“What differentiates you from your competition?” I think every sales professional has been asked this question at least once during their tenure in the logistics industry. In the early ’90s, we often answered this question by saying that we are a communication company first and a logistics provider second. We explained that our focus was putting significant effort into the art of communicating effectively with our clients. Of course, our groundbreaking technology was the foundation upon which we built pathways for effective communication lines between our organization and our clients.
Fast forward almost thirty years, and the word “communication” has taken on such a broader meaning. In 2020, the typical digital consumer is an entity (individual or company), who has incredible volumes of information available to them, faster than we ever would have imagined back in the day, when cellular telephones were still a luxury.
Today, the internet, social media, and many incredibly innovative software options are available to the digital consumer. In the world of logistics, our ability to communicate has become all about real-time data, real-time visibility, and proactive analytics. Being a great communication company that moves boxes is not about just picking up the phone anymore, although we still hold this method of sharing information critical. Digital consumers expect notifications pushed to their laptops or smartphones, in advance of typical milestone updates.
Extending our proprietary operating systems to smartphone devices through the development of various applications allows us to give our drivers a tool beyond just capturing hard copy signatures from our clients. We can use the functionality built within these smartphones to alert consignees when drivers are within a predetermined distance from their location. We can capture GPS coordinates at time of delivery. We can capture images important to the location condition at time of delivery. We can scan barcodes throughout the transit lifetime of a package or shipment, including at time of delivery — all in real time, and in a paperless environment.
Are we still a communication company that moves boxes? Absolutely! And because of the fast-paced demands of the digital consumer, we are better at it than ever before!