Life in 2021 can be rather tedious, with having to rely on delivery services in many cases. Therefore, it is important that these services are of the best quality and effectiveness. Say, you wanted to start your own last mile delivery software to sell to clients. We will be going through all the intricacies that you will be concerning yourself with. Without further ado, let us proceed.
What exactly is last mile delivery? The name actually gives it away in this case. Last mile delivery refers to the last step involved in supply chain management. To be specific, this is the step or phase, in which the product is collected from a transportation depot, and delivered to their destinations!
Before we start, however, if you are in last mile delivery management and want your own software right away, we got you covered. Contact Enozom right here! These guys are amazing at delivering competent products after proper software testing, right on time according to your requirements. From web apps development, mobile apps development and web design, they got you covered. With that said, the things you need to look out for are:
1.Optimization of Delivery Routes
For any Last Mile Delivery Business in 2021, their software will have to be able to show the delivery staff the shortest possible route. The software development industry has come far enough to ensure that miscalculations are outdated. By optimizing delivery routes, the delivery staff is able to save time, and the customer is able to get their packages or products faster.
This might be easier said than done in many cases. It must be handled with ample care during development. What is more important is the computation that goes into such a service. Thankfully, Google Maps provides API services that will let you do this for just a minimal charge. With that, a delivery route planning app can be made with rather simple steps.
Delivery boy live tracking will be necessarily optimized to keep the customer updated a lot of the time. The status of the deliverable is required to be acknowledged by the customer through every step. This actually brings us to our next point.
2.Communicating with the Customer
Now if you have ever had food delivered, you know the cumbersome process of the delivery staff trying to contact you. For last mile delivery operations management, this is actually a rather big concern. In case the delivery staff is unable to locate the customer, they can contact them through chat. A calling option can also be implemented.
The most important issue with this is security. The staff should not have any personal information of the customer, including their phone numbers.
Calls and chats aside, the customer should also be updated about the status of the delivery at every step through real-time order tracking. Starting from the shipping to the delivery at the transport depot and so on. This makes the whole process much less tedious, and the customer can stay satisfied knowing exactly what is going on with their product.
3.All Steps Involved Must be Secure
For a Last Mile Delivery service software, there will be some extra sensitive pieces of data per customer than others. This may include banking details, home addresses, phone numbers, and other sensitive codes and pins. In such a situation, leakage of any of these data will result in some potentially problematic scenarios. If nothing else, the customer will have the rights to take action against you.
This calls for taking extra security measures when such software is built. Regardless of whether it is a mobile app, a website, or a web app, it must be secured at all ends. You do not want someone looking into your orders and making your life harder.
Most Last Mile Delivery services will try to implement security measures like this, but there is always room for improvement. Software companies are fully aware in 2021, what internet security can do for the growth of a brand.
4.Keeping the Interior Systems Updated
If you are familiar with software development, you know the complexities that go behind the interface of a website or mobile app. So what is so important about keeping it updated? Well, consider a scenario where you made an order for something one day before you were moving houses. You end up being contacted by the company the next day through the mobile app, saying your product is ready.
How do you fix this situation? Well, you can let the company know that you have an updated address now. This much would be alright, but what if the company’s internal system did not allow them to update the data on such short notice? This is why it is so important to stay up to date on the back end. One wrong security step, procedure, or database update might cause you serious inconveniences.
Some additional things to keep in mind are, server speeds, the capacity of connections, and embedded systems. All of these need to stay updated on a daily basis, or it can be problematic for a few customers at first, and then very problematic for many. It’s one of the essential traits of such a software.
5.E-Receipts upon Delivery Confirmation
Almost considered a standard today for delivery services, but your mobile app will already be labeled as more competent if it has this. An e-receipt is, just like the name, an electronic receipt. Generally speaking, it is what is used to let the delivery order management know that the product has been delivered to the customer with their consent. However, what can be done if the delivery staff decides to cheat the system and confirm a delivery he never made?
To bypass situations like these, modern technologies can allow the customer to get involved in this process. Upon delivery of the product, they will receive a code. This code can then be forwarded and verified by the delivery staff. Thus, this involvement by both the customer and the staff makes secure confirmation without any room for fraudulence. This also eases life for the delivery fleet management team.
