Connected Logistics Methodology: No TMS Required

In a recent Supply Chain Dive piece about the future of transportation management solutions (TMS), there’s a telling moment: Brock Johns from Gartner explains one of the potential use cases for AI in TMS platforms, and he notes its potential to fill in the “dearth” of domain knowledge that can occur when a company’s resident TMS expert leaves.

Sure, generative AI might be a real use case for backfilling that sort of wisdom—but when you implement a shiny new software solution designed to simplify your logistics, how can you feel comfortable taking on the risk that a single employee leaving the company can so completely hamstring your logistics operations?

This is an especially worrying question for teams that are trying to do more with less. Lean IT teams at logistics organizations might not have much in the way of redundancies, and there’s something inherently precarious about adopting a system that’s so complex that your team will struggle to use it without a single subject matter expert. 

Of course, the obvious question is: what’s the alternative? The only thing worse than having a complex piece of technology is not having a complex piece of technology—at least when your logistics operations are complex enough to warrant it. 

That’s the thinking that leads a lot of businesses to adopt TMS platforms that they don’t really need. But in point of fact, a lighter-weight connected logistics solution can be the best option for logistics operations of all shapes and sizes. 

Technology Is Evolving Fast: Lean Teams Can Thrive Without a TMS

Even a few years ago, technology deployments in the logistics space were divided into haves and have-nots. Businesses that had a certain amount of IT muscle and a solid technology budget could deploy TMS, delivery management, delivery tracking, and other solutions on-premise. Their teams would maintain these solutions over time and configure the capabilities to their specific use cases. 

For smaller businesses, this often wasn’t an option—which meant that manual processes continued to rule the day. With the advent of SaaS technology, however, it’s become feasible for smaller businesses (frankly, for businesses of all sizes) to adopt leaner, lighter, and more flexible technology solutions and implement them seamlessly into existing workflows. 

AI is only making this shift more pronounced by speeding up a lot of the work that dispatchers, drivers, planners, customer support teams, and many others already do. 

This has two big implications in the world of logistics:

• You can get cutting edge technology capabilities that compete with the largest players in the space without having a giant IT team.
• You can avoid deploying technological behemoths that are difficult to use and implement.

In other words, you gain visibility, standardization, and optimization without the Herculean effort of deploying, integrating, and using a heavy-duty TMS platform.

Putting a Connected Logistics Methodology to Work with SaaS Last Mile Software

Effective logistics management starts with ensuring visibility and connectivity across the entire process, from the first middle to the middle mile to the last mile (and even onto return logistics). That means that a connected logistics mindset is absolutely key. 

What does that look like in practice? There are a few crucial elements you to ensure you’re putting in place:

• Total data visibility for items in transit (including proof of exchange at every step): This means that you have documented proof of an item reaching your warehouse or the customer’s delivery site—and that proof can be accessed from a single dashboard as needed. This can include transfers throughout the first mile and middle mile as well, meaning that you incorporate a significant part of a TMS platform’s value into your last mile technology. 
• Standardized processes across the board: This includes back-office processes like dispatching routes and providing route manifests, but it also extends to drivers and service personnel carrying out their tasks. Here, the right driver mobile app can empower drivers to document not just successful deliveries and services but specific workflows across the process. 
• Mixed fleet visibility from a single dashboard: Your entire logistics network needs to come under a single umbrella your deliveries are actually underway. That means finding a way to integrate live delivery information from first and third party fleets into a single dashboard, so you can see how deliveries are unfolding in real time—all at a glance.
• Customer experience integration: One of the biggest pitfalls with large TMS deployments is that the customer delivery experience side of the equation is usually an afterthought—meaning that you’ll most likely have to implement third party software to keep your customers in the loop throughout the delivery and fulfillment process. But with a last mile delivery solution, that’s at the heart of the functionality you’re getting. That means you can provide total visibility to customers throughout the process and ensure that they have an open line of communication to your team as needed. 
• Support for warehouse roles and responsibilities: To create a cohesive whole that connects your logistics processes from end to end, your software should enable warehouse loaders to scan items onto and off of trucks using a mobile app, even if they’re not the ones carrying out the deliveries. This puts you in a position to manage by exception across your entire logistics lifecycle and prevent third party deliveries from becoming a black box. 

This all adds up to more than the sum of its parts. It helps you move beyond simple last mile delivery management to effectively centralize, streamline, and standardize your logistics processes. No TMS required. 

How DispatchTrack Can Help Standardize Logistics and Improve Delivery Visibility

DispatchTrack’s last mile logistics software is designed to power connected logistics beyond the last mile. Our platform helps businesses to reduce logistics costs, improve visibility, and ensure customer satisfaction across the entire fulfillment journey. 

Our solution offers:

• AI-powered customer experience agents that can handle simple customer inquiries, saving your team time and money by diverting “where’s my order” calls before they reach your team members. 
• Total logistics visibility from end to end, including transfers
• Mixed fleet visibility via a single, consolidated delivery dashboard featuring at-a-glance insights
• Streamlined, digital compliance workflows for drivers to ensure a complete audit trail of every delivery
• AI-powered voice assistance for delivery drivers providing location intelligence for each stop along a given route
• Warehouse loading management with support for users other than the driver to scan items onto and off of trucks
• Pre-delivery site assessments to ensure that customer delivery sites are ready for the delivery or service team when they arrive
• Route optimization and dispatching powered by intelligent, AI-powered algorithms to ensure on-time delivery and optimized capacity utilization

All of these capabilities put you and your team in the driver’s seat, so that you can ensure that your entire logistics operation is standardized, digitized, and cost efficient. Together, they put you in a position to enact a connected logistics methodology and manage your deliveries with greater visibility and efficiency from end to end.

The best part? Because it’s an intuitive SaaS solution, it lets you do all of that with a lean IT team. No lengthy technical work. No TMS. Just a last mile logistics solution built to ensure total visibility and optimization. 

Get in touch with our team today to learn more.