CIO-review-magazine-2015-top-promising-company.

CIO- presented-June 2016 – focusing on Logistics & Transportation Technology.

Reference : http://goo.gl/3sI0k3 page no. 19

Logistics operations are finding way to get streamlined and drawing a path of giving advance service, mobility solutions which count on wireless devices has turned to be eventuated towards success in logistics business however all the mobile applications based on cloud at its best to provide the real time information.

But many logistics companies who are still expecting a solution which can be affordable with advance technical facilities. The truth is logistics companies whether it’s a courier based or transportation or any cargo, for competition they fail to see the profit at initial stage of business which pulls down the interest towards business and they find traditional system left for them to retain their existing business. Logistics business is more of partnering rather than providing services alone to cater wide area and their business partners who either don’t communicate appropriately or incompatible to meet the demands results lose opportunities.

Over last few years, technological approach has been drastically changed, last decade back logistics used to be a service of minimum 6-7 days domestically which has been phenomenally reduced to a single day. Realizing real-time supply chain management and shipment visibility which was a part of dream. Let’s take a look at the trends of developing logistics subsequently.

1. Mobility solution is advancing rapidly :

Real time visibility is primary factor in Logistics business, second comes cost of service if any company has a control on these factors then that company will commit success for sure. Mobility solution has made it possible. New day’s technology improvised the solution module into a shape of mobile phone which has become more efficient in terms of mobility. When mobile devices are enabled with GPS system and camera integrated, service frequency becomes much faster and safe.

According to survey, after implementing mobility solutions company’s security has been improved by using handle held devices such as capturing information, allocating pick up, dispatching, delivering, bar code scanning from anywhere, shipment and fleet tracking, online reporting and route optimization.

Today the proposition is very affordable. Reason defines device cost has come down across the globe where supply chain mobility has placed. Achievements in mobility solution integrated with logixERP is taking place in the supply chain right now which allow track back to demanding and hyper-informed customers.

2. Cloud enterprise resource planning system :

Cloud was considered to be a marketing hype and not much of companies were interested in it. However, lately companies have started realizing the benefits that cloud products will bring to them. Cloud based logixERP offer benefits like Cost Advantage, Visibility into Cash Outflow, Quick Turnaround, Internal IT Operations Effectiveness etc.

Cloud products are giving company competitive advantages with their capability to analyse large data, communicate with multiple systems. As per the Study conducted by IBM. Companies adopting cloud products reporting nearly double the revenues and profit growth of those that are more cautious about using cloud.

Cloud promise a lot of innovation to Logistics industry. The Biggest advantage cloud products brings to logistics is “Connectivity”. Cloud solutions could bring full Supply-Chain to a single platform and easily take-away the chaos; manual intervention of multi-vendor/multi-department coordination. With Cloud the benefits are substantial. Cloud technology can enable better networking throughout an organization, as well as across supply chains. It can provide a higher level of connectivity and visibility – essential qualities for complex global operations.

3. Internet of things Associated with Logistics :

IOT in supply chain is a revolutionary innovation which is going to enhance productivity by gathering every object associated with supply chain including process, data, devices, sensors, people. Intellectual level of working will arrive through many ways when it takes place in SCM. It starts working from one end to another. IOT integration with LogixERP allows to automate the process and enhance visibility starting from warehouse to end user.

This changing scenario has been applied to enrich data and depth of intelligence, IOT helps in many ways such as :

• Control in asset loss. Identify product issues and develop a solution.
• Save fuel costs. Optimize fleet routes.
• Ensure temperature stability.
• Warehouse management. Monitor inventory to reduce out-of-stock situations.
• Gain user insight. Embedded sensors provide visibility into customer behavior and product usage.
• Training and development.

4. Augmented reality applied in SCM :

AR is technology that alters what the wearer sees in his/her reality by integrating with logixERP. Wearable AR technology has seen slower development and adoption. In the future, we will be seeing more of this technology in the workplace – with many AR commercial solutions already in development.

