaway, but the fact that details – such as lot and serial number, bin location and inventory status – are inputted on receipt of a delivery and transferred to the item record, completely negates errors when packing and shipping. This makes the life of warehouse operators much easier, while removing error risk that can be costly to the business, as, in the case of an item picked incorrectly or shipped to the wrong location. The cost of the unnecessary shipping, retrieving the item and loss of customer satisfaction is something no business wants to bear. And, the real-time data being logged from the mobile scanning makes it visible across multiple job roles and accessible wherever the operative is.

With an array of cloud solutions available to help logistics firms manage and automate key business functions such as financials, regulatory compliance, real-time inventory, order accuracy, reporting and labour productivity, time can be freed up for business leaders from C-Suite to senior management and operational management to truly focus on strategy to make a tangible difference to the business and its customers. This kind of technology is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for those looking to thrive in a competitive and fast-paced landscape.

Ian Robertson is the Sales and Marketing Director of BrightBridge, a UK-based technology consultancy offering Oracle NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions. Ian has over 30 years of experience in ERP and CRM implementations. Prior to forming BrightBridge, Ian worked for a major US IT corporation, where he acquired a depth of knowledge around time saving efficiencies through technological integration and automation. 

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