For long the freight forwarding industry has relied on dated practices owing to the fears that are associated with changing technology. However, over the past few years, with the advent of freight forwarding software, there has been a disruption in the industry and the benefits of technology are now quite visible – which means that forwarders are now spending time and money in automating simple processes such as rate management, tracking of shipments, online booking, etc.
The next big step, hence, there would be an investment in data science and technologies such as big data and advanced machine learning, AI, etc. Digitalization has brought forth new ways of data handling, and technology is now becoming a standard, hence let us take a look at what the future of freight management software looks like:
- Internet of Things (IoT): With the usage of databases, chips, readers, and cloud-based systems for transmission of information, IoT will help objects like parcels and containers able to transmit useful information to the cloud in an automated manner. Usage of technology such as Radio Frequency Identification or RFID will be able to work in logistic software and help in the effective tracking of shipments all the time.
- Machine Learning (ML): Advanced machine learning can help businesses in analyzing data, identifying patterns and be able to make informed business decisions via observing real-time performance. One can take the example of machine learning helping in analyzing routes and ports, in order to determine what would be more cost-effective. Essentially ML can help freight forwarding software enhance their forecasting capabilities as well as do better resource utilization.
- Cloud-Based Solutions: As per research, productivity in the freight forwarding industry will end up increasing exponentially as data becomes more and more readily available on the capacity of private fleets. When using cloud-based solutions, businesses will be able to utilize and reposition any empty containers on the go which will help in increasing productivity, efficiency and eventually even profits.
Thus, the advent of technology has already set in motion big changes that will shape the future of the freight forwarding industry, what is left to be seen is how businesses leverage these resources, to be able to stay ahead of the competition and maximize their profits.
To know how freight forwarding software can benefit your business, reach out to us for a free demo at ShipThis, and we will be more than happy to help you out.
