- By Softlink Global
- August 24, 2022
- Freight Forwarder
The emergence of the freight forwarding industry dates back centuries ago, however, with a much simpler structure and roles. It came into existence when firms in England, that as Thomas Meadows and Company Limited pitched in to arrange cabs and carriages for the transportation of goods by contracting with various carriers, as well as helped in the documentation process, and in the challenges faced during custom clearance. However, with everything changing rapidly, this industry developed, transformed, and grew radically
The entire freight forwarding industry has been revisualized through the lenses of technology – technology that is evolving each day, each hour, bit by bit. From introduction of new precision systems to cloud hosted interfaces, all have contributed significantly to the expansion of this industry. It has not only helped us streamline businesses but also earn greater profits. Let us look at some of the most prominent digital technologies being used in the transportation, logistics and freight forwarding industry that are revolutionising its working.
Blockchain
In the transportation, logistics and freight industry, numerous parties are involved to carry out the transportation of raw materials or products from the hubs to the customers. All this involves multiple layers of documentation which increases the risk of potential frauds and attacks, In addition, in global trade where documents are required to ensure the quality of products, there is a possibility that these documents may be altered or falsified too.
And so, to address these issues, the blockchain technology was brought into existence, somewhere around 2016-17. It is a distributed database technology that holds records of digital information with transparency, security and works without a controlled central organ. This, thus, creates a trusted environment for carrying out transactions and preserving the associated information, resisting forgery or alteration of data.
Learn more from our experts how you can digitalize your freight forwarding & logistics business.
Advance Machine Learning
Advance Machine Learning aka AMS is one of the most recent technologies introduces in this industry. It includes a set of algorithms that train over data, analyse the patterns and decisions made over the couple of years and then processes it to help in making better and profitable business decisions. It also takes into account market research feeds and various dashboards and pre-determined reports to train itself in making profitable business choices.
It’s application on the entire supply chain is multi fold. It, not only, ensures minimum human intervention and reduces error rate, but also uses forecasting technology, computer vision and optimization modules to channelise the resources available and provide solutions to any roadblocks in the entire process. Being robust, it provides great exception handling mechanism, ensuring the entire system is fault protected.
Internet of Things
IoT or Internet of Things is a collection of sensor driven interconnected physical devices that helps in monitoring, reporting and sending and exchanging data, especially in real time processes. The advent of IoT driven technologies have revolutionised the world altogether. And, the transportation, logistics and freight industry is not untouched by the same. It has significantly helped in synchronising all the different processes associated with the entire supply chain, as well as ensured real time tracking of the various SCM links to address any stop blocks.
Whether it be real time tracking of product location or monitoring storage conditions, whether it be administering goods post receipt receival or ensuring increased security, the IoT driven systems have brought sea change in the working and functioning of the entire supply chain, thus saving time and efforts, and reaping greater profits.
Big Data
Another newbie in the tech arena of transportation, logistics and freight industry, is Big Data. Essentially, Big Data refers to the vast amounts of data, structured and unstructured, that helps businesses to establish trends and patterns in human behaviour and interactions. This, in turn, guides the decision-making processes across operational, strategic and tactic levels.
One of the most significant changes brought in by Big Data Analytics is the development of product based upon consumer usage and behaviour trends. Not only this, it has also contributed towards enhanced inventory management services, improved traceability, reduced AHT, shortened order-to-delivery cycle time, etc…
Conclusion
The wind of revolution spanning the industries have started showing its effects. It is changing the approach to work and development, thus helping industries realise their potential to the fullest.