All that's left is Christmas. Breathe, there's less left. We all have the same feeling, a terrible storm has taken hold of our email, TV and shop windows. With a single motto: Black Friday.

The feeling that everyone has of is one of exhaustion, tiredness and deception. Everything related to Black Friday is predictable, irrational and in some cases generates unethical behavior. From the famous pushes in American department stores, to raising prices the days before.

This negative perception is taking hold of all consumers. I'm not saying that, but different studies that try to analyze the perception of this day and arrive at the same coincidence, people are tired. Consumer Emotions on Black Friday: Antecedents and Consequence, Are Black Friday deals worth it? Mining Twitter Users' Sentiment and Behavior Response.

We all know that to sell in the B2C world, the best strategy is to attack the reptilian brain. Moving the customer to make irrational decisions, the urgency, a reduced time and a price that will never be repeated, will make you lose THE opportunity to buy what you wanted so much. With all this push, it's obvious that people can't do anything other than go crazy with their credit card.

A second after the purchase is the moment when you realize that you probably didn't need it (nor could you afford it). The offer wasn't as good as you thought and on top of that you'll have to suppress your desire to party due to lack of funds. You feel used by marketing departments and you start to distrust.

The following year, you look months in advance at the price of what you really wanted to buy (waiting for the big day) to make sure you're not being fooled, and you end up delaying the purchase you would have made months before. When the big day comes and after 3 failed delivery attempts by the courier, you end up thinking about the environmental impact of your purchase. You are not alone. Brands are also evolving.

One of the demonstrations that Black Friday is at a time of exhaustion is Google Trends. We can see a clear setback in the Number of Google searches of the term Black Friday.

We have overcome the peak, and we are going down in what can be sensed as a tendency to flatten the curve. It probably won't go away, but it shows clear signs of exhaustion. Like any acquisition channel, the beginnings tend to be explosive, at a point where it becomes mainstream, and from there performance declines rapidly to a point of exhaustion. Tap Find New Things. Innovate in new strategies.

How are brands attacking this Black Friday exhaustion problem? Green Friday

With new proposals such as Green Friday. Turn around an exhausted concept and associate positive values with the brand. A clear trend in all ecommerce is sustainability. At the last ICIL Debates event in Barcelona, important brands such as Mango or Desigual publicly demonstrated their commitment to sustainability throughout the chain. From sustainable manufacturing to transport with the lowest possible CO2 footprint. Eliminating the plane as much as possible from its logistics, as a practical example of its actions.

A pending issue is the sustainable last mile delivery. Companies such as Beeasy or Geever they deliver the last mile by scooter or on foot with a delivery network that allows last-yard capillary delivery with 0 emissions. These are alternatives that will grow more and more strongly in cities.

For heavier products, or greater geographical dispersion (less dense areas), it will be essential to use electric vehicles. One of the biggest brakes is the operational management of this type of vehicle. They don't behave the same way and the fear of”Stay strung out” is a brake on their transition. Technology such as Routal allows plan routes and make sure you don't run out of battery increasing vehicle productivity by more than 30% and facilitating the management of this new way of distributing.

Without a doubt, this transition will not be easy. But if we can turn a date as relevant to commerce as Black Friday into Green Friday, we will help generate that momentum that the sector needs to make the transition to last-mile logistics more sustainable. It's for the good of all.

Los KPIs (KKey Performance Indicators) as their name says, are numerical performance indicators that allow us to identify possible positive or negative developments in our operations in order to measure and compare them. It also allows us to act accordingly to improve performance, creating planning and process optimization strategies.

In the case of the logistics sector, these indicators help to have knowledge of the company's processes and operations in order to work on the continuous improvement of the entire logistics chain, from warehousing to distribution.

These indicators help to make decisions about processes and to be clear about how the company's operations are working. That's why they are very relevant to the sector. They also allow us to make comparisons with certain historical moments or with reference metrics (for example from other companies) when carrying out a Benchmarking. Also they make it possible to reduce errors, reduce costs, optimize processes, enhance profitability and improve productivity.

There are different classes or categories of indicators:

Performance: they provide information on whether the execution of the scheduled activities is being carried out

Productivity: they allow us to compare real values with the objectives that were expected to be achieved, in a certain period of time.