6.Flexibility for Customers
Whether it is due to an emergency meeting or a sudden outing, you will understand that customers might not always be available according to their expected times for delivery. Instances such as this actually cause the delivery staff to slow down and waste time. To avoid this, it is necessary to provide customers with some significant flexibility.
First off, your Last Mile Delivery service must be competent enough to provide the customer with at least an hour’s leeway. Your relationship with the customers might become jagged otherwise, as matching timings with the staff and the customers are not always easy. Just provide customers a feature on the web app or mobile app so they can personally make changes to their delivery times.
Do ensure that you set some constraints on this, otherwise, customers might not end up being very kind to you. Spam is always an issue with any kind of software, and it can cause severe issues if left unchecked.
7.Innovative User Interfaces
An efficient and innovative user interface will go a long way. If your Last Mile Delivery service is running on a mobile app, this is essential. An optimized, fast graphical user interface will be required for customers to stay in check. The updates of the products can show up in real time with notifications on the app.
With the help of Mobile application development services provider, customers can add any additional notes for the delivery staff, the authority, real-time, or both to see. The small details in the windows, buttons, and texts can make it or break it for a mobile app or web app. There are other aspects that do factor into this, however, such as target audience and demography. It is evident that an adult user will be more likely to use a less vivid and colorful UI, than a brighter one.
8.Rating Systems for Delivery Staff
Not the most important, but a rating system for the delivery staff lets the customers know what type of behavior they may receive. Moreover, it also helps your company keep in check of the delivery staff. Customer feedback will keep you updated on the behavior of your staff.
This can also help your staff stay motivated at work. Because, who doesn’t love a good rating, right? Usually, companies that serve with a rating system for any level of employees, will implement some kind of reward system for the winners of each month or year.
Things to be Wary of
1.Bugs and Malfunctions
Like with all software, you will need to keep your Last Mile Delivery software in check too. Even with proper software testing and development, updating a mobile app or web app will always risk adding more bugs. Bugs encountered will need experts to handle them, so before you start, make sure you have some experienced, quality debuggers.
Malfunctions are not really different from bugs in general, but they are in software terms. For example, if you cannot see where your product is at a particular moment because the server sends no response, that is a malfunction. Such a malfunction is going to ruin the experience for the user and stray them away from using your mobile app if it occurs too many times.
It is best to check for bugs the most before deployment of your application or website. This saves your impression from being tarnished by these bugs. For optimized, quality products including mobile applications and web applications, contact Enozom for some rather great offers.
2.Poorly Placed Advertisements
Advertisements are essential for any kind of free service, or more. Assuming that you will be giving this application for free on Android and iOS, your customers will be met with advertisements. This might not sound like much, but you should check the advertisements that are provided. This is to make sure no explicit, spam or inappropriate adverts are not appearing on your application. Obviously, it depends on the size of your business if you should check it by yourself or hire a team for it.
The concern here is mainly in keeping your customers safe from malicious content. While it is unlikely, advertisements on mobile apps today are not always restricted to being family-friendly. This can harm your reputation and make people uninstall your mobile app.
3.Multiple Verification Methods
It’s standard today, but some businesses still tend to miss it. Two-step verification is not always implemented, so a good way to bypass this is to use a phone number and email to verify your account simultaneously when necessary.
Not only does this help your account stay safe, but it gives the company an additional way to check your validity. It helps avoids cases of fraudulence and identity theft, which is great.
Future Possibilities
With digitization and computerization being so important, your software should be made with scope for that. The architecture of your software should be such that it can integrate with future possibilities, such as sensors and drones. This is not at all a farfetched idea, actually. There are actually instances in 2020 when delivery was made using drones to maintain social distance.
So, if you are planning on using a mobile app for Last Mile Delivery with your team, make sure you leave room for such aspects.
Do you need to have such a software developed? You can contact Enozom right here. They are a development company that will be able to help you find solutions with web app and mobile apps satisfyingly.
Final Thoughts
Software development is hard, especially for supply chain management. However, with the tips here, you should be able to get by a little safer now. Last Mile Delivery is very important in SCM and software that can automate a lot of these processes is really a helpful idea for everyone involved.