Let’s discuss how companies can apply augmented reality in supply chain. Here are some examples :

Order Picking : Traditionally, pickers receive a list of stuffs they are supposed to pick for an order by using an RF unit display or paper-based task list. With AR, the employee can keep his/her hands free to pick items also, as each item is picked, the technology verifies the correct product using bar codes scanner, and instructs the employee to the next most logical item to be picked. The employee can move faster, more efficiently and with greater accuracy.

Equipment Repair : AR can enhance employee knowledge and skills. If an employee needs additional guidance with repairs and the problem is beyond their capability, a more experienced person is called to come and do the job or train the individual to repair the equipment.

Safety & Quality : For quality control, a supervisor can see when an employee is fatigued and may not be accurately pulling defective material. Observations can be performed remotely to better analyse, document and improve processes without having to follow the employee, which may prove difficult in some environments. An employee could transmit video to their supervisor if they encounter difficulty so the supervisor could instantly see what the employee sees. Finally, it could be used as a monitoring system to drive employee accountability and identify opportunities for training and improvement.

Logistics process is typical yet can’t be ignored to have a concern of economic growth, if there is no logistics in the market business will get stuck. Essential elements towards country’s revenue generation will be stopped if transportation process cannot take place appropriately. Consumer goods and domestic trading cannot be a reason for provision of better life. Importing the goods and globalization should be inexpensive for people to access.

Logistics is likely to become an emerging industry in Africa having huge remunerative opportunities for Supply chain service providers across substantial infrastructure problems in the countries. Kenya and Nigeria’s logistics market is inclining towards high growth for reasons like high local trading, expansion and diversification of international demands by domestic consumers.

Nowadays logistics market with multiple players has become much competitive and it is no longer facilitated to buy the right goods at the right cost. Retailers must also get them to the right place at the right cost, in the right amount with the right operational costs. Doing this it necessarily requires an understanding of logistics and cost reducing IT solution that will allow you to deliver the goods to your customers most cost effectively.

For the first time report regarding Nigerian supply chain and specific data accumulation of logistics and transportation has been released in early 2016. Report contains target areas, economic performance of the logistics services, competition within logistics industry, logistics and supply chain volume and growth in domestic and international market. Report stated about identification of gaps for the improvement of logistics infrastructure and in this regards, the efficiency of the clearance process, time estimation of transshipment, freight cost.

1. Why struggling to incipient better supply chain system?

These high costs create significant impact on the people living in the region. The World Bank estimates that logistics cost account for 40% of consumer prices in East Africa that is figuratively 250 million people, many of whom are already living in severe poverty, who are paying more for food, household goods and healthcare products. Added to this are the large numbers of small business owners unable to grow their companies because of the high overheads connected with distributing or sourcing their goods.

Any companies based on services or products, transportation is necessary to expand but in these countries transportation has become biggest restrain towards the growth of business. Business can not expand because of no technical resources and high operational cost which results no internal growth in the country. Time is the biggest factor in transportation and logistics, giving less taking time service raise the demand of the service, its not like there is no demand from the side of country’s citizens. In an average it takes more than 6 hours to travel 100 KMs. E-commerce business has been emerging indubitably but only in urban areas increasing e-commerce demand has shown where as 46% country’s population is still reside in rural areas.

The biggest challenge of an average Supply Chain manager in Nigeria is the absence of data to work with. This had created a situation where they are left to the mercy of circumstances. Logistics is more about numbers than stories which makes data the king that makes it possible for managers to take good decisions. Data driven logistic systems bring several unique benefits for companies supply chain process as it enables organizations to fully understand their supply chain thoroughly and stay ahead of their competitors.

Eg: If any delivery is to be done across 5 KMs then transporters charge premium cost from the customers. E-commerce business also limited for specific regions, now if someone orders something worth of 5$ then delivery charge comes along with extra 4-5 $ thus it takes away the interest of people towards e-commerce business or any other transportation which results no trading and revenue. Transport companies can not assign delivery person to distribute goods for wide area because of less resources available and poor infrastructure.