Utilization: they allow us to measure how we use our resources. For example: number of used vehicles

To establish the KPIs we want to measure, we must take into account what the company's objectives and these indicators are. The process that is used for the operation must also be taken into account. On the other hand, reasonable and attainable objectives must be established, in order to then be able to make comparisons that work for the company. For this purpose, the SMART theory (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Based) is used, meaning that objective KPIs must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant or realistic, and timely. As an example, we could say that “making more shipments” is not as SMART a goal as “increasing shipments by 5% in 6 months”. Objectives should be part of a planned strategy to achieve larger goals.

What are the KPIs that we should consider in last-mile logistics?

For the last mile sector, there are many indicators to consider. We'll tell you which are the most relevant to us:

Number of deliveries/stops made and canceled: can be measured per day (total), by zone or per driver.

Reasons for cancellation: establish the most common ones and measure the quantity of each one. Then you can analyze how to avoid these cancellations.

Delivery attempts: How many times was the visit carried out until it was completed

Used vehicles: quantity per day

Kilometers traveled: amount per day or per vehicle

Road time (hours): amount per day or per vehicle

Customer Satisfaction: it is measured through evaluation surveys sent to the customer

Staff/driver satisfaction: is measured through assessment surveys through the system used by drivers

Cost per km or delivery: can take into account different factors such as the price of fuel, the price of outsourcing the service, etc.

All of these KPIs can be analyzed day by day to improve operations and correct errors that may be happening in deliveries. In addition, many of them can be improved by optimizing routes such as the kilometers traveled and the number of vehicles used per day. This makes it possible to considerably reduce costs and also CO2 emissions.

With Routal Planner not only can you plan and optimize your routes in minutes, you can also view them in the Analytical all the KPIs relevant to your business, to be able to work on the continuous improvement of your processes and reduce your operating costs.

Try Planner free for 10 days doing click here.

The logistics industry is constantly changing, both in processes and in the way of proceeding. These changes are due, to a large extent, to technological advances in the sector, which evoke different modalities in logistics processes, such as reverse logistics.

What is Reverse Logistics?

Reverse logistics is the set of practices and processes responsible for managing the returns and returns of those products purchased by users.

These returns or returns are managed from the points of sale of the products to the manufacturer itself (to carry out the repair, recycling or disposal of the product at the lowest possible cost).

In addition, reverse logistics is already another process and of vital importance when planning the supply chain for the satisfaction of the end customer.

Reverse logistics is one of the main challenges faced by the industry and the main objective is to avoid high costs and manage returns in the shortest possible time.

8 tips to improve your reverse logistics

Customer Centric: It responds to the customer-oriented strategy through which an organization places the customer at the center of the company with the objective of focusing all processes and operations on users.

The implementation of the Customer Centric strategy increases the satisfaction of our users, since we focus all our efforts on knowing their needs and concerns regarding our activity. Knowing the desired delivery and return times or a maximum price per service will help increase your satisfaction and, therefore, carry out a satisfactory reverse logistics process.

Strategic Planning: Perform measured and analytical planning to ensure the correct management of operations taking into account parameters such as mileage or travel time. With the right software, this will be an autonomous task, in which a large amount of time is not required and with an optimal result, since it will always offer the most efficient route.

Optimization of resources: The optimization of resources when it comes to transportation is essential for the success of your company's reverse logistics process; it will help control the traceability, trajectory and tracking of shipments. In addition, planning delivery routes efficiently and optimally will result in significant economic and time savings. Therefore, the use of specialized software for route planning will be a key element in increasing the efficiency of your company's reverse logistics process.

Use of metrics and KPIs: To evaluate the productivity and performance of the reverse logistics process, the use of KPIs is essential (Key Performance Indicator). These indicators will help measure and quantify your company's performance and compliance with established objectives. It is recommended that when defining the logistics KPIs, they are developed based on the S.M.A.R.T. (Smart, Mmeasurable, Achivable, Realistic and Time-Bound) model.

