During the shipping cycle, transportation vendors face multiple challenges—untimely delivery, fuel overconsumption, and damaged items are only some of them. That’s why global shipment and supply chain providers focus on technology investments to improve freight management and optimize transportation expenses. In search of engineers with industry expertise, logistics enterprises reach out to trusted tech vendors that help them monitor the processes in real time.
One of such companies is N-iX. With 20+ years of the market presence, N-iX has delivered a great number of custom logistics solutions to top market players, including Tier 1 suppliers. In this article, we would like to dig deep into the topic of transportation and supply chain software and its impact on business. What are the key advantages of logistics tech solutions? And how to select a reliable logistics software development company that will take responsibility for full-cycle development from Discovery Phase to the product release and support? Scroll down for the answers.
What is transportation and logistics software?
If you need to streamline your logistics processes, you have to look for a logistics software development company with experience in building complex transportation management software. Manufacturing companies, retail enterprises as well as logistics service providers use these solutions to enhance shipment planning and control the processes at every transportation stage. By using a unified logistics system, you enable automated carrier selection, ensure consolidated shipment (transportation of several products in one container), as well as optimize the driver’s route. Through improved delivery operations you’ll get to the main benefit of implementing the logistics software—cost-efficiency.
The features of transportation software vary from project to project, but most logistics solutions cover the following aspects:
- Transportation planning, which spans optimization of the shipping process and predictive analytics of the carrier options;
- Freight management that includes order management, carrier rates, contract management, and multimodal transportation;
- Execution of transportation features for booking, tracking, real-time visibility, and communication;
- Administration of shipping processes that span the documentation and financial reporting.
More on the topic: Innovation in logistics: how to succeed with it
6 things that a great logistics software development companies can help you with
While GPS-based solutions are nothing new, modern logistics software providers complement their apps with a vast variety of functionalities for audit and optimization. A robust logistics application solves multiple business requests at once, helping organizations deal with:
1. Cost analysis
Enterprises that practice international transportation have to deal with many freight cost calculations and management issues. They need a tech partner to develop logistics software that will support international currencies and numerous units of measurement. With a trustworthy logistics software development company by your side, you will be able to consolidate all of your shipment cost data within one solution. That way, you gain full visibility of your expenses and, subsequently, identify the means to optimize your budget.
2. Delivery planning
One of the most common tech requests for logistics software companies is route planning optimization. Transportation providers want their digital solution to automatically choose the shortest and most efficient paths for delivery. Logistics software enterprises can assist you with building a solution for route modeling, real-time route scheduling, and stop placement optimization. With logistics software for delivery planning, enterprises can promptly create feasible routes and, by reducing fuel consumption, cut fleet operating costs. Another major benefit that comes with fuel economy is sustainability and reducing the environmental footprint.
3. Tracking and tracing
Another way a logistics management software development company can help transportation providers is by enabling them to track the movement of the shipped items in real time. When tracking, logistics managers can keep an eye on the shipment status updates, including their current location and estimated arrival time. The vehicle tracking feature might help you foresee the shipment date, especially under extreme weather conditions that make delivery time hardly predictable.
Tracing, instead, lets you monitor the item’s previous locations as well as track the property movement. Many of the tracing features are based on the IoT—the technology enables you to keep an eye on item conditions in real time and detect inefficiencies as they occur. For instance, during a project for a Fortune 100 tech company, N-iX implemented a warehouse solution with optic IoT sensors. As a result, the client automated the process of collecting and recording important information about goods, optimizing costs and enhancing customer experience.
Keep reading: IoT in supply chain: Success stories and tips
4. Risk assessment
Shipping disruptions might take a toll on the company’s profits as well as the provider’s brand image. Therefore, partnering with a vendor that can build a custom risk management solution prevents you from business and reputation losses. Logistics software companies that assist with the implementation of proactive management software, apply Data Analytics expertise to identify risk areas and evaluate the potential business impact. Hence, transportation and supply chain providers can make better data-driven decisions both after and before the incident occurs.
5. Legal and transactional issue management
Logistics businesses that ship between countries might face tax challenges and finance availability issues while crossing borders and declaring at customs. By adopting software with import/export support features, a logistics management software development company can help you keep away from international shipping risks. This is achieved by automation of the auditioning process and taxation reporting.
6. Workflow integrity
Transportation is a complex process where synchronization and effective communication of all parties is of the utmost importance. Utilizing a logistics solution that integrates real-time data from couriers, dispatchers, and delivery logistics managers will allow you to effectively curate the end-to-end shipment. By adopting a unified custom shipping solution, you gain full visibility of the processes and, as a result, better control of your subcontractors.
How to choose a reliable logistics software development company?
It might be challenging to select a trustworthy logistics management software development company to form a tech partnership. As of December 2022, Clutch lists over 1,600 vendors that provide tech consulting and custom software development services for transportation enterprises. Logistics software vendors significantly differ in size, service offerings, and security policies. However, all top logistics software companies with excellent industry reputation have common features. Let’s take a closer look at them:
The company’s size
Most of the top logistics software companies are midsize and large enterprises with 250+ engineers on board. Such vendors usually provide instant access to more workforce and have optimized development processes. Therefore, being partners with a major enterprise guarantees quick project launch and high-quality product delivery.
Robust IoT expertise
If we speak about transportation monitoring, the Internet of Things is one of the key technologies that enable end-to-end product tracking and control of product safety and transportation conditions. So, another essential characteristic of a trustworthy logistics software development company is expertise in IoT development. With IoT software such as sensors for real-time asset tracking or alarm systems, logistics and supply chain providers can increase their transportation and supply chain visibility, prevent item losses, and optimize costs.
Domain experience
Before shaking hands, make sure that your logistics management software development company has a vast portfolio of successfully delivered projects in the industry. Experienced vendors can allocate specialists that understand the industry specifics and have proven experience in bringing sustainable business value to logistics and supply chain providers. To learn more about your partner’s projects related to transportation, read the client references and testimonials on the B2B review resources such as Clutch.
Agile approach to development
An iterative approach to custom software development allows to deliver robust logistics solutions with a high level of flexibility and control. Usually, top logistics software companies practice step-by-step software development. Continuous release cycles and responsiveness to user requests translate into improved solution’s efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Established data security measures
Now that you have found a perfect match in terms of tech expertise and domain experience, it’s crucial to ensure that your engineering company has a strong data protection policy in place. All credible tech vendors adhere to recognized international standards such as ISO 27001:2013, ISO 9001:2015, and GDPR. It would be a huge plus if your logistics software company had a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan to minimize the effects of a potential crisis on business operations.
Related: How to ensure secure software development in the time of remote
Why should you choose N-iX to innovate your transportation approach?
- N-iX is a trusted engineering company with 20+ years of experience in delivering tech consulting and software development services to logistics and supply chain providers;
- Our engineering team consists of more than 2,000 qualified professionals well-versed in IoT, Data Analytics, Cloud development, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and other services;
- We have deep expertise in inventory management, the development of custom logistics software, as well as the implementation of asset-tracking solutions and supply chain applications;
- N-iX adheres to international data protection standards such as PCI DSS, ISO 9001, ISO 27001, and GDPR;
- The vendor is a certified AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, and Google Cloud Platform Partner.
