Plan, procure, execute, & track transportation for every shipment across your supply chain & logistics operations
A SaaS solution to help grow your business by achieving 100% perfect order execution at high volumes
Increase vehicle capacity utilization and customer promise adherence
Grow your business with omnichannel presence and automated pickups
Consolidate shipments for hub to hub movement across land and air
Real-time customer communications and collect accurate PODs
Orchestrate logistics operations with multiple 3rd party carriers
Achieve cost effective, scalable, sustainable, and customer centric deliveries
Orchestrate all your cross-border logistics operations with ease
Improve address accuracy, ensure first-attempt delivery success, reduce costs and boost customer experience
Gain end-to-end shipment visibility, get proactive alerts, and send customers live tracking links
Grow business in a dynamic world and manage operations across First, Middle & Last mile
Delight customers by seamlessly managing store and online orders across own fleet and 3rd party
Reduce freight costs & get end to end visibility across shipments
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As demand in the supply chain industry increases, there is a greater need for intelligent platforms providing end-to-end automation for large-scale fleet management. With parcel volumes projected to grow more than double every five years, shippers, third-party logistics providers, and carriers have to evolve quickly. Flexible and scalable global dispatch management solutions are becoming the go-to choice for enterprises to solve delivery-related hurdles.
While 65% of customers are willing to pay more for faster delivery, and the global courier management software market is expected to be US$ 908.4 million by 2027, 17% of parcels in the United States do not reach their destination on time.
Before we dive into the importance and its various benefits, let us understand the meaning of dispatch management.
Dispatch management means organizing, assigning, and optimizing the routes, schedules, and workflows for all the workers within the delivery, maintenance, and service segments of a business. The majority of companies use automated dispatch management systems to digitize and automate processes for cost, time, and resource efficiency.
For big businesses, the field staff and delivery service partners can be spread across different geographies and time zones. Manual dispatch management becomes an inefficient approach when serving multiple customers, and that too within narrow delivery timelines.
Industry leaders are fast-adopting robust solutions to automatically collate resource data from all projects and increase fleet capacity for a hassle-free global dispatch management process.
In the age of super-fast deliveries, businesses must improve operational efficiency, increase transparency for stakeholders and mitigate delivery risks. All this should come along with the ability to control cost bleeds and over-consumption of resources.
Below, we discuss why dispatch management is a crucial business must-have.
Dispatch management ensures proper task allocation in an automated manner and reduces reliance on manual intervention. The warehouse or store management no longer needs to create schedules or charts for allocating deliveries, routes, and destinations or to keep a tally.
This is of paramount importance in global dispatch management systems where stakes are higher and even a single faulty assignment can spiral down into a myriad of errors and inefficiencies.
With no redundancy and planning or scheduling errors in the system, the overall delivery speed gets improved.
Global dispatch management helps businesses unlock ease of ordering, greater visibility, ease of rescheduling or contacting the delivery staff, and on-time delivery. All these functionalities empower businesses to cater to diverse customer demands and delivery SLAs. The dispatch can be scheduled as per these SLAs to ensure timely deliveries.
Studies show that 84% of customers will not shop with a brand after a poor delivery experience. Hence, dispatch management is crucial to effectively manage processes that directly and indirectly impact the buyer experience.
38% of shipping companies listed the ever-increasing price pressure as their greatest roadblock. With increased competition, there is pressure on the pricing of shipping companies, which impacts profit margins. Dispatch management software solutions auto-allocate orders to riders based on location, availability, and performance. These platforms also provide the best routes to avoid fuel waste and reduce operational costs.
In the next section, we will examine the various challenges in Global Dispatch management.
Customers today desire to remain informed at every step of the delivery, right from order allocation to the item reaching their doorstep. It is also essential that buyers are able to seamlessly update order details (time and location) and share them with the customers for a hassle-free experience.
Customer support systems for answering queries or resolving issues are a must-have for customer retention. Dispatch management solutions provide the facility of an interactive response to address routine customer queries and relay real-time shipment tracking alerts.
Dispatch managers often face the challenge of driver shortage during peak hours. As a result, delivery timelines are not met, and the existing drivers end up overworking, leading to increased operational costs.
Global dispatch management solutions can be leveraged to allocate drivers based on the consignment, load, driver availability, and time taken for delivery. The system also provides the best-optimized routes for riders to overcome any unforeseen circumstances, such as bad weather conditions and high-traffic roads.
When the drivers are not provided with clear routing instructions, there are chances of deviation or vehicle idling. Valuable time is lost whenever a rider takes a longer route, affecting the delivery timeline. When completing multiple deliveries at one go, this can quickly become a nightmare for delivery managers. Add to that the possibility of bad weather or sudden traffic jams.
Route optimization is critical to complete on-time deliveries and staying ahead of consumer expectations. AI-enabled dispatch management software finds the best route for riders to complete the list of deliveries in one go. Apart from the business users, consumers can also be kept updated with real-time visibility into the delivery process.
A basic need of the customers in eCommerce is that they want “complete visibility” throughout the journey. They want to see exactly where their orders are, and many desire to communicate with the drivers directly. Lack of real-time visibility hinders consumer trust and loyalty, negatively affecting the business’s bottom line.
Dispatch management software provides both the dispatcher and the customer with the real-time location of the order. Through a centralized dashboard, buyers can now be updated with live ETA updates. This also reduces customer queries, and the workforce can stay focused on more critical tasks.
Delivery operations happen in an external environment where events like traffic, floods, non-availability of drivers, a surge of orders, or even a decrease of orders can disrupt plans. Intelligent dispatch systems can adapt to unplanned events and dynamically create modified task flow. Riders can be re-routed dynamically to address any ad-hoc changes. Also, the system can reallocate drivers between different centers based on a surge in orders or decrease.