2. Progress of rising opportunities :

East Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Some estimate that there is up to $68 billion of projects under construction in the region, ranging from civil engineering and infrastructure to resource development.

A new pilot program clears much of the red tape for companies bringing cargo in through the Port of Mombasa in Kenya. The port can now clear incoming cargo seven days in advance. The new program was created to increase efficiency at the port, and to support integration of the East Africa Community initiative, which aims to reduce cost and transit times for freight, and promote trade in the region.

Manufacturers should benefit the most from the program because they can clear their raw materials in advance, and haul them off immediately once they arrive at the port. Even if cargo isn’t picked up right away, the program awards domestic cargo four free storage days, and transit cargo nine free days.

The market is open for first movers who can navigate risk and nurture African talent. The opportunity is for those seeking to build long-term, sustainable businesses that bring world-class practices and adapt to local conditions. Africa’s requirement for logistics services and supply chain expertise is huge and growing every day.

A particularly surprising statistic is that Kenya is the third-largest emerging market air export trade lane by tonnage, exceeding not just its continental competitors such as South Africa and Nigeria.

With increasing scopes countries should bring up new technological resources and improve infrastructure which should include improved route mapping, warehouse management, fleet management including tyre management, vehicle tracking, fuel management, documentation and auditing, monitor shipment movement, live tracking, digital signatory receiving and confirmation, accounting, client care, on field delivery person automation.

Ex: South Africa has been ahead of Kenya and Nigeria in logistics industry because of implementing new generation technological solution and maintain a good infrastructure which help them to provide cost effective services.

Summary :

Kenya is among the top-four countries in Africa with the biggest economic growth promise over the next five years, a new survey of global logistics executives shows. The highest growth will be seen in Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, and Uganda followed by south Africa. Among all African countries largest and most breakthrough in logistics market at worth of 3 billion $, will reach compound growth annually at a rate of more than 4 percent.

Logistics solution to be called green for the prospective approaches towards increasing energy efficiency, productivity, safety society in terms of transportation or distribution of goods with lesser operational cost. More precisely attention held on to the process optimization by implementing technology begin from packaging, inventory, transshipment, warehousing, delivery of goods.

How many logistics service providers think about preparing an Eco-friendly environment of providing services that is undefined but they are yet to completely develop a proper green logistics work flow through which reduce cost of freight, fast delivery and client satisfaction would have maintained.

Despite spreading awareness about the environment friendly logistics services companies strive to maintain such work flow for competition and fast pace of business. While demand raises and business begin growing only thing need to necessarily meet is effective service, now issues turn up to follow the usual procedure to set up Eco-friendly environment when companies try to reduce environmental impacts in terms of its transportation’s infrastructure, modes, and traffic flows. Let’s discuss points of implementing strategies with an objective to reduce cost and improve service.

An unresolved issue seems to be reliability, if companies are likely to go for Eco-friendly transportation mode which would be least reliable in terms of providing last mile delivery services, lack of damages and safety.

Timing is a primary point of every logistics system, service count on time and reducing time and improving services having such environmental factors is a real challenge. Recently money for service value has been acknowledged and encouraged in mostly urban areas such as door-to-door services and just-in-time services are preferably implemented in the market which in return lead to an increase in environmental impacts. These sort of demands require heavy vehicle transportation or air transportation which burn fuel results pollution and high cost.

Logistics companies are putting effort to reduce cost by reducing inventories where warehouse charges and maintenance can be curbed. However, this strategy also yields more transit inventories and more use of vehicles on road, thus producing more pollution, traffic congestion, transition cost.

In courier/e-com company’s delivery boy transits by motor cycles generally to deliver multiple packages at different destination in minimal time now the challenges or risks that delivery person faces while delivery are invalid address, in availability, traffic congestion, shipment allocation, return goods or commodity exchange.

Companies are looking forward to come across challenges having breakthrough different strategies after every interval, Strategy implementations should commence at the origin point of transportation and through the entire transhipment process should be considered till delivery to the receiver.

