An estimated 21 million connected vehicles are on the road today, gathering endless amounts of data. How does this data impact the way we do business and transform the world around us?
A few decades ago, personal vehicle & fleet navigation was completely dependent on paper road maps, that no one ever knew how to fold! Digital maps are one of the many examples of how technology has completely revolutionized our world. Mapping the world in the internet, rather than on paper, has not only changed the way we navigate but also opened up various new business models like UBER & OLA, which we now take for granted.
Autonomous vehicles are here to stay with most manufacturers investing heavily in this direction to make their vehicles part of a connected world. Whether it is your own car or the truck that your business owns, all these are now becoming part of an expanding connected world.
Connectivity is emerging as a key differentiator, changing the landscape of the entire fleet & logistics industry. Technological trends like Artificial Intelligence, Big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming business processes, workflows, and business models. Technology is efficaciously advancing at breakneck speed bringing changes and creating challenges, even evoking apprehension among businesses. Only those who adapt to these technological advancements early can successfully compete in this changing ecosystem.
What do these technological changes, mean for your business? Data from the connected world empowers decision-making. It optimizes the business processes and make operations smooth and effortless with statistical decisions and automated workflows. Eventually, it is like interweaving threads of the warp and weft to create an intricately planned design in a fabric, effective coalescing of the various aspects of a business such as machines, manpower, operations, and customers are made possible through the use of technology.
Logistics is one such industry evolving under the influence of IoT’s digital transformation. Not long ago, knowing where your fleet is, and when it will arrive, had various unknowns. But today, you can actually track a cargo from its loading, while on transit, its condition along the way, optimize the route along the way, ensure it is secure with geo-fencing, and know exactly when it will get delivered. Data brings visibility into the process, reduces the unknowns, and increases efficiency.
Challenge is in how businesses use this data! You can use the data to automatically process customer orders and schedule trips with optimal routes charted out mapping all your drop off locations, all these powered by Artificial Intelligence. You can provide secure transportation of high-value goods or assure the condition of cargo in transit with real-time monitoring and reporting to your customers. You can increase the efficiency of your loading and unloading stations, warehouse operations, and manpower management with having visibility into ETA of your consignment. To top it all you create visibility into your business processes and streamline decision making.
The logistics and fleet industry has just begun to leverage the value of these analytical tools available today to maintain profitability in the face of the ever-shrinking margins. Powered by next-gen technologies the fleet industry is poised to become smarter, safer, and efficient. Endless opportunities to boost productivity and ROI with the application of big data analysis are within the grasp of forward-thinking organizations. The entire industry is changing, but only the enterprises that are ready to embrace this change and develop adaptive environment can truly leverage the power of connected vehicles. With connected vehicles the possibilities are endless.
According to McKinsey, the value of connected vehicle data and the new business models that emerge from it could be worth $1.5 trillion a year by 2030.