Shorter return times: As mentioned before in relation to the Customer Centric strategy, it is essential to know not only the limits of our company in terms of acceptable delivery or return times, but also the “deadlines” or desired deadlines of our customers. For this reason, and in general terms, it should be prioritized that collection and return times are as short as possible and without the need to increase the amount of resources associated with reverse logistics. Thus, specific efforts should be made to improve this particular process.

Proactive monitoring: Proactive monitoring is the live monitoring of the daily planning of services and deliveries that warns of possible failures and errors while allowing us to react and adapt operations in a satisfactory manner.

Good proactive monitoring must have the possibility of monitoring the operation in real time and thus be able to view the progress of the operation live at all times. In addition, and in relation to the real-time monitoring of operations, it is essential that it incorporates sufficient functions that allow a timely reaction to possible failures or errors.

Smart Warehouses or Smart Storage: Smart warehouses are specialized logistics centers that make use of technology to increase efficiency in all their processes, such as the reception, preparation or storage of goods.

An example of the use and benefit of implementing intelligent warehouses in the reverse logistics process is the case of Amazon, a company that has included artificial intelligence in its warehouses in order to quickly determine, based on the costs of each product and its associated return costs, if it accepts to pick up the product in question by activating the reverse logistics process or, on the contrary, makes the refund without the collection of said merchandise.

Logistic software: Investing in technology and digitalization can help you improve your reverse logistics efficiently. Choose specific software that includes route optimization, real-time operational monitoring and analysis of important metrics for your continuous improvement.

If you want to guarantee the success of your company's reverse logistics process, you can do so now with specialized software. Routal Planner. Try it now for free by 10 days.

One of the main fears and brakes faced by SMEs in the face of digitalization is Integrate technology. The dichotomy between choosing an all-encompassing solution, or specific solutions for each problem. The benefit of the first option is that you're dealing with a provider, everything is talked about, and you shouldn't have too many problems. The problem is that it probably doesn't solve your processes in the best way and you have to make a lot of effort to adapt your business to the solution. The other option, small experts, usually provide a better solution for each process, but there is a difficulty in getting applications to talk to each other. This means that two companies collaborate, integrate and that can be a challenge.

More complex systems and technological solutions are increasingly required to optimize operations. The trend of one-fits-all (one solution for everything) is increasingly difficult to find and as companies grow they require more specific solutions, so integration projects are becoming more common, but above all, more necessary.

To give great examples, one of Inditex's great successes has been to have a single centralized stock between warehouses and stores, which allows us to have the status of each of the pieces of clothing in real time and achieve greater success in an omnichannel environment where the customer purchases online, is sent from several centers to be consolidated in the store and for the customer to pick up at the store buying an accessory that he found by chance. But something like that is not only available to large companies, SMEs also have a lot to say, and their scale makes them projects much easier, faster and cheaper to implement.

The benefits of integrating systems are direct improvements in productivity and in the quality of the service they provide, standardized and optimized operating processes, ease in internal processes, reduction of errors and also homogenization of data.

Why is it presented as a brake or challenge, or Why does it bring so many headaches for companies? Mainly because many companies do not have the experience, the resources to develop these projects internally or personnel with the knowledge to lead a project of this type. The solution, outsourcing these projects, and without good advice the project can be a big headache. For this reason, looking for a supplier who knows the business, the tools to be integrated and who has experience in similar projects are the key to success for an integration project to be successful, to develop quickly and on budget.

Unfortunately, sometimes digitalization brings high costs that companies don't want to face because of the doubt if there will really be a return on that investment. Digitalization with common sense, improving and streamlining processes undoubtedly generates great investment returns. For this reason, it is essential that companies have an orchestrator that understands the need of the business, the company's processes and those points that hold back the organization in order to optimize them through digitalization. The partner will actually implement that improvement, but it requires high-level coordination that will be the key to success.

Strategy, knowledge and execution.

Nowadays, execution is the easiest part of all. There are different types of integrations depending on the available systems and the objective. The most used are those of APIS (Application Programming Interface) where data is transmitted from one side to the other quickly and securely. It is the most used since it is simpler to perform and offers great performance. These are used to enter information to our platform. On the other hand, the most used to extract information is integration by Webhooks, in which the external system receives data when there is an event on the platform.