Example: Now if companies hire third party suppliers for regional delivery and to reduce cost where suppliers will procure and load goods in the truck for delivery, here another issue raise that neither sender can co-ordinate to track live movement of the packages, trace about loss or damages of the packages nor receiver can get the status of expected delivery.

Distance to be covered shortly and for express delivery air transportation is requisite and now when co-loaders load goods in the bags or packages they load up as per locations but while doing that there is no trace of individual packages and even they also can’t provide any figurative data about that now if if a manufacturer dispatch multiple packages and receiver claim loss of goods then no body among them would figure out because there are no implications on the performance of co-loaders.

How the strategic implementation would give a fruitful result?

• Efficient packing with IC tag solution through movement of every packages can be monitored.
• Route optimization to alert about traffic congestion, mapping, automatic allocations and navigate an easy reach.
• Infographic demonstration and space estimation using technology and record of current and past inventory.
• Bar code scanning and record information of packages according to individual loaded or to be loaded vehicle.
• Tyre management, fuel rate management, tracking of vehicle and drive tracing for better fleet management.
• Mobility solution for delivery person and other field boys to co-ordinate, execute and update status from anywhere.
• Monitor physical item velocity within a warehouse and suggest optimal pick and put-away locations. ensuring incidents and replenishment are correctly and quickly resolved.

As mentioned earlier, maintaining green logistics can yield lower environmental impacts but it will require a substantial amount of research, planning. There are number of challenges which will appear and can affect service performance and logistics costs while implementing. However, a reduction in environmental impacts is beneficial to all consumers and green logistics should be at the basic level of developing logistics business.

The economy which has be-come more information rigorous, global, techno- logically sensitive is going through remarkable changes. Manufacturing in India is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR of 9.5 percent. But presently, India loses $65 billion every year due to losses incurred by supply chain systems. This is where the need for a reliable and quality logistics solution lies, Headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, LogixGRID has been bring-ing in the might of cloud computing and the mobility of mobile platform to the supply chain industry using its innovative solutions. With prime focus in real time results, connectivity and visibility, LogixGRID is setting a bench-mark.

LogixGRID comprises of individuals having exceptional insight into the logistics industry. It includes people who have earned their decade plus experiences from companies like Google, Cisco and Juniper. Putting together the combined experiences in various fields, the company provides cutting-edge ERP and mobility solutions to its clients. LogixERP is India’s first Cloud based logistics ERP which is a turnkey pro-solution designed keeping in mind the logistics requirement of road, rail and air logistics irrespective of the platform. Field employees can easily access the necessary shipment data since LogixERP comes with number of mobile applications. The mobile application runs on Mobile & Rugged hand-held devices.

When it comes to retail sales activities, the product, ClobzSales, provides sales force automation system that enables companies to track their sales representative’s (SR) daily activities. It takes care of complete end-to-end order management and prevents customers from getting into any kind of confusion.

To handle the second big concern of the clients, that is, field activity monitoring, LogixGRID has launched the product Orion. Orion is designed to empower manufacturers and distributors to manage sale and distribution. To be precise, Orion brings Big-Data Analytics to field jobs (Pickup, Delivery, Service, Payment Collection, Invoicing) that allows organizations to optimize field operations in such a way that they can better utilize equipment, manpower, cut costs and eventually improve customer service.

By leveraging their proficiency inlogistics, LogixGRID has acquired Clients amongst India are leading sites- pepperfry.com, amazon in, shopclucs. Corn, koovs.com -including other international clients namely- Acker wines, RaceTrac Petroleum Inc., and Karma Healthcare Ltd. “Our ERP distinguishes itself by being a cloud based SaaS product, Every client is having a separate virtual environment available to him where the reporting will customize as per his requirement. So he has a sort of personal software”, says Gurcharan Singh, Founder, LogixGRID.

LogixGrid has put the pedal-to-the-metal and are headed towards transforming the supply chain into a fully integrated logistics environment by providing top notch end-to-end logistics to the company right from the order collection —through the warehouse management (inventory)—to the final delivery of the product to the customers.

