Over the last several years, there has been a steady shift towards using mobile apps to track the movement of many products and services. Amazon, for example, allows customers to track the number of stops before they receive their package. The benefits of using mobile apps to track transportation systems highly outweigh the challenges. Here’s a closer look at how transportation systems can use mobile apps to enhance their existing process. By the end, you’ll understand how Ayoka can assist you in making such a transition.
Transportation Mobile Apps Way #1: Automating and Removing Paper Processes
As access to technology has grown, it has become increasingly common for businesses in any industry to implement digital processes. For transportation system managers and employees, this means the end of paper documents. No more handwritten mileage logs, no more complicated expense reports, no more lost forms. When your organization shifts to using mobile apps to track your transportation systems, all of the hard work can be done in a few clicks–if any clicks are required at all. Take mileage logs, for example.
As soon as the vehicle is turned on, an automated tracking system can record the starting mileage. Drivers can verify the mileage on their phone apps. They can be instructed to utilize their mobile app to verify throughout the day. They can also be required to enter break, lunch, and other off-the-clock times for timekeeping purposes.
#2: Improved Driver and Equipment Safety
Similarly, using mobile apps to track your transportation processes means that driver and equipment safety can also be reinforced. Imagine how easy it would be for a driver to send a distress call when their engine won’t start, they have a flat, or they’ve been in an accident. Having access to the location of a vehicle during a shift can provide information to a tow truck, roadside assistance, or your own maintenance crew in a matter of seconds. When a team moves to digital apps, tracking a vehicle’s location is instantaneous.
Management can verify that drivers are in compliance, and they can use data to help drivers improve performance. Once a system has been fully integrated, employees and managers can use the applications to communicate changes and performance messages. High performers can receive recognition, while newer or lower performers can be coached towards greater adherence to metrics. It’s building a strong team through interconnectedness.
Transportation Mobile Apps Way #3: Order Batching and Dispatching Made Easier
Implementing mobile apps for your transportation-centered company goes beyond performance and safety concerns. When your business has a last-minute order that needs immediate delivery, or if a safety issue arises with the intended driver, the same applications can redirect to someone in the nearby area. Also, using real-time order batching can be particularly helpful when working with independent contractors. These individuals can be offered additional jobs based upon their location, their performance, and other factors designated by your management team. Using mobile application-based reporting dashboards can lead to a level of healthy competition between team members and build camaraderie across teams and departments.
Way #4: Logistics Beyond Warehouse Quantities and Order Management
So far, we have focused on the human and vehicular factors that benefit from mobile apps. It’s time to take a closer look at how inventory systems can be improved through the use of mobile apps. When we talk about logistics, it goes beyond transportation and delivery of goods and services. It extends to warehouse and fulfillment management processes. Utilizing mobile apps will allow members of the team to assess current inventory data, allowing everyone to proactively plan. Adding mobile apps can also provide the opportunity to proactively serve internal and external customers with greater efficiency.
The logistics of transportation-based companies are the best and most accurate way to build businesses. A level of detailed planning and executing said plans at the right time can have a serious positive or negative impact on business processes. Having on-the-go tracking options can allow your teams to avoid extended delays–which will inevitably happen in one way or another. From a management perspective, being able to view inventory and distribution plans on the go can add to work-life balance.
Transportation Mobile Apps Recommendation: Responding to Employee Privacy Concerns
While these suggestions will help to simplify business processes, springing these changes on employees suddenly may not go over well. Some employees will welcome the added functionalities easily, while others will buck them. When addressing employee concerns about adding mobile applications to job flow, remind them that their location and other data are secured. Once it enters the app, it is secured against improper access. It can also be helpful to reiterate that the information is being used to monitor job performance, not spy on them. This is why we recommend having employees log out of the mobile app during breaks and lunches–this is their time away from work, and we value it as much as you do. In fact, their privacy is as important to us as their productivity is to you.
Ayoka Systems: Transportation Mobile Apps in the Palm of Your Hand
Now that you’ve seen a few benefits of using mobile apps in managing your transportation company-related functions, it’s time to consider how to move forward. The team at Ayoka Systems has spent the last several decades designing custom solutions to meet the unique needs of companies from a variety of industries around the world. We understand that being better connected to your team and your workflow can make the whole scenario easier. When you want to simplify your transportation system needs, contact us right away!
