Automation is often associated with robots for factory production lines or self-driving trucks. But automation is a process that helps industry professionals accomplish seemingly simple but crucial tasks.
It’s not difficult to see that those who track shipments manually using lengthy spreadsheets to enter delivery data are most likely to make mistakes and take longer to complete.
As the logistics and supply chain industries adapt to changing demands, automation will become an increasingly important and competitive advantage. Delivery and logistics organizations must prioritize technology adoption by eliminating obsolete technologies and processes currently in use.
Automation Solutions for Supply Chain, Logistics, and Delivery
Documentation is essential to ensure transparency between sender and recipient in processing parcels or shipments. Although it should be simple for employees to complete forms and reproduce information for any document, this approach can be complex. Industry professionals are susceptible to making mistakes as stress levels rise and backlogs increase.
The human factor is crucial when reviewing invoices, commercial invoices, bills of lading (BOL), or any and other customer clearance documentation. To charge customers appropriately, people enter the information required into the fields and within their internal systems line-by-line.
It is easy to make errors and misunderstand information when dealing with large volumes of documents, leading to a loss of income of as high as 12% and a significant loss in time to correct them.
This isn’t a one-sided problem. It is a result of inefficiency across the industry. Due to the variety of formats clients create and the inconsistencies and nuances of handwriting, data entry teams, are subject to different levels of variability. Many people consider Intelligent Automation tools such as Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) as an alternative.
IDP increases document processing accuracy and decreases back-to-back time, making it the industry’s best solution to problems with physical documents. It uses AI and machine learning to automate business processes for both structured and unstructured data, such as images, PDFs, and handwritten forms.
IDP converts these document formats into machine-readable, structured information faster than humans.
The back-office automation revolution is a win-win for the transportation industry. Not only will it help organizations save money on lost revenue due to errors in paperwork, but it will also allow employees to focus on higher-level tasks and not get bogged down by paperwork. Customers can track their information faster and get faster service with automation support.
Benefits of Logistics and Supply Chain Automation
- You can save time and money
Automating delivery has many benefits, including cost savings and improved customer service. It is possible to eliminate incorrect addresses, package sizes, weights, or misspelled products. You can also reduce the amount of time that employees spend on shipping. These points will help you save money and reduce customer dissatisfaction.
- Allow real-time notifications and updates.
Package delivery should include automated notifications and alerts to inform customers about the status of their packages and when they will arrive. Companies that benefit from such improvements are more likely to gain a competitive advantage.
- Be truly agile
Automated processes are becoming more critical to organizations. Companies must automate many departments, people, and robots to maintain productivity and agility in times of crisis. As companies seek to automate delivery processes, this includes your supply chain.
- Improve Consumption Planning
Automated delivery gives consumers a better understanding of arrival times. This visibility allows for better planning and customer satisfaction. Imagine knowing exactly when your shipment will arrive, imagine predicting when and how the item will fit in with other things.
- Enhance customer and employee experiences
Automated shipping can save time and simplify the purchasing process for your customers. Customers receive faster, more organized information about their orders, allowing you to spend more time improving customer service.
Logistics and transport automation does not require large shipping containers, machinery, or drones. Intelligent Automation, which is human-centric and intelligent, can transform your delivery, creating a win-win situation for all parties.
Tomorrow’s leading companies will understand that time is critical when there is high demand. They will leverage automation to surpass expectations, scale with volumes, transform business operations, minimize routine tasks, and enable human-machine collaboration in the future.