Reference

The logistics industry is being compelled to invest in technology and value added services to cope with customer pressure for better service and lowering the price while competition.

But the result or return of investment has not been found fruitful comparatively so far, the confidence in the entire logistics industry has dropped to a four-year low.

Despite the drop in confidence, companies are using both technology and value added services to retain existing clients and attract new business but question rise again; What drastic change of growth has seen with that investment?

Most of the IT companies offer best of best solutions indubitably, technology leaps double steps overnight but up growing technology should mean much about good results and benefits out of the technology. Every IT companies are preferably going ahead with Hi-tech solutions but despite having less labour and resource costs it puts a hamper on affordability for the customers.

New invention is appreciable but creativity behind any inventions get attained when it is being applied socially. Nowadays an average transport software would cost around 1 lac rupees if it is on single user based under a subscription model, IT companies roll out pay models looking at the structure and business volume of the logistics or transport companies.

A general IT company charge cost for TMS / Logistics software or ERP :

• Server cost
• Software cost
• Deployment cost
• Upgradation cost
• Service cost
• Customization cost
• Integration

Now focusing on small enterprises or start-up companies who look forward to contribute into logistics industry cannot be encouraged in this situation and if they afford also they cannot taste the profit for next decade because of high software maintenance and high market competition.

If a software helped to manage reduce manpower and provide impressive functionality to improve business, then small firm owners would have managed to balance the financial level and satisfied to handle a business with high profit and low labour numbers.

Software companies do business in their leagues but Logistics and transport company owners who purchase this software should be very thrifty while purchasing. A software should be encouraging to be recognized as a route to both control costs and improve service levels and investment in this area is a key trend for the sector.

A transport software has many things to boost an existing business and bring up new opportunities for the companies. A good TMS software would get upper management support to make a clear and extensive list of requirements before looking at the vendors. A cloud based TMS or Logistics software would have been easily integrated along with mobility solutions because convenience is a prime factor for today’s business.

Customization is not only writing and testing the code for initial implementation, but providing long-term support of the custom code and treating any customizations as exceptions every time you upgrade your software.

While investing money on software nobody would think much but it should be knowing that a good TMS software carries modules to provide the entire solution required to run logistics business such as invoicing, pick up, transhipment, fleet, warehousing, delivery, documentation, auditing, sales force, customer service.

One of the most common mistakes made by companies during ERP implementation is spending significant time, energy and money selecting the right software, upon such conditions not only small enterprises but also mediocre companies with existing business will have to break for a while perhaps after certain time of adjustment and endurance they will get good result but system should be implemented for “driving business” not for “a pause and then driving business.”

Logixgrid Technologies Pvt Ltd offers solutions for all type of logistics and transportation service providers with an objective to provide the best solution at the most economical cost which gives opportunities to expand business in future, over many years of observation and experience Logixgrid developed logixERP solution which claims to be the most advanced, wide and effective software for logistics and transportations.

Five KPI for a Logistics company as put-forward in various research papers & market study are :

• On-Time Receiving : LogixERP pickup management module comes with various interfaces using which customer can give pickup requests – Your company website; Call to your customer-care; Your company’s mobile app. All pickup requests received are manage and track from a centralized dashboard. Module, could even auto-assign the pickup to specific pickup boy based on the allocated area. Every pickup request is also auto-pushed to pickup boy mobile phone and pickup boy using his mobile app could confirm the pickup status. During the whole pickup process customer is always kept informed via SMS messages; auto-sends from LogixERP on every key actions.
• On-Time shipping and delivery : On-time shipping require faster and accurate segregation of shipments received. LogixERP, operation module allows faster In-Scan of shipments and further segregation of them based on destination or transportation mode (Air, Railyway, Road). The delivery system, helps you to create faster delivery-run sheet. Using MobiDelivery mobile application delivery boy could use his mobile phone to update delivery from the delivery point. Mobile app also allows to capture receiver signature on delivery.
• Order Accuracy : LogixERP, provides checks and options to increase your order accuracy at every point in operation. Shipment movement (In-Scan, Out-Scan) is integrated with bar-code scanning. Orders are auto-segregated based on their destination, product, customer, etc reducing chances of human error. LogixERP comes with various operation dashboard & reports providing live reporting of inventory.
• Inventory Accuracy : Warehousing module comes integrated with LogixERP, which ensure you always have full control on your inventory. Inventory of various warehouses could easily be monitored from a centralized location and accurate decision could be taken.
• Accurate Invoicing : Accurate invoicing is only possible if the contract or rate master is in-compliance with the customer agreement. LogixERP, rate master provide tools to define rates based on various parameters. The advance in-built rule-engine will ensure that rates are correctly computed based on the configured terms. The invoicing system gives you exact reports on your outstanding payment. LogixERP, provide you option to design invoice formats client-wise – You can give invoices in different design formats to different clients, generated in PDF or Excel.