At Routal, we are constantly working to make integrations an opportunity to further streamline company processes, digitize and automate tasks that don't add value, and concentrate the work of employees on those points where a person actually provides the most value.

Quaker State Success Story: Integrating SAP

Quaker State is a leading company in the distribution of oils and lubricants for vehicles in Mexico. In 2020, they needed to standardize their merchandise delivery procedure and homogenize their operations so as not to rely on one or more people for the replacement of personnel. Faced with this situation, they implemented the Routal solution.

Thanks to the Planner intelligent route planner, they were able to unify processes into one, in addition to generating a single procedure that would be available to any worker regardless of their level of training.

Prior to the integration, the delivery routes were carried out manually, they spent hours daily in the planning process, there was little monitoring of the operation, and obtaining any report on performance metrics was an investment of tens of hours, which greatly limited the ability to make improvement decisions.

Once the integration of their SAP system with Routal was implemented, route planning began to be carried out in an automated manner and in minutes. The risk on the figure of the route planner and the dependence on that person was completely reduced. The creation of metric reports was also automated to improve the control and monitoring of their distribution processes, and most importantly: the data were reconciled and validated. Thus, the entire process was standardized and optimized.

”Routal Planner is essential to us. It saves us planning time and makes us more competitive against our competitors” Your Manager has your opinion.

Lácteas del Jarama Success Story: Integrating AS 400

Lácteas del Jarama It is one of the most important dairy companies in Spain, it was the first company to introduce mozzarella in our country and its history supports it as one of the main dairy companies in the food service sector.

The successful implementation of Routal was due to the successful integration of its ERP system, an IBM AS400, an extremely robust but difficult to integrate system. To be able to count on a partner like Nakima helped to be able to carry out the integration in just 3 weeks of work and thus reduce the start-up time to just over a month.

The internal leadership clearly identified the need to eliminate steps in the process that would focus logistics personnel on what really provides value: “Deliver quickly, with the lowest cost and offering the best possible service”.

The experience of working with professionals who are experts in this type of project means that companies can think further and want to improve other processes that seemed impossible to improve.

At Routal, we work to streamline integration processes through partners with a lot of experience in all types of technologies and businesses, achieving success so that projects are successful.

Try Routal for free for 10 days click here.

Tugou, a scheduled delivery company, was looking for a solution to optimize its home delivery routes in Peru. They found SmartMonkey, tested the platform, and stayed with us. Discover the benefits and savings they achieved with SmartMonkey.

Tugou was born in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic to meet a need that entrepreneurs had. The starting point was to migrate from a trusted taxi service to a professional service, with transparency and confidence that your products will arrive in a timely manner. They sought solutions that would allow them to differentiate themselves from the competition as an added value and for that they explored digitization and route optimization tools. They tried two or three alternatives, and after a few months they found SmartMonkey on the market, tried the solution and stayed with it.

There are several reasons why they decided to choose Routal. First of all, in terms of user, administrator and end customer it is easy to use and friendly, therefore the learning curve of anyone who comes to work is short, and this It helps to reduce costs also in the case of staff turnover. On the other hand, it is competitive in the market in terms of investment. The Gorilla license offers in one what other companies offer in separate modules at a higher cost.

Daniel Campos, operations manager at Tugou, comments: “It's a platform that we use 24/7, which has been very supportive, and that in a very short time we have gotten to know thoroughly. It's a very webapp Intuitive and this is very important for someone who uses it on a daily basis.”

As for the tool, they believe that it is relevant to versatility in the planning modules to add restrictions: weight, volume, and distinctive load characteristics. Also important to them is the agility in route planning and visibility in real time, being able to see where the vehicles are located and at what times the deliveries are taking place.

The ability to have simultaneous access to the platform to see the programmed route is something that stands out: “We are 4 people who have access and we review the routes daily. It is one of the differential characteristics and very important to us. Also the fact that for the driver it is a webapp (and not an App) and it is easier for them to view it. Apps sometimes need minimal capacity on mobile phones, next-generation phones, use more battery and data. It's something that drivers value a lot,” explains Daniel.

Email and SMS notifications and alerts build trust with the customer and thus reduce failed deliveries substantially. Thanks to the platform, customers can be sure that their products will arrive at their destination.

