Custom-made fleet management solutions can significantly improve the overall performance of any business that handles its own fleet vehicles. Such systems can help your organization to reduce fuel consumption, analyze the behavior of your drivers and the state of your fleet vehicles, get access to easy-to-read interactive reports, develop a strategy of future growth, and many more.

The world of logistics software development and fleet management solutions is continually evolving and absorbs all the innovations that can eventually bring some benefits. As a result, a cutting-edge solution for vehicles management that was made yesterday can become obsolete tomorrow. To help you to develop an effective business growth strategy for your company, we’d like to share some software-related trends in logistics to watch in 2019.

Further Digitization and Software-driven Process Changes

The research from the PwC company defines 5 main trends in logistics and fleet management sector:

digitalization

shifts in international trade

software-driven process changes

changes in markets’ domestic commerce

machine-driven process changes

Let’s consider those of them that are related to software. Global digitization is already a thing, and you should adapt your strategy to this ever-increasing trend. It’s happening in all business sectors, and fleet management is not an exception. The process is far more complicated than adopting new communication technologies and digitizing your documents. We’re talking about the strategy of devising utterly new business processes and models for more efficient management models for your fleet vehicles. In practice, this includes integrations of new, software-centric methodologies across the value chain. Nowadays, more and more companies are intended to benefit from moving all the processes that are related to service provision into the digital environment.

According to PwC Global Digital IQ Survey 2017, 54% of companies that work in logistics and fleet management sector are building their strategy with the intention to increase the revenue thanks to digitization. Digitization can help companies to get the following benefits:

simplified business processes

products, services, and business models can be re-designed with ease

the impact of the human factor can be significantly reduced

intuitive management of your fleet vehicles

Global digitization changes not only the way of how an organization handles its fleet vehicles but also changes the style of client-company interaction. For example, the possibility of online and mobile ordering of vehicles can change the strategy of increasing customer satisfaction.

Software-driven processes changes are yet another thing that you should remember about while planning your strategy of growth. This phenomenon is growing dramatically and will continue to grow even faster in the next few years. The evolution and broad adoption of such technologies, such as AI, IoT, Blockchain/DLTs and many others will create a favorable environment for the development and wide adoption of such solutions for fleet management and other spheres of business.

In 2019, we’ll see that intelligent transportation systems, robotic process automation, predictive solutions, blockchain technologies, and AI will reshape the world of fleet management and bring new strategies of business growth. Wide implementation of these cutting-edge technologies will help companies to achieve a significant competitive advantage at the market, receive more insights into cargo flow, and build a more efficient and flexible strategy.

Digital Supply Chain and Machine Learning

According to Forbes, one of the main trends in fleet management to watch in 2019 is the so-called Digital Supply Chain. The term is usually used to define the supply chain and fleet management software, communications, and automation efforts that meet specific digital criteria. It’s pretty broad and demonstrates that digitization affects all areas of business with almost no exceptions. The digital transformation of the fleet management industry that we can see all around us is the exact example of what Digital Supply Chain is. Many digital supply chain initiatives come in the form of extended supply chain visibility. For example, the Pfizer company was intended to change its strategy in order to achieve real-time shipment visibility across the wide supply chain and replace obsolete systems with a cutting-edge software solution. As a result of efforts, the organization has adopted an app that can track the shipment of 15,000 stock in real-time mode and allow the company’s clients to receive this info online.

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Another essential part of the digital supply chain is the extensive use of IoT devices. So-called Logistics 4.0 allows leveraging from the use of IoT for more efficient fleet management and logistics. With their help companies that use software to handle the fleet vehicles can collect all important KPIs from the vehicles and analyze them in a real-time mode. Properly designed software can help to explain this data and correct the current business strategy if needed.

Machine learning and AI, in general, were one of the main points of attraction in 2018. The reason is that there were too many innovative custom fleet management solutions and enhancements that include machine learning. And specialists expect that this trend will continue to grow in 2019. The cause is simple. Machine learning and AI can become pretty useful when we talk about large dynamic sets of data with a significant number of variables. As you may have guessed, this is precisely what the logistics is. Machine learning applies to a wide range of logistics technologies. It’s already used in warehouse management systems, supply chain planning, smart fleet vehicles management, and so on.

Conclusions

In 2019, we’ll see two main types of trends in the industry. First of all, the already common intention of companies to digitize everything that is digitizable will continue to grow. The wide adoption of solutions that allow efficiently manage the fleet vehicles can help companies to get the following benefits:

low operational costs

increased efficiency of your fleet vehicles

extended life of vehicles due to timely service

excellent driver satisfaction

The trend is quite natural and easy to explain. So, no surprises here. What’s more interesting is the adoption of such technologies as AI and machine learning in an industry that at first sight is quite far from such breakthrough technologies. Believe it or not, AI is already a widely used technology in logistics and fleet management. And there are no doubts that 2019 will demonstrate us new uses of this technology.

To learn more about modern trends in software that helps to handle your fleet vehicles and understand how they can improve your business strategy, you can get a free consultation from our specialists.