How To Rescue Logistics From Old and Inefficient Tools

Organizing transport with spreadsheets, sending faxes, and drowning in tons of printed documents. That’s not recalling the 90’s, but describing today’s reality for the majority of logistics companies. How old-school habits are slowing down the industry? What can you do leave the old tools behind and save time and money in your business? Let’s find out!

Although technology disrupt is on a roll and running successful businesses can be easy like never before, plenty of companies still don’t take advantage of it.

Stuck with Excel and fax

Do you know that nearly 53% of the logistics industry consists of self-employed companies? Meaning a „single person with one car” business model makes over half of this sector! Maybe it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. How does it work?

There is a huge ecosystem of micro, small, and medium logistics companies that rely entirely on cooperation with bigger players. They operate as subcontractors to large shipping enterprises, and that means they depend on the orders coming from those enterprises.

What’s strikes the most, is the way they organize their work. Most of the small and medium business owners still believe in the ultimate power of Excel spreadsheets. As if that was not old-fashioned enough, they use fax machines on a regular basis! It’s not only ancient when it comes to technology; exchanging business information by fax, or even over the phone is inefficient and vulnerable.

Lack of one technology solution = problems pile up

Wasting time and working hours on filling out the spreadsheet cells, and tons of paper on printing endless documentation, are only a part of the problems. Many small and medium logistics companies miss out lucrative business opportunities because of not having a software solution. Why?

Because more and more clients require integrations between IT systems to control all the processes. If an SMB company doesn’t have an IT system at all, it will mean losing the battle for contracts and – eventually – extinction.

What the hell is going on with our cargo?!

That’s not the end of the pain in the neck. Not having an IT solution, and lack of access to a data-sharing environment will result in more problems. Drivers will have to face long downtimes or empty runs (or both). Such companies will have to rely only on the data they receive from their shipping partners.

From the client’s point of view, working with tech-resistant contractors means a lot of stress. A client doesn’t have a direct access to the information about the shipping status – where the cargo is at a certain time, and when it will be delivered. More importantly, the client is not up-to-date with delays or any other problems. Either he receives a problem notification when it’s too late to react, or he has to send the query to the logistics contractor, praying for an answer. These situations make it very hard for a client to optimize the production line, which – at the end of the day – equals financial losses.

How to transfer your logistics company to the XXI century?

Luckily, blockchain and data-sharing technology give us a way to get out of this mess and to deliver a win-win situation for both sides – SMB logistics companies and their clients. Does it require huge investments in building complex IT systems?

The good news is – no, it doesn’t! All it takes is to find a dedicated software solution. Hublock will deliver an online platform, with no installation required, that will:

1. Help logistics companies with their own IT system to integrate with any subcontractor without buying expensive technology to achieve it.
2. Prevent large companies from installing dozens of separate IT solutions to integrate with dozens of smaller shipping contractors (and their IT systems).
3. Enable the SMB shipping companies to offer their services to far more business clients.
4. Store all the shipping data (from each stage) and the order history and make it accessible for both sides: clients and logistics companies.
5. Keep the client up-to-date with all potential and real threats like a delay, a road accident, a cargo loss or damage. These alerts will let a client to react in time, and to redistribute the resources to avoid interrupting the production line.
6. Give each driver a chance to fully concentrate on driving and delivering cargo, without wasting time on useless phone calls, checking e-mails, and responding to text messages.

How will it work?

Companies that already have their IT system, will connect with Hublock online platform through an open API, and then use the data uploaded to the platform by the other users – in this case – smaller logistics contractors. Everyday work will become easy, less time consuming, and way cheaper than building several IT solutions to cooperate with several contractors.

Thanks to the Hublock solution, the SMB logistics companies that tend to still organize their work in Excel, won’t have to spend a fortune on building IT systems from scratch. All they will have to do, to get things done, is to subscribe to the Hublock platform and upload their resources online. That goes to cars, drivers, clients, orders, premises, clients, and so on. They won’t have to use spreadsheets anymore to manage it all.

But that’s not all! The real power lies in building a business network based on data-sharing. Hublock will be a platform to share offers and needs when it comes to the logistics market. For example, one company will publish information about a vacant cargo space on their trucks, and other company will receive a notification about it in real-time. If the second one is currently looking for a transport, we will have a match!

Are you ready to choose the future for your business?

Let’s face it, the logistics industry is a goldmine, and that’s not going to change any time soon. Taking only the giants like Amazon or Alibaba into consideration, it is the smartest move to stay in the game. To do that, you will need to take advantage of data-sharing and blockchain technology and forget about soul-sucking Excel and vintage fax.