Freight Industry is Still Offline

Online market has made our lives easier than ever before. Online platforms offer everything from electronics, apparel, food to services such as healthcare, beauty, domestic needs etc., at the ease of your doorstep. It has become common for people of all age groups and backgrounds to use mobile applications and websites to satisfy their daily needs and cravings.

However, there is a sector which still remains unorganized and to a great extent, offline. The freight industry is huge and in most of the countries, the potential of this industry is still untapped. Making it an online marketplace could make the lives of vehicle owners and transporters easier by providing them a platform to connect with their potential customers and businesses directly to avail their services.

A slower rate of digital adoption by the Logistics industry brings in enormous risk even for the bigger players in the business. Over the next few years, the essential concern will be the race to build a dominant global platform that would determine the winners and losers in the truly digital freight industry. It would also mean letting smaller companies to have a global reach and to compete with the industry’s established giants.

The following are the benefits that digital transformation of Logistics industry would bring about to the business as well as social and environmental aspects.

• Digitally enabled information services puts data at the heart of the Logistics business with the help of initiatives like analytics and logistics control towers that helps in reducing the operating costs and in improving the efficiency of operations.
• Digital adoption of freight industry will help in trade growth by creating digitally enhanced cross-border platforms. As a result, logistics companies can satisfy the growing need of customers for same day deliveries, and promotes the concept of city logistics which will give them an entry to mega-cities.

• Technologies such as 3D printing and Crowdsourcing offer ways to create and practice newer means to process logistics. By harnessing concepts like autonomous trucks and drones, the delivery capabilities will increase and shipments will be efficiently processed and delivered.  
• Regenerative systems will foster more sustainable product life cycle, whereby reducing the environmental footprint by this industry, as the carbon dioxide emissions and air pollution will be under control.
• If the enterprises take the initiative to analyze big data streams, they can derive new insights that can improve the operational efficiency and enables the launch of services like ‘last-mile delivery’. This requires companies to collect data along their value chain.
• Digital transformation brings about shared capabilities such as shared warehouses, shared transport capabilities that will increase the asset utilization and saves a lot of time and energy. 
• Retailers get better insights about their customers through digital touch points. It also enhances the visibility of shipments that are both internally and externally sourced.

Industry stakeholders should take notice of the benefits and come together to prioritize digital transformation initiatives, given the potential for significantly higher value to be created for society and for the freight industry.