Digital Transformation and Process Management in Logistics

Digital transformation in logistics is the factor that forms the main backbone of the world's supply chain. As we all know, the cross-border transfer volume of goods and services is now growing almost exponentially. Two strong forces drive this pace of growth.

Production needs fewer people by the day, while the technology and techniques used keep improving. At the same time, the new online marketplaces for reaching consumers make things easier.

In companies, digital transformation and process management seek a perfect optimization between production and reaching the end user. Yet we observe that the third link lagging behind on transformation and efficiency is the logistics sector. This makes it necessary to develop fleet and vehicle safety, company culture and efficiency all at once.

Can logistics companies really apply digital transformation?

Digital transformation and process management should be applied with the goal of sustainable financial profitability and continuous improvement. The sector's human-resource structure, its existing and newly designed processes, and the right technology choice all come to the fore here. Alongside these, you need to account for customer needs and the business models accepted by customers and suppliers in the sector.

Only by examining and transforming all of these variables as a whole can a company move its workflow processes into the digital environment. The steps must be set up correctly; advancing simply because you're dazzled by the allure of technology isn't realistic. Otherwise the cost of ineffective technology, combined with the workload on staff, can pull the company in like a black hole.

Guarantee success in transformation and process management

If you're trying to make a plan, start by clarifying your expectations. Treating the goal comprehensively at the very beginning gives your company an advantage. For an efficient workforce, don't hesitate to consider each department according to its own competencies. Ask yourself:

• What are your digital-transformation goals for technological hardware and infrastructure?
• Will this transformation become part of your company culture?
• What advantages and disadvantages does it create for your customers?
• What is its contribution to — and cost for — your workflow and financial sustainability?
• Do the sector's risks and rewards offer a favorable environment?

In short, for the process to be functional in every respect and easy to apply, it helps to think through the different layers of both the company and the sector together. Once you've decided, moving step by step without rushing during implementation is the best approach — and that too is part of your craft.

What are the implementation criteria?

Before the process begins, it pays to advance stage by stage. Every stage of the workflow should be examined for continuous optimization, with no step ignored.

For optimization to progress soundly, the workflow processes need to be standardized; that way you can collect scalable, standard data at every stage. You handle this data in order of importance and pursue improvement in that same order — and over time it becomes one of the elements that make up your company culture.

Optimizing workflow processes by priority and tying them to a standard is a requirement of digital transformation. And handling this many variables successfully is only possible with a process-management software.

Are process-management tools functional enough?

Our search brings us to this question: if the existing tools are truly functional, why is this transformation still moving so slowly? Why, especially in logistics, is there no visible improvement in plain sight?

By the nature of how they work, process-management tools examine all of a company's processes; they require you to define, end to end, which stages a process passes through and how those stages will be managed. This forces the company to leave no gaps in its processes and to exchange data with other applications when needed — making it mandatory to see every gap holistically and clearly.

For logistics companies, digital transformation means addressing the entire infrastructure, from top management down to the driver. Business-management processes, the structure of the vehicles in the fleet, HSE-S (Health, Environment, Safety and Security), ISO 39001 and SQAS are the most basic requirements. On top of these, ERP and fleet-tracking applications are also used to manage the process.

For a flawless integration of all of this, you need to choose business and process software suited to your fleet.