Is there any industry that has not been graced by technology? The answer, in all certainty, is no. Every industry uses technology. The only difference is the extent to which an industry is dependent on it. From healthcare to shipping, technology is kind of a backbone for myriad operations.
Couriers are not just benefited by technology but they depend on it today. Major couriers have endorsed enterprise resource planning, content management systems, customer relationship management software and a whole range of hardware for a long time now. None of those are actually new. However, small couriers are still trying to instill such technological perks in their modus operandi. Over the last few years, couriers have endorsed some newer technologies, which have not just benefited the companies but also customers.
Here are some of the new technologies used by couriers these days.
- The first would have to be apps. Now, apps may not be deemed as a revolutionary development as ERP or CRM was in its days or when portable barcode scanners became available at affordable prices, but apps have certainly transformed the manner in which couriers coordinate with clients. Apps have made the whole process simpler. Anyone sending a courier to USA can work on every facet of the couriering using apps. From checking quotes to initiating the order, from tracking the order to coordinating with the delivery guys to ensure that the time and place is right, everything can be done using apps. While many couriers are yet to have a mobile presence, many others have launched apps. It would be futile for any courier company to procrastinate on endorsing apps.
- A quaint development in the realm of technology pertaining to the courier industry is games. Courier companies are using games to train their delivery guys, warehouse managers, packaging teams and even those who work out the routes and work in dispatch, transit or just as facilitators at various ports. Games can simulate reality and that can be loaded with all worldly challenges that every particular job in the courier industry would comprise of. Accordingly, trainees or a fresher can get accustomed with such challenges and learn the solutions without being on the field and risking the cargo being shipped.
- Real time vehicle tracking is also a useful technological development that the industry has endorsed. While GPS did change the modus operandi a long time back, real time vehicle tracking whose access is provided to customers has been a game changer. Clients love it when they know exactly where their cargo is, not the last transit or the update that it is out on delivery.