How has the logistics and transport industry changed over the years with technology?
The evolution of technology over the years is pushing boundaries and changing the way world conducts its business. The advent of internet and everything being accessible easily has made life comfortable and easy. Transport and logistics industry is one of the leading segments investing heavily in IoT. IoT is enabling smart transportation which has rapidly changed the industry with the help of cutting- edge technologies along with mobile connectivity, creating a seamless interface. To make transportation and logistics industry a more effective and efficient system, IoT has made it all possible from effective road safety issues to monitoring of the system in fleet management. Businesses seek real-time fleet information so that they can reap long term benefits by making intelligent real-time decisions and IoT has enabled the same at low costs. In a simplified way the use of IoT enables one to keep track of operational efficiency including better turnaround time, fuel consumption, managing the wear and tear of tyres, accident response, monitoring, and route navigation, which results in optimizing long term business solutions. It also enables smart inventory management which is most crucial for a business and gives real-time information about warehousing, distribution and production centres. It has increased productivity in the supply chain, minimizing costs and errors.
Although IoT has made impressive headways in the transport and logistics sector, the focus has been on using it as correction based technology rather than making it preventive technology, to fill in the vacuum that has long been a part of this industry.
This is about to change as the bigger transformation is underway with the combination of IoT and Machine Learning (ML), being a game-changer for this industry. The availability of huge amount of data through IoT and cheaper computing are giving a fillip to companies looking to harness the power of Machine Learning. ML techniques can predict a defined problem using supervised learning or even find hitherto unidentified patterns utilizing unsupervised learning algorithms.
The use of IoT in transport industry has increased accountability, efficiency and transparency in the system while making it cost-effective in its current form. But the industry will witness far more substantial benefits in near future with the advent of mass solutions combining IoT, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence which will define the future of this industry in scaling up.
To remain competitive and enhance efficiency, keeping up with the latest technology is a must. The logistics industry is benefiting immensely from the latest technology and will continue to grow as more advances are made. The breakthroughs in technology will continue to push the boundaries for years to come.
-Rohit Chaturvedi, CEO- Transport Hub
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