Though mobile apps were initially created to provide smartphone users with entertainment options, they have long outgrown the role and have become an indispensable component of enterprises to help them better manage and streamline business operations. Ask any mobile app development agency, and they will tell you that how mobile apps have changed the shape of businesses across industries by bringing in digitization and automation on-the-move.
Especially for transport services, which consist of a large number of components spread across vast geographical areas. Mobile apps can help consolidate them all to a single platform and aid the managers to better utilize company resources for business operations. Hiring a developer to create transportation apps may seem like calling for a large upfront cost, but the benefits they bring will far outweigh the costs in the long run and provide value for money. Out of many different roles for which mobile apps can be deployed in your business, here are the key areas that will benefit a transportation company the most:
Data Aggregation System
Every transportation company has to manage large fleets of vehicles and warehouses- all of which generate massive amounts of data every day. From daily health checkups of trucks to tracking inventories, there is an array of hidden overheads that run parallel to the core business operations. And if any of them is ignored, it can disturb the entire supply chain. Traditionally, each of those tasks is done manually at the end of the day using checklists and forms that later get uploaded on the backend system.
Not only is this process inefficient, but also leaves plenty of room for errors. But if you deploy a mobile app to collect all such mundane yet crucial data, you can have a central repository of all your data in real-time and can efficiently track and manage operations when on-the-move.
Employee Management System
Transport companies aren’t like others where the employees report at a fixed time, sit on their desk for specified time and then leave. Their employees are often out in the field, and to keep track of them and their productivity is a challenging task.
But if you have a mobile app installed in each of the employee’s devices such that they can report their working hours from a remote location, post the status of their deliveries, inform about leaves and more, it gets much easier for the management to gauge the performance of employees and eliminates any chances of miscommunication. This also helps in payroll management.
Also Read: 7 Enterprise App Features to Boost Employee Engagement
Data Analytics App
Today, Data is the central commodity on which the success or failure of any business hinges. As technologies like Big Data and data mining have proved worthwhile, the future of any business can be largely determined by its data analytics and data utilization techniques.
So, if you have an app to analyze all the data you collected about your trucks and warehouses and employees, it can tell you the optimum routes to take, peak timings, resource leakages and much more- using which, you can easily optimize your business prospects.
Training and Assistance Systems
Transportation is a critical business, where even a single misplaced package can result in penalties. And it is for this reason that the companies often prefer using a virtual environment to train new employees rather than letting them indulge in the actual operations.
Additionally, you can also have an app to assist existing employees. All their responsibilities and work allotment can be fed into a mobile application- which they can refer anytime they wish.
Regulations and SOS Apps
Each company operates under a fixed framework with certain rules and regulations to promote productivity and accountability. While those regulations are tough to implement in the traditional business environment, deploying an app can help you achieve that purpose.
You can have features specified within the app to raise an alert/notification whenever an employee is on duty for more than 8 hours continuously- the maximum specified by the government. Or when a truck is idle for more than a specified break time en-route.
Not only these apps can help the management impose better work culture, but also assist the employees to send an alert in an emergency.
