Locus for Retail: Seamless On-ground Visibility for Dispatch Managers

Visibility is key to success in any business. Imagine if dispatch managers are not aware of what’s happening on-ground on their own floor! They have to manually contact resources to get updates on everything, which is pain that increases with scale.

According to research, only 6% of companies across the globe report full supply chain visibility. That’s a concerning number. However, this study included only 623 companies, which could be medium or small scale to enterprise-level businesses.

With more retailers popping up at every corner of the globe due to increased demand for shopping, especially online, it is imperative that these companies evaluate the visibility aspect of their supply chain/logistics to drive positive business outcomes.

One of the biggest visibility challenges is on-ground operations, which is a critical part for a successful delivery. Not being able to get real time updates on what is happening on ground is a nightmare for any dispatch manager.

Let’s look at a few challenges that you as a supply chain/logistics leader can resonate with:

• No bird’s eye view of entire on-ground operation: Visibility on vehicle, driver, and real time execution aren’t available for dispatchers at a single glance.
  
• No way to monitor drivers in real-time: Once the orders are assigned to vehicles/orders, older systems can’t effectively track driver arrival, departure, idle time in real time. This is essential to compare planned vs executed for better business outcomes.
  
• No way to monitor route and SLA breaches: Legacy systems don’t have a built-in geofencing feature that sends notifications to dispatchers about any route deviations by drivers. Neither can they spot factors like peak traffic, rains, blockades, etc which can hinder SLAs.
  
• Manual Delivery Recognition: Another major concern for dispatchers is proof of delivery. To make sure his quota for the day is complete, driver might notify the dispatcher saying he has delivered the order, but in reality he hasn’t and is on his way triggering a notification that the order is delivered when it’s not.

These challenges will not only hurt customer experience, but also stifle revenue growth for retailers. What’s the solution?

Artificial Intelligence in Supply Chain and Logistics

Technology has been at the forefront of innovation around the world for multiple industries and supply chain and logistics isn’t an exception. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) fueling tech innovation, seamless retail logistics operations is a reality. Locus is one of those platforms that is fueling innovation in retail. Why and how?

• Bird’s eye view of all logistics operations: With Locus’AI driven control tower module, dispatchers can get a holistic view of vehicles, drivers, routes across all miles of fulfillment on a single dashboard.

• Track Resource in real time: Control Tower can provide full visibility to dispatchers on driver arrival, idle, and departure time and any stops throughout the trip.

• Monitor SLA and Route breaches seamlessly: With Locus’ AI driven Order to Delivery retail logistics platform, dispatchers can gain real-time visibility on every vehicle, and built in features like geofencing can send notifications to dispatchers about any route deviations. Dispatchers can immediately notify and communicate with drivers to reroute or to enquire on route deviations.

• Delivery Recognition: With Locus AI driven Order to Delivery retail logistics software, dispatchers also get a smart driver application that can verify delivery with digital signature of the customer and with pictures uploaded directly to the app and then reflected in the Order Management System for dispatchers to verify. The application also supports multi format delivery recognition where industry specific formats are readily available.

Visibility is a critical aspect for dispatchers to enable seamless delivery experience for customers. Getting end-to-end visibility on vehicle and driver activity, as well as orders at every level, to make decisions in real-time, all from a single system seamlessly, is a key goal for dispatchers.

However, seamless on-ground visibility isn’t possible without implementing cutting edge technology.

Locus has helped brands like Croma, Lulu Group International, Nestle and many others optimize logistics operations and drive revenue growth. Speak with our experts for a short demo to see how Locus can turn things around for you.