Logistics Management Software Modernization - The Key to Future Success

Many logistics companies struggle to adapt and keep up with the dynamic, post-pandemic, business environment. A big reason for this is being locked in to antiquated processes and tools by the legacy software systems that have served them well-enough pre-pandemic. Businesses that have adopted modern agile software systems have been able to save costs, increase performance and efficiency, and take great advantage of the emerging post-covid economic boom.

2021 has already seen the successful implementation of national and global supply chains for the manufacture, transport, and distribution of personal protective equipment and vaccines. Most retails have also sped up the implementation of their online shopping capabilities, to keep up with the extraordinary demand. This would not have been possible to achieve on such a large scale and in such a short time without modernizing the software infrastructure of every organization in the supply chain. It is thus critical to leave the legacy applications behind, and either modernize or replace them.

Logistics Management Systems Modernization - Main Benefits

Most legacy systems are sluggish, expensive to maintain, inflexible, incompatible with just about anything useful, and insecure. But how exacly would modernization of legacy systems, or replacement with a modern system, help?

1. Say goodbye to paperwork, welcome to automation. Human errors are all but eliminated and your organization will have saved the expense of a lot of man-hours previously required for processing paper documents.
2. Real-time operational dashboards. Know where your assets are, how fast and in which direction they are moving. No more guesstimates or time-consuming phone calls.
3. Enhanced planning and execution. In addition to giving you an accurate, real-time, overview of current operations, the same data also enables key optimizations and evaluations, such as historical route & delivery time analysys, driver performance metrics, fuel consumption analysys, and better route planning.
4. Better, more efficient Inventory & asset management. Get ready to monitor your inventory and assets in real-time, with near-instant status updates and accurate forecasts.
5. Seamless integration with multiple third-party systems. No one single software system can satisfy all the needs of your organization. The ability to easily integrate multiple systems together is critical to being able to extract the most value from each system alone, and the entire toolset as a whole.
6. Enhanced customer experience. As your modernized systems start tracking orders and shipment and human errors are replaced with real-time analysis and prompt decision-making, the accuracy and timeliness of your organization’s customer facing status updates will increase. Your customer success team can also use this information to pro-actively address issues and look for alternative solutions.
7. Happier and productive workforce. Employees supported and empowered by correct and timely information and the right tools perform better and feel better about their work. Freed from rote tasks, they can focus on problem solving when issues do arrise.

Ultimately, the benefits outline above combine to result in improved cash flow and a better bottom line for your organization.

Path To Logistics Management Systems Modernization

Many companies nowadays are struggling to compete, caught in a vicious circle. They have already made significant investments in their existing software systems, only to end up with a slow and clunky tool, that hinders rather than helps. They've tried filling the gaps by building additional capabilities on top of the legacy system, only to find that these are also limited by its shortcomings. Transitioning to a new, modern system looks daunting, costly in terms of setup, migration, training, and disruptions to daily operations.

The cold, hard truth is there is no miracle solution. Each organization is unique, and requires a complex solution that employs multiple off-the-shelf and custom built systems, working seemlessly together. The key is in making sure each component works well with the rest, or can be easily replaced as it becomes obsolete.

This is where we come in. At Aligned, we leverage our expertise to analyze your current systems, work together to spell out the existing vs the ideal business processes, and identify off the shelf and/or custom solutions. We then put together a plan that balances long-term, foundational improvements and short-term high-impact quick wins. Finally, we assist in the execution of the plan, as a long-term partner fully invested in your success.