The solution also automatically updates ETAs based on the time lost and communicates the same to all stakeholders. Managers can also club urgent deliveries with planned orders for cost-efficient delivery.
A global dispatch management platform offers region-specific logistics requirements to businesses. It helps businesses plan, manage, monitor, and track asset (vehicles and riders) movements to ensure timely deliveries in a cost-controlled and resource-efficient manner.
A global dispatch management system comes with multiple in-built functionalities that help businesses to use all their dispatch resources in an optimized manner, a few of which are discussed below.
Dispatch management solutions use AI algorithms to allocate drivers based on location and availability. Systems can build in preference for their own fleet over 3PLs, for economic 3PLs over costly ones, or even have specific 3PLs mapped for certain regions. An optimized visual route with stops is automatically generated for the delivery executive.
The system generates optimal travel routes. The routes are adjusted based on traffic or weather changes. Drivers get the best-optimized route to avoid traffic congestion and real-time updates on traffic. The route can be customized based on multiple factors like the number of stops and priority dispatch schedule for specific customers.
End-to-end visibility of the delivery process is a necessary customer requirement. A global dispatch management system uses GPS tracking to ensure real-time visibility of the consignment throughout its journey across the globe. If there are any delays or issues, it immediately recalculates the ETAs. These changes in ETAs will be reflected in real-time and be visible to all stakeholders.
The system generates customized dashboards for employees depending on the business use cases and job roles. A dispatch supervisor may be able to have a view of vehicles undertaking trips, available, or parked for maintenance. They gain a comprehensive status for drivers, the status of trips planned, vehicle utilization, and fuel economy.
A manager’s dashboard can be configured to check important monthly or weekly KPIs and monitor growth during a specific time period.
A responsive customer feedback system, complaint gathering, and redressal system are one of the most important customer retention tools. For round-the-clock and cost efficiency, logistics solution software use automated IVR calls and AI chatbots for customer support.
These tools provide the facility of an interactive response to address routine customer queries so that staff support can shift their focus towards non-routine issues.
Besides providing integrated dashboards for employees, the system can be configured for developing other reports, e.g., driver-based, vehicle-based, customer-based, period-based, and KPI-based reports.
Besides these operational reports, the global dispatch management system can also be a great tool for identifying weak spots in the delivery process. Businesses can leverage historical data to map out reasons for delays in deliveries, spot dissatisfied customers, and gauge customer sentiment carrier-wise and region-wise.
Let us explore the top benefits of using a global dispatch management solution.
Global dispatch management systems increase driver and vehicle asset utilization by optimizing processes to save extra costs and time. Research indicates that having an intuitive global dispatch management system improved profitability by 12%. In addition, there was also an improvement of 13% in vehicle utilization and a 15% decrease in travel time.
Dispatch management systems save time and manpower costs by automating delivery processes, right from receiving the order to delivering the item to the customer’s doorstep. The customer also receives an e-receipt upon receiving the order, which acts as proof of delivery. With automation, no paperwork is required at the end of the day, increasing employee productivity.
The AI-enabled route optimization feature ensures drivers complete deliveries at the quickest rate possible. In case of any unexpected events on the road, blocked roads, or any other ad-hoc issues, the dispatch management software quickly charts out an alternative route and alerts the driver and dispatcher in real time.
With the scale of operations and mobility of field staff, providing remote capabilities is critical. A dispatch management software shares real-time updates with the field staff regarding scheduling changes, job status, customer information, etc. The field staff can also log updates and report dates, allowing the dispatchers to revise schedules.
Dispatch management solutions use inputs such as skill sets, availability, job data, warranty info, work histories, location data, and scheduling policies. This enables dispatchers to use a full range of automation based on specific business objectives and processes to create schedules.
Now that we have a detailed understanding of the various benefits of global dispatch management, let us move on to explore the key considerations for choosing a global dispatch management platform.
Dispatch management is a complex process that requires delivery managers to carefully map out every step. From real-time visibility to informing delays in operations, the customer needs to be notified throughout the journey. Moreover, any redressal and pain points must be resolved quickly to win consumer trust and enhance brand loyalty.
Further, the business pain points and dispatch management use cases vary from one business to another. While there are a number of options available, it is important that businesses identify and understand some key considerations for choosing the right dispatch management solution.
Delivery jobs can be assigned by simply scanning barcodes, and drivers get access to all the necessary customer details.
The solution needs to provide riders with the quickest and most fuel-efficient routes for hassle-free deliveries.
A robust global dispatch management system uses GPS tracking to ensure real-time visibility and tracks any delays or issues throughout the journey.
All the stakeholders can communicate and collaborate in one place for effective management of operations. This feature also comes in handy for feedback management, support, etc.
Delivery notifications automatically inform customers regarding the ETAs for dispatched consignments via SMS or email.
Businesses should be able to monitor their consignment’s journey with 3PLs or partner logistics providers to maintain the quality of delivery service.
Go “smart” with Shipsy’s dispatch management and provide your customers with end-to-end visibility of all operations. Now experience scalability and growth with Shipsy’s cloud-based agile platform configurable for your future needs with an easy-to-use interface that comes with no learning curve.
Stay ahead of your competition with an AI-enabled intelligent platform that provides actionable analytics and real-time business and process dashboards.
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For more information or to get started with Shipsy’s global dispatch management system, get in touch with our experts or schedule a custom demo today!
Automated dispatch software digitizes vehicle dispatch process and makes it easy for the fleet managers to monitor movement of all goods and track vehicles under one roof.
Multimodal visibility facilitates real-time tracking shipments to help shippers know the exact status of the shipment and avoid delivery delays, increasing transportation costs, and other problems.