Achieving high ranking on these 5 KPIs, Logistic company can secure client’s confidence and loyalty. Carefully, analyzing these KPI points you could realize that these KPIs are more related to efficient management of daily processes of a logistic company. Hence, if existing processes are empirically managed and tracked properly till individual activity/action level a logistic company could easily achieve all its key API – Seems to be an easy Task! Though, anyone who is part of logistic business could easily confirm that its not as easy as its looks to be. Majority of these processes are perform manually and are hard to track and their quality is dependent on the individual performing them.

Logistic software had made great advancement in recent years. With the coming of Cloud Computing & Mobile devices various innovative solutions are now available with logistic company to manage its operation using computer/mobile which otherwise would require manual intervention.

LogixERP, is a Cloud ERP designed for logistic companies. The ERP comes with number of mobile application which enable field workforce to be always connected with the system and all their activities are directly update in the system. How LogixERP could support you in achieving your KPIs.

Since you are reading this whitepaper you must be looking for the best way to connect with your customers, providing convenient and effective service eventually retain them for longer and maintain a large customer network.

Acquiring a new client is as easy as hard to maintain them but competition in the market make both the things tougher because everyone wants to be the best if it is about convincing customers about giving best service or retaining customers with customer satisfaction.

E-commerce business has been turned out to be the most emerging business in few recent years. Sales through internet is increasing at a higher rate than traditional offline retail sales. As the way technology is taking part to drive business either by providing first-rate customer service or sharp edge operations, it is to be surely said that e-commerce sector will rule in the competitive market.

1. Reasons of driving E-commerce :

Most number of investors are showing interest on internet business rather than traditional business method. Online payment method and modern wave of logistics have made internet business much easier.

Consumers are seeking for service as a priority, no-body wants to waste time and go for shopping in a mall or any traditional market place. In urban areas consumers prefer everything to be done online because tight schedule and conveyance. A general consumer would think “I will go to visit a new place with familyrather than wasting time” or “why should we go out across traffic on the road and waste fare”.

Entrepreneurs are heading up to serve everything online having a knowledge about gathering more consumers on one platform at the same time and more profitability. Where they seem indifferent to do traditional store based retail business. And the same retail business gets driven when it comes online. Looking at the changing trend of shifting everything on smart phone, increasing use of internet and consumers need, E-commerce future can be estimated to be grown rapidly in near future.

As a result of recent research “Shopping 2020” conducted by the task group, it showed that the number of parcels are increasing annually with a stunning 18% on average.

2. Challenges faced by e-Commerce logistics :

While e-commerce offers online retailers a bucket of opportunities and that result reflects by their dedicative service and customer satisfaction which is a prominent vision of logistics. Few companies who are not likely to manage their own logistics and turn to third party providers to function from first mile pick up to last mile delivery and here data integration can differ the service quality.

All picking areas are connected with intelligent conveyor system in order to avoid or minimize any manual transport operation and needs for order consolidation due to pick-to-order conceptOther E-commerce companies who run own logistics they focus to make better control and accuracy of delivery – Quality service is like providing a service looking after customer patience and error tolerance. Now no customer will tolerate to receive a wrong consignment. If a customer orders a shirt and he gets a frock, then that customer will never keep any future expectation form that company.

