Need to reach a place but don’t have a car? Do you require a car for personal or official use within a very reasonable budget? There is now a very effective solution for these kinds of problems, which is renting a car. In recent times, there are mobile applications that make the job of hiring a car as easy as touching a few buttons.
Naturally, the transportation market has increased quite a bit. Especially among the people born between 1980 and 2000, the percentage opting for smartphone-based transportation apps ranges up to 70%. Interested in knowing how a transportation app comes to be? Let us get a look into that.
Need for a transportation app
One of the most important things about businesses is the delivery of the products of the consumer. This is also true for the dealers in heavy machinery, where the timely delivery of these instruments can make for the functioning of the business itself. As a business model, it has been proven to be a money-making one, as the turnover is depicted to reach $215 billion by 2020. This significant contribution of the logistics sector to the economy is improved upon by the application of functional mobile apps on three main points;
- Tracking of the consignments
Safe delivery of the products to the right clients is a prime concern of the logistic companies, especially when the consignment is valuable or important. So, it is important to know the location at all times. Manually tracking the location of such a package is cumbersome and involves the direct interaction between the driver and the customer. With a mobile app, it is very easy to locate the status of the consignment and estimate the time of its safe delivery.
- Making your logistics business more mobile
Converting to a mobile app can add mobility to the transportation business, as the manual tasks can be done at the touch of the screen. For example, if done manually, the incoming and outgoing logging of packages would need huge manpower for a business and someone to be present at the terminal. With the mobile apps, bulk clearing of packages is possible and is done within a fraction of the time it would need manually.
- Better servicing of the customers
With all the relevant info and other data at your quick disposal, it would be very easy for a business to serve its customers better. There are no haggling phone calls, or the immensely frustrating “please hold” answers. The business just needs to upload the relevant information in the app and the customers can access it at their will. Also, investing in the mobile app will ensure a direct line of communication to the customers. Minimization of paperwork and the connectivity between the different departments is also an added benefit for the company and the client.
What should be the features?
Transportation apps are broadly categorized into two types; (i) Apps for booking vehicles for personal travel, and (ii) Applications that cater to the transportation of goods of all types.
Nowadays, the application focuses on a single functionality; however, the apps of the future will be enabled to factor in multiple data sources and provide a more comprehensive service list for the customers. Incidentally, the general features any transportation app will need to focus on can be listed as follows;
- Pathway optimization
Knowing the best route to deliver the consignment is important, as it saves on fuel and time. The transportation apps designed for your company should use the GPS and the location feature to ensure that your driver is advised about the most useful route to take in their delivery run.
Also, integration with the real-time notifications of the rail and roadways authority will be a necessary feature, as the drivers can get the notifications in real-time and get to decide on their routes for fuel and transport cost optimization.
- Multimodal tracking solutions
Tracking of the shipment is also an important feature to save the delivery data and carrier information. The app should be designed to track the relevant info as per the requirement of the company. It should compare the real-time information with the actual delivery location for comparing and ensure the proper completion of the job. Using the most advanced protocols of the Internet of Things can help to store the relevant information of documents, photos, and barcodes.
- Driver activity management
The old way of writing in a ledger and reporting are long gone. Nowadays, the mobile transportation app can keep track of the deliveries, the number of pickups, mileage reporting, and total work hours completed. The data can be obtained in real-time mode in recent apps. This feature will ensure that the balance of the payment and the claimed work hours can be calculated without any problem.
- Payroll management
Need to arrange for the salary of the drivers? You need not take stress about collecting the login and logout time, nor the deliveries completed, job hours, and other required problems. You can now design the apps to keep track of all the information and give you the correct amount to disburse. Thinking about the management of overtime and late working hours? Ask your developers to add GPS stamps on each of the assignments. With the real-time data at hand, it will be easy to calculate the revenue and costs.
- Cashless payments
The integration of online payment systems can be a fruitful venture in the development and functioning of these apps. There will be no need to wait on the paper-based invoices and also waiting for the payment to come through. You can design your app to deliver the report to the customer and receive payment over the online portal. You can even add multiple payment systems on the app for the customers.
Identifying the features For any transportation business, the words of Amit Kalantri, the author of “Wealth of Worlds”, pose just the opposite notion; “Faster is fatal, slower is safe.” A transportation company thrives upon the speed and care of their consignment. To ensure that the process of transportation runs smoothly, it is better to embrace the new-age technologies and invest in a multi-functional transportation application for your business.