“The speed of planning daily routes allows us to look at other business opportunities, for example, adding more customers or outsourcing to other companies.”

Regarding this time savings, Daniel comments: “It is something that we have found that the ease and usability of the platform is opening up the field for us to create an additional line of business to create routes for other customers, other companies that don't have the time or prefer to outsource the service. Otherwise, without this extra time, it would be very difficult for us to venture into other types of businesses.”

Tugou found a solution for their route planning and optimization that provided them with concrete savings in costs and time. This translates into improved productivity and business expansion.

See the results they obtained by optimizing delivery with SmartMonkey:

• -15% fuel: effect of savings on travel
• -25% reduction in unit travel
• -60% planning time
• -33% fleet: thanks to the optimization of the platform that allows you to make the same deliveries with fewer vehicles
• -55% investment: lower platform cost for the same benefits or features. (in a single module, without having to pay extra).

If you too want to reduce costs and save fuel Try SmartMonkey free for 10 days.

Watch the video of the case told by his operations manager Daniel Campos and his business manager Henri Malleux:

If you want to know other success stories, I recommend reading A La Casa Delivery in Chile.

From entrepreneurs to SMEs: how A La Casa Delivery began distributing its own products out of necessity and today it has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs from all over Chile. From market need to a growing business.

In 2019, Angela and Ignacio moved to Chile and began selling their products. Little by little they grew and came to make more than 20 deliveries per day. At that time and after trying different transport companies, they discovered that they were not satisfied with the delivery services available in their region. They didn't offer the service that their products required and saw the possibility of differentiating themselves by offering a better delivery service, so they decided to hire a person to make their own deliveries. The birth of a business out of its own need.

Over the months, they began to offer other entrepreneurs the service of home delivery with their delivery person. Thus, almost in the midst of the 2020 pandemic, it emerged A la Casa Delivery, a last-mile courier/delivery company for entrepreneurs and SMEs in Chile.

As quarantine restrictions in Chile increased more and more, the demand for delivery due to online purchases increased considerably, and deliveries per day became almost 600. Ignacio planned routes every night so that he could have it ready in the morning, and this required several hours. That work became unsustainable, inefficient and created a lot of problems. For that reason, they looked for a tool that could simplify their route planning work, which Ignacio did manually every day. After analyzing several alternatives, they discovered Routal.

After a demo, they started using the platform and solved their doubts thanks to the videos and articles from Routal. In just a few days they implemented the tool and started using it on a daily basis. Planning routes became a job of just a few minutes for Ignacio. In addition, I could obtain all the information in real time about the vehicles on the road and thus be able to resolve any incident that arises.

With the new addition of direct communication with the customer through SMS notifications, they were able to give more visibility to the recipient and thus reduce the number of failed deliveries. This directly influenced customer satisfaction, improving the score in the surveys that are sent after each delivery made.

Como A la Casa Delivery, hundreds of SMEs that benefit from the implementation of a digital solution for route planning and optimization, offering a better, more efficient and environmentally friendly service. If you are in charge of logistics for a small, medium or large company, we can help you digitize your operations in a few minutes, so that you can use your time on other more important tasks to boost your business.

Click here if you want to try SmartMonkey's Planner free for 10 days

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Do you want to switch to an electric vehicle but are not sure yet? We can help you make the transition easier than you think

By December 2023, all municipalities in Spain with more than 50,000 inhabitants must have Low Emission Zones (ZBE). This presents a challenge for all logistics companies that carry out daily distribution work in the country's cities. Many of their vehicles will become obsolete and their routes will have to be modified, they will have to adapt their fleet and migrate to more efficient vehicles such as electric vehicles.

“If low-emission zones are going to be mandatory and logistics are being sought to become increasingly sustainable... why aren't companies yet adopting electric vehicles for their operation?”

The answer is “the costs”. At first glance you may think that the purchase price of the new vehicle is much higher, but the main reason that prevents the adoption of these vehicles is the cost of changing the way you manage your company's daily operations. Making management changes is always complicated, especially when we have been doing things the same way for many years.

When companies decide to switch to an electric fleet, their distribution routes can no longer be the same. Why? For the autonomy of electric vehicles and their refueling. The routes must be adapted to the new limitations that these cars have together with those of the business. A new restriction added to the already complex route planning that makes many electrification projects dismissed a priori.

