The content of the article:
- Helps in finding more optimal routes
- Helps in planning routes fast
- Helps in increasing productivity
- Helps to reduce travel time and mileage
- Helps to minimize customer service calls
- Helps to increase delivery capacity
- Helps in lowering delivery costs
- Helps to increase profitability
- Helps to increase drivers satisfaction and safety
When we talk about Route planning, it is not just about Route planning but how accurate and efficient route planning is. It's very important to use a Route planner for your business since it will help you in reducing driving time, which eventually reduces fuel consumption and costs. Also, it will help you make timely deliveries hence improving your customer service. Over the past years, the high cost of running the Logistics Business has prompted owners to become more efficient in their planning routes.
The traditional route planning method of a pen and a paper no longer addresses real-time events that impact delivery schedules every day. Secondly, free route apps like Google maps or Apple maps can not plan multi-stop routes for multiple drivers. Also, they lack key features which you will need to run your field operations seamlessly.
In addition to reducing costs and improving resource utilization, operations managers need to ensure an efficient delivery experience to the customers at the lowest cost possible. This is another business goal made possible through efficient route planning. Transportation optimisation software will have a very positive impact on your business. Your drivers will be able to meet deadlines which is a key factor for good customer service. As we said earlier, smart route optimisation offers great value to businesses and consumers alike. Here are some of the benefits your company can benefit from using route planning software.
Helps in finding more optimal routes
If you are planning a few trucks and deadlines are not a major factor in delivery, then it might be possible for you to find relatively short routes by hand though it may take much of your time. However, if your business does not use cloud based route applications for your route planning, you generally can't find the optimal routes for your entire fleet. Load planning software will help you cut through the complexity by using advanced algorithms to find the quickest and most cost-effective routes.
Helps in planning routes fast
Relying on manual route planning and navigation apps means spending so much time just finding the possible best routes. And despite all the time spent, manual routes won't be the fastest nor most economical. In contrast, a smart truck route planner provides the quickest and most cost-effective routes for drivers in less than a minute. The solution makes complex calculations, factoring in multiple variables affecting delivery times, all within seconds. This can save your business hours of effort, which can be used for other high-value assignments.
It's not just the human route planners and fleet managers that get to save time. Likewise, drivers will no longer have to claim their paper-based route assignments and input each delivery address in navigation apps like Google Maps. Instead, drivers will only need to consult their mobile apps to know where their destinations are and how to get there.
Helps in increasing productivity
If route planning, you ensure that driver's routes are efficient in terms of time spent on the road and miles travelled, allowing them to make more deliveries per shift. The right app also helps drivers spend less time responding to last-minute changes allowing them to be more efficient in their deliveries. These apps act as a "shop" for the entire delivery route, effectively streamlining the process from the driver's perspective.
Helps to reduce travel time and mileage
The right route planner helps in reducing traveling time and mileage. If your firm deals with a large number of shipments, you can use a load planner together with route optimisation to reduce transportation costs. What is load planning? Load planning is the process of consolidating cargo to maximize the capacity of each truck and driver so that multiple shipments can be delivered in fewer vehicles. Load planning combined with route optimisation will also help companies to cut down overall drive times as well as miles travelled. Naturally, reducing drivers' miles translates to considerable cost savings.
Helps to minimize customer service calls
Manual route planning is inefficient and error-prone. The traditional way of planning can’t compete with the computing powers of the route apps. Unfortunately, its inefficiency results in inaccurate ETAs and, ultimately, more angry customers. Luckily, the delivery routing software app can offer accurate ETAs based on many complex factors. Plus, a more advanced fleet routing software might also include features to provide customers with real-time alerts, informing them of possible delays in delivery. Providing customers with accurate ETAs and real-time alerts reduces the calls and inquiries received by the customer service team and outbound calls for things like scheduling deliveries and communicating delivery information, which can reduce costly phone time by a considerable margin.
Helps to increase delivery capacity
By combining load planning with route optimisation, you get the benefits of increasing the efficiency of routes and always loading the right cargo in the ideal order. With this new functionality and planning process, you can handle higher demand without increasing your fleet or workforce.
Helps in lowering delivery costs
With route optimisation, you will have fewer vehicles and drivers on the road for a shorter time, meaning a significant cost saving per load and higher profit margins.
Helps to increase profitability
In an industry where competing on price is a fact of doing business, lowering your delivery and operational costs is crucial to protect your profit margins while retaining your customers. Efficient routing and loading make a very big difference. Reducing mileage and driver's costs combined with increased delivery capacity means healthier profit margins. You can offer competitive prices and at the same time gain new customers without sacrificing profitability.
Helps to increase drivers satisfaction and safety
You don't want to imagine your drivers going through when using inaccurate routes with unfamiliar roads, horrible traffic or even closure. This situation leads to stress and fatigue for your drivers. A Route planner will provide them with a faster route to work with accurate directions from one place to another, helping them be calmer and focus on the road. It means that they will cover more locations while spending less time on the road plus making on-time deliveries all the time.