To fight with the completion many E-commerce companies are offering free shipping services to the customers under some conditions and that suggests, logistics system for the companies should be highly reliable and economical to meet that service implemented appropriately.

A good service can be better when it creates expectations for the customers and accordingly in order to meet those expectation services also need to be upgraded. Customers seek for more visibilities and this expectation will turn in such way that just after placing order they will expect to receive shipment within next 2-3 hours irrespective of areas.

While providing the E-commerce logistics service certain unpredicted challenges appears which leads to loss of time and money for the companies such as reverse logistics. Customer will not accept any damaged/broken or undesired goods and obviously they will return it to the company so this will result a loss with much effort.

3. Technology can ameliorate E-com logistics :

Seamlessly integrated technology where shopping carts connect via API, web xml or some other connection to a logistics system so shoppers are getting the exact time of delivering the product once order gets placed.

Using new age logistics solution, e-com logistics service has improved in a good extent, logistics software companies are striving to neutralize the challenges seen in logistics and concept of data integration, customization has changed the scenario and enables 3PL logistics business.

Logistics solution such as logixERP is being able to organize and track shipment no matter in which mode shipment is moving and this service has fascinated and won the customers attention and faith towards E-shopping.

Where order management gets harder to control in big e-commerce companies and number of multitude documents becomes a challenge to maintain, now using cloud based logixERP E-commerce companies have been able to give order status online and process documents like invoice and freight service bill, warranty with a click of a button.

For better customer service technology has proved its importance in logistics industries especially in a modern trading like E-commerce industries. New logistics software reflects the future aspects of satisfying customers and improve logistics service across the globe. LogixERP tool work automatically starting from auto reminding payments, online alerts, every single movement of shipment, auto refunding status via messaging or emails.

More than half of top most global companies are situated in Africa which is rapidly changing the current situation of African Business. The Continent abruptly has become the prime destination for multinational companies to functionalize their operation. Recently the government’s approach and many large entities has been involved to improve the logistics infrastructure in the states which in result captivated the existing companies to expand their business and branch out regionally from one African country to another. As the projects for infrastructures and policy improvements has been undertaken, in no time FMCG, Retails, E-commerce, Pharmaceutical industry have been seen to grow in the states of African Countries, howbeit E-commerce industry has been heading up with a greater pace in the African market, Since the logistics infrastructure is being slightly challenged in the African Countries, E-commerce sector is yet to be placed where it would be. Certainly the mobile phone users in Africa has been immensely increased in numbers more than 500 million where it was taken 20 years to connect 100 million and attracted 200 million more users in just next 3 years which turned a massive upshot for internet business scopes of internet business.

1. Challenges are not challenges but opportunities :

Africa’s potential as open source and newly developing market having natural resources and invitation to the new players on the board for business will surely portray a big screen of earning for the logistic service providers. Moreover increased data connectivity, mobile financial services and data usage of smartphones will boost up audience on e-commerce platform but as sweet it sounds as that hard to be successful in the exploitative market of Africa. Big private entities will quite smoothly pass through the current phases of the continent despite may not be having the international level of services or may have to follow a constructive process nonetheless they also bang onto few challenges such as –

• Political reform
• Cross border
• Massive shortfall of infrastructure
• Forging the right partnership in the local market
• Implementation of technologies due to integration and local support

Scenario has been rapidly changing in the on-going market with Government’s support and their flexible policies to attract foreign direct investments. Recently around 50 billion $ has been sanctioned by African development bank to develop the road map, here the mission of developing logistics infrastructure does not get stopped. There are numerous uplifting domestic industries has put their effort to build a streamline logistics network even ‘World Bank’ invest more than 90 billion $ every year to narrow the infrastructure gap in Africa.