Another important point is the charging time of the batteries. Unfortunately, it is not possible to charge the vehicle at the same speed as the liters of diesel flow. You'll think of Tesla SuperChargers, but something little known about EVs is that they have a very limited amount of the number of fast charges they can do over their lifetime. For example, a Tesla Model 3 can only do 200 fast charges over its entire battery life. Therefore, planning charging times will be just as important as another variable to consider.

In situations of maximum availability, 24-hour shifts or continuous work, it will be more difficult to fit this type of vehicle (with current technology), but the vast majority of companies will be able to overcome these limitations and manage them perfectly, as long as it is done in an intelligent way.

A route optimizer may be the solution to this problem. With SmartMonkey you can plan your routes in seconds, incorporating vehicle mileage restrictions and working hours in order to obtain the most efficient routes adapted to electric vehicles (and other fuels). In addition, the optimizer will tell you when you can use fewer vehicles to achieve the same deliveries, and thus make your operation even more sustainable.

A success story is the Palliative Care Team (C2P2) at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. This equipment has electric vehicles and combustion vehicles. Because of their operations, they visit patients more than 200 km from the hospital, but the large volume is concentrated in a relatively short radius of ~50 km. Being able to limit routes according to the vehicle's range is allowing them to avoid being “strapped” or to greatly limit the use of electric vehicles when in doubt, with the increase in CO2 emissions. One less problem to consider. Now we plan routes in minutes with total confidence and from the hospital's control center they can track operations in real time.

Let us help you with the change: try Routalkey for free for 10 days and you'll see how you can improve your operations by introducing electric vehicles to your fleet (and drivers will thank you).

The last days and the first days of the year are crucial in any area, both personally and in business. We take the opportunity to take stock of everything that happened in the previous year and, we also took the opportunity to set new resolutions for the following year, in order to improve and prosper in the nearest future.

At SmartMonkey we want to help you have a very prosperous and beneficial next year for you and, therefore, we are going to help you with what we do best: last-mile logistics.

If you haven't yet considered what resolutions you need for 2022, don't worry, we'll give you the keys. Below, we show you what logistics purposes you need to set for a successful 2022 for your company.

Logistic Purposes for 2022

• Improve customer satisfaction: User satisfaction with the service we offer must be one of our greatest objectives as a company. To do this, we must carry out actions that directly increase satisfaction and one of the key aspects for this is communication. Direct communication with users is essential, since in the midst of the digital age, we are used to being constantly connected and informed. With the use of specialized software, customers should be able to receive direct and real-time information about your purchases. For example, your customers should be able to know at all times where their order is or when they will receive it, among others. Therefore, it is essential that you incorporate mechanisms or tools that allow such direct communication and, therefore, increase your satisfaction.
• Reduce failed deliveries: One of the big puzzles for most logistics companies and the carriers themselves is failed deliveries. For this reason, it is essential to make every effort to reduce this rate to a minimum or even disappear in the coming year. But you may wonder, and how do I do it? Well, as we mentioned before, the communication is key. If you establish direct communication channels with your customers, not only will their satisfaction with your company increase, but you will also reduce failed deliveries, since you can set a schedule or ensure that your customer will be at home a few minutes before receiving the package. It's that simple!
• More sustainable logistics: La Green Logistics refers to all those efforts and actions aimed at measuring and minimizing the impact of logistics on the environment. In short, a set of initiatives to reduce the environmental impact derived from logistics activity. By implementing measures such as the reduction of plastics in packaging or the incorporation of specialized software to obtain efficient routes, we will make our operations increasingly sustainable, bringing us ever closer to the famous “green logistics”.
• Reduce route times: Have the route planning service, in order to ensure the correct management of the operation taking into account parameters such as mileage or travel time. With the right software, this will be an autonomous task, in which you will not have to invest time and with an optimal result, since it will always offer you the most efficient route.
• Proactive monitoring: La proactive monitoring It is the live monitoring of the daily planning of services and deliveries that warns of possible failures and errors while allowing us to react and adapt operations in a satisfactory manner.

