The Essential Features of an ideal Logistics Mobile Application!

Posted by Parija Rangnekar On Filed under Mobile App Development, Transportation No Comments
The Essential Features of an ideal Logistics Mobile Application!
The logistics industry, being the backbone of trading, plays a crucial role in boosting a country’s economy. The major factors that determine the success of a logistics company are precision and promptness. Therefore, it has been observed that leading logistics enterprises utilize smart and automated mobile app solutions to eliminate human errors and maintain the desired standards.
Mobile logistics apps are indeed powerful tools that boost efficiency and streamline the workflow. They help in replacing the traditional methodologies that are not only time-consuming but also lack efficiency. The key functions of Logistics Mobile Apps are:
  • Efficient fleet management via tracking of routes
  • Supervision of a vehicle’s location via GPS
  • Tracking of cargo employing smart technologies such as RFID, NFC, etc.
  • Booking of clients’ parcels or cargo
  • Managing stocks and warehouses
So, looking at these indispensable advantages, you should be thinking of building a robust logistics app. But before hiring mobile app developers for architecting a profitable logistics application for your business, you must know the essential features of such an app.
This article enlists the must-have features of a competent Logistics Mobile App. Let’s get started.

The Must-have Features and Functionalities of a Logistics Mobile app

GPS-enabled tracking of vehicles and their drivers

GPS-enabled tracking notifies the owner or managers about every move of the driver and the vehicle’s location in real-time. So, the managers can effortlessly supervise whether a specific vehicle is operating according to the pre-decided schedule or whether the driver is on-time or is running late. This way, the managers come to know about the exact arrival time of drivers, based on which they can assign the next task. Thus, GPS tracking ensures efficient time-management.

Prior planning of routes

If the drivers are allowed to select the route, they might end up choosing a longer route, which may cause a delay in the delivery time and raise fuel costs. So, the logistic management software in the app should offer the feature that calculates the shortest path and then assigns a pre-planned route to a particular trip. Syncing this functionality with digital maps is advisable to provide accurate directions to drivers. Owing to this feature drivers are bound to take the pre-planned route thereby saving time and fuel costs. Furthermore, combining this functionality with first tracking will allow you to monitor whether they are complying with the desired route or not. Click here to know more about route optimization.

Drivers’ Daily Log Schedule

The drivers’ daily log feature records the daily log information of drivers. This information comprises the distance traveled, the total number of deliveries and pickups in a day, working hours, number of road trips made by a driver, etc. These records prove useful to drivers and employers unanimously.

Notifications displaying the nearest Support Center during Emergencies

Quite often drivers encounter problems such as shortage of fuel and vehicle breakdowns while their trips. So, the fleet owners must devise a strategy to deal with such emergencies. Wouldn’t it be great if logistics apps have a feature to locate the nearest available fuel stations and vehicle repair shops? Well, this is a standard feature that a logistics mobile app must have. This feature provides information about the nearest gas stations, repair shops, and towing services along with their contact numbers to the drivers. It also notifies the drivers about the fuel levels and sends fuel shortage warning signs in advance.

Offline Support

Logistics business apps, particularly those dealing with supply chain management, involve tracking information of drivers, traveling routes, and vehicles. As such, these apps are likely to encounter connectivity woes or entire loss of connectivity in some areas. Therefore, the presence of offline support is essential so that the app is functional regardless of the location or connectivity. The drivers should be able to execute tasks like entering data, using GPS, updating the status of assignments, etc. anywhere, anytime.

Support for Multiple Languages

The multiple language support feature is desirable specifically on the drivers’ side of the logistics mobile application. This is because drivers hail from diverse backgrounds and are generally well-versed in their respective local languages. So, an app that can be operated in their local language will help them to fully utilize the app, thereby reducing the challenges encountered while traveling.

Other impressive features

  • Features that facilitate booking appointments with clients save time, and efforts. Such a feature allows the clients to self-service, wherein the clients can view your calendar and choose the free slots available.
  • Certain apps offer a chat function for communicating with the fleet via images and text messages.
  • Cloud-based features to optimize inventory help in forecasting and planning the inventory accordingly. They also detect obsolete and excessive stock levels.

Final Words:

These remarkable features of logistics mobile apps save a lot of time, effort, and expenses needed to manage the workflow of a logistics company. Apart from these must-have functionalities, businesses may also include certain on-demand features during mobile app development that meet the specific requirements of their drivers and customers.
If you would like to hire proficient mobile app developers for building an on-demand logistics mobile app for your business; Biz4Solutions, a distinguished mobile app development company is worth a try. Our team of expert professionals has 9 + years of experience in crafting customized software solutions for our global clientele. For any technical assistance or queries reach us at sales.enquiry@biz4solutions.com

Top Benefits and Key Features of a Proficient Inventory Management System!