All the major problems apparently have been taken into account and government’s provision along with domestic trading growth ensure African market a booming opportunity for the logistics and e-commerce industrial. Political party is about to be stabilized, one stop border pass has been incorporated to move the goods to the different countries of Africa but the implementation of technologies suppose to be done according to time and specifically for the different states of the African countries.

Startup companies at the initial stage confront some obvious challenges in African Countries and these undefined challenges could have been optimized only by applying next generation logistics solution. Following observed factors are the key reasons for stagnant African internet business, especially e-commerce sector.

Distrust : Rich Africans have yet to embrace online shopping, due to online fraud. In Nigeria, for example, where phishing is common, people are skeptical about putting their credentials online. Some of the companies offer cash-on-delivery to mitigate this challenge.

Logistics : In Africa, it’s more complicated with non functioning postal systems. Online businesses operate delivery motorbikes, which increase the cost of doing business there.

Fragmented markets : For all the efforts to make Africa appear as one market, it is not. A company has to set up country-specific sites because of barriers from cross-border payments, languages, cultural differences, and other factors.

African open market : In Africa, there are “markets” everywhere. There are open markets, supermarkets, and even unemployed youth selling things at traffic stops in major cities. An e-commerce company must beat these entities on prices to be competitive.

2. Technological Approach :

For Last few years Africa has been welcoming several Technological Approaches but the growing challenges in order to match the standard of a developed logistics infrastructure and services with low cost is yet to be resolved apparently. To identify and streamline a gap in a growing market leading logistics service providers is prominently maintaining a close link to cloud based logistics solution. A  huge change towards successful scenario has been spotted in Phonace Delivery Service, Nigeria who implemented cloud based LogixERP to cop up with such current challenges.

Integrated modules and next generation tools enable monitoring system for Geo tagging of locations where actual delivery or pickup happens. Modern logistics solution provides real time tracking system not only to the sellers but the consumers also to track shipment until it reaches to the destination.

Since Africa’s complex logistics requirement encompasses multiple logistics vendors to move goods from one region to different, data may get processed in different varieties and blur the transparency between service providers and customers. Technology can bring multiple vendors together in a way where they will be able to exchange data and work in a synchronized manner.

Eg: Shipment is booked from Nairobi by Company A, Moved to Mombasa through a Bus Fleet company B. Delivered locally in Mombasa by bikers associated with Company C and all of them are hooked to each other so if customers track the package on a website they will be able to get full information.

Big contributors to e-commerce industries of Africa have assimilated Cash On Delivery (COD) system to carry out the logistics service into a next level. New technology can make it possible to collect the cash at remote areas after delivery or allow customers to deposit cash in local banks and account personnel from miles of distance will be able to realize payments with an updated receipt and electronic signature from the customers as a receiving receipt would have been a forwarding step.

Eg: E-commerce giant Amazon.com has turned this idea on to build a strong base of logistics service.

Nowadays wave of logistics is counting on Mobile applications. Easy and convenient use is about to twist the current logistics scenario of Africa. Accessibility has proved its worth especially in the remote areas and small cities where people would think twice to travel, Arriving technological applications in such areas is sufficiently compatible to manage delivery system through just a mobile application allowing delivery person in these areas to receive the package and update their delivery.

Warehouse management has been a big challenge in Africa since independence. The continent has many borders between the countries, WMS for every centralized logistics providers becomes hard to maintain with increasing number of warehouses. Technology boons logistics providers to move packages securely through Scanning process at every point. Inflow and Outflow of packages get scanned and verified against the system to ensure no wrong package move out of the facility. Next generation cloud logistics solution LogixERP auto communicate intimate SMS to customers regarding pick up vehicle details. Warehouse management has its easy access through LogixERP including management of Goods Receipt, Purchase Order, Customer Return, Invoicing and above possible approaches.

Summary :

Uplifting and fastest growing African market is highly profitable and opportunistic for small, medium and large logistics and eCommerce industries but to take a control on current challenges, innovation is highly important since huge amount of economical support is provided by different sources just technological approach is awaited. It’s time to take a high leap towards success using LogixERP specifically integrated for African market.