Start the year fulfilling your resolutions and have a year of business success within your reach thanks to SmartMonkey Planner. Enjoy a free 10-day trial period.

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Before setting resolutions, it is time to take stock of the previous year to evaluate everything that happened and give rise to reflection. Learn about SmartMonkey's 2021 balance sheet in the article 2021 balance sheet: Routal's success story.

With the rise of e-commerce and, especially, after the events of the COVID-19 pandemic, the delivery of Last mile has become increasingly complex.

This is a stage that is still present, as many companies struggle to cover each and every one of the customer's needs: satisfactory and fast deliveries, contactless, flexible deliveries or with an efficient reverse logistics policy, among others.

In order to meet all of these expectations (and many others!) , logistics companies are required to redesign their last-mile strategy in order to continue in an increasingly competitive market. It is therefore essential to consider new ways of proceeding with last-mile delivery, since traditional logistics models have become obsolete, since they will not be commensurate with the current expectations of users.

In this case, the scanning is the key piece of this puzzle, since it will be what will allow your company to keep up to date within the sector. In this regard, articles such as the The digitalization of the Logistics Sector, everything you need to know about the company of the company Spring Professional, emphasizes the importance of digitalization in a sector as challenging as logistics.

Here are the aspects you should consider when selecting appropriate and efficient last-mile management software.

Easy deployment

There are countless tools on the market that aim to manage the last mile. However, not all of them meet the first essential requirement: easy implementation.

By this we mean to easily incorporate software, without the need to invest significant human, technical or temporary resources. You should buy software that makes your work easier and doesn't increase it, logical, right? Choose a tool that is easy and quick to implement, which in a matter of a few hours you can use at 100%, without having to invest too much time in explanations or meetings. Choosing complex tools makes it harder for people who have to use it on a daily basis to be more difficult to adopt and tend to keep doing things as usual.

3-in-1 tool

The last mile encompasses many processes, all of them of equal relevance. Therefore, it is very important that you consider choosing an appropriate software that covers all possible needs. The three fundamental pillars you should look for in a route manager are the following:

Planning: it must have the route planning service, in order to ensure the correct management of the operation taking into account parameters such as mileage or travel time. With the right software, this will be an autonomous task, in which you will not have to invest time and with an optimal result, since it will always offer you the most efficient route.

Tracking: In the same way as planning, being able to monitor the operations in real time will be very useful for you to be able to face changes or possible setbacks that arise.

Communication: Being able to keep your customers informed at all times to notify them of the change in the status of the service or even that they can monitor their service in real time is already another requirement of any platform. Transparency and direct communication with users is essential for their satisfaction with our company.

Flexibility

As we mentioned before with the planning and monitoring process, there may be changes throughout the operation that hinder the success of the operation, for example, a change of schedule. Therefore, it is necessary to have a tool that has sufficient flexibility to be able to make such changes throughout the operating process, such as being able to modify schedules as needed or to transfer a service from one driver to another, among others.

Honest costs

Sometimes it is likely that we are very clear about the needs of our operations but, on the other hand, we do not choose the right software because they can have exorbitant costs or hidden costs of implementation, training or integration. It is important to prioritize when choosing a tool that adapts to the costs of our operations and has a fixed price per license.

Many software charge their customers for services performed with countless extras. Imagine that you have hired a last-mile management tool that charges you for each service performed and, in your case, you have had a very good month with many services. Would it really be a successful month for you? Because a large part of your income would go to software and not to you. So now you know, you don't have to share your successes, be smart!

Guaranteed support

Everything mentioned so far wouldn't make sense if you don't have the support you need, especially when you're starting out with the tool. Look for a last-mile manager who can guarantee you adequate and personalized support at all times. Run away from big corporations with answering machines and choose help One to One.

And now that you know everything to look for in specialized software in the last mile, don't you know where to start? Choose the one that Do everything. Impossible? Not at all! With SmartMonkey Planner you have all these features and many more.

If you want to position yourself at the top of logistics, join Planner. In addition, you can sign up now without obligation, we have a free 10-day trial period.

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Do you want to know if you make some of the most common mistakes in the last mile and how to fix them? Go to our article The 4 mistakes to avoid in the last mile and we explain it to you.