Posted by Parija Rangnekar On Filed under Transportation 1 Comment
Top Benefits and Key Features of a Proficient Inventory Management System!
Offshore software development company in India
Just imagine!
A businessman is trying to run his business without knowing how much the stock in the inventory is, or the workers do not know the where-about of the product when there is a sale or an urgent requirement from any client. Or even worse, the products are being stolen by someone and there isn’t any record of it. What do you think will be the results in the long term? Losing the customers to a competitor? Ruining the relationship with clients? Incurring huge monetary losses? Or maybe all of these! Well, all these inherent issues can be resolved by businesses if they embrace an inventory management system.
The significance of such a system is monumental as it helps the businesses to track the inventory levels, track sales, orders, and distributions smartly thereby reducing the business losses. IoT is one of the key technologies being used widely in such systems – IoT in scanning the inventory using RFID, IoT in transportation and Logistics, etc. So, in this blog, to get a fair idea, we have outlined the advantages and key features of a technology-smart inventory management system.

Why the Need for an Inventory Management System?

  • High transparency and visibility of product levels
  • Preventing stock-outs and overstocks
  • Minimization of capital investment
  • Enhancement in business operations and workflows
  • Accurate inventory tracking
  • Getting rid of paper-based and spreadsheet tracking
  • Appropriate planning of inventory balance
  • Better warehouse management and utilization of warehouse space
  • Time-saving due to automatic inventory and order management
  • Cost-cutting by reducing manual labor intervention
  • Increased efficiency of payment/billing details
  • Improved relationships with vendors and clients
  • Improved employee efficiency
  • Enhanced inventory turnover and thus, better revenues

Top-notch Features of a Smart Inventory Management System!

Inventory Management System
Check out the essential features of an ideal inventory management software.
  1. Real-time Visibility of Inventory: A smart inventory management system must ensure that all the items in the inventory are under real-time visibility. Every item entering or leaving the warehouse must be tracked and this data should be stored digitally.
  2. Monitoring levels of Inventory: An effective system must allow proper management of orders, raise alarms when inventory drops below a threshold limit or exceeds it. This feature allows decision-makers to take necessary actions like ordering fresh inventory, avoiding excessive stocking, etc.
  3. Barcode Scanning: A barcode is a machine-readable code used for stock management and control. Barcode scanning is a must-have feature for easy identification of products, labeling, and sorting into categories.
  4. RFID-based Tracking: RFID-based inventory tracking and control allows real-time and automated tracking of the inventory. Hundreds of tags can be read simultaneously making the process much faster and cost-effective. RFID technology is also capable of sending alarms and alerts in case of emergencies.
  5. Advanced Reporting: An inventory management system should provide accurate insights on factors like stock management, sales, purchase, suppliers, customers, payments, etc. Reports of transactions, inventory totals, order details, etc. are mandatory for ensuring efficient workflows, and for augmenting efficacy. This feature helps to monitor the progress in the sales and understand which product is in high demand and which isn’t.
  6. Tracking Transaction History: This is an absolutely essential feature. All the inventory-related details right from the receipt to shipment of the inventory must be tracked and stored. Details like the number of products, receipt dates, expiration dates, shipping dates, etc. must be saved and should be easily accessible by the concerned personnel whenever required.
  7. Management of Multiple Warehouses: A single system should allow the management of multiple warehouses that may be located at different locations. This feature is especially relevant to companies that operate across multiple locations.
  8. Grouping of Inventory: Grouping of the material according to its specification, size, components, etc. into predefined categories is another important feature. It enhances the inventory organization.
  9. Easily Configurable: A good inventory system should be able to be configurable with different business entities easily and be successfully employed without much customization.
  10. Easy Integrations with External Systems: System should be able to integrate with third-party ERP systems or a Warehouse Management System or Shipping companies with ease. A company may also want to integrate other systems for data analytics, corporate accounting, planning, etc. in the inventory management system which should be easily possible.
  11. Forecasting Demand: This feature allows extracting the past data to identify the demand in the future; which in turn helps to make pro-active business decisions, build good relationships with customers, and boosts sales.
  12. Security Features and Backups: It isn’t a good idea to invest in an inventory system without knowing about its security measures. To ensure high data security, there should be security features that allow only authorized people or give partial rights to access the data. This would prevent the system from any data misuse or data leakages. Also, there should be daily backups available. So, in case you lose the data to a third-party hack, or any other threat, you will be able to start the operations again without much trouble.
  13. Receiving alerts: This feature allows the alerts and notifications about the receiving, picking, shipping, of the inventory, or when inventory is running low or there is overstocking of inventory.
  14. PDF Printing: The inventory management system must be able to create or print PDF documents related to invoices, packing slips, shipping labels, quality control documents, etc. and such related documents.
  15. Import/Export of Data: This is another advantageous feature of this system. It should be able to import data with ease to reduce data entry work and streamline mass changes. The System should be able to export data like shipment lists, inventory item lists, master data of vendors, customers, etc.

Final Words:

When a business relies on traditional ways of inventory management, there are chances that data could be inconsistent or inaccurate. These ways are prone to human errors which could cause huge monetary losses at times and adversely affect business growth. Also, there could be security issues in them. A smart inventory management system embedded with the above features has ample advantages over traditional systems. It has impacted several businesses across the globe.
Would you like to develop such a system for streamlining your business? Contact Biz4Solutions, a prominent offshore software development company in India and U.S.A., for crafting a smart inventory management system customized as per your needs.
I hope this blog was helpful. Please feel free to comment below to let us know your thoughts on this.
For any queries, mail us at sales.enquiry@biz4solutions.com