Want to Improve Your Delivery Operations? Be More Proactive with Your Mobile Device Management
For a delivery driver, a mobile device is the most important tool in their arsenal. It dictates where they will go next, tracks the status of ongoing deliveries, and captures proof of delivery among many other tasks. Yet, in speaking with drivers casually, many have expressed critical concerns about their current mobile technology. These concerns fall into three main areas:
1. Outdated Devices or Software: Many carriers are working with old technologies that lack the communications and data capture toolset needed for real-time routing and reporting requirements.
2. Assumed Reliability of New Devices: Even with the latest devices in hand, things can go wrong, like a dead battery in the middle of a delivery round. It’s preventable but often overlooked by those who aren’t in the field every day.
3. Tech Preferences: Some workers want to be able to connect their personal wearables for easier use while they’re on the move. They don’t like carrying mobile devices all day while they’re also trying to handle letters and parcels. Yet, many companies won’t allow the use of personal wearables, which is frustrating and sometimes impacts device use.
Getting the Most Out of Your Workers
Each of these scenarios presents a host of problems, many of which logistics leaders are unaware of. To get the most out of delivery drivers, logistics companies should provide devices that fit the following criteria:
1. Highly secure, well-connected, custom-accessorised mobile devices that strike a balance between ruggedness and consumer-friendly design. They must be lightweight yet durable enough to work well on snowy, rainy, and dusty days. They also need to work seamlessly regardless of whether the driver (or customers) are wearing gloves, using a bare finger or holding a pen. To ensure comfort and efficiency, drivers should be able to customise their setup with accessories like headphones for voice communications or wristbands to keep their hands free for scanning and delivering.
2. Integrate the right software to support both back-end operations and frontline workers who need real-time guidance on delivery changes and status updates. If they need to receive and process payments on their route, they’re going to need a way to do mobile parcel dimensioning and accept mobile payments.
3. Train carriers on how to use the devices and provide on-demand resources to help refresh their memories on new or less-frequently used features. It will help tech novices become more comfortable with the devices and drive greater adoption. It also helps to show them the self-diagnostic tools that are available, should they suddenly lose a wireless signal or accidentally press the wrong button and change a setting.
4. Monitor device usage and performance. If you don’t know how drivers are using their personal mobile devices, it will be hard to know there’s a problem, much less how to fix it. For every driver who is not using their mobile device properly, there are countless customers left in the dark about their letters and parcels. So, if you’re not conducting daily wellness checks across your fleet, you'll remain stuck in reactive mode, watching your IT ticket queue (and costs) grow. A small issue can quickly escalate, turning a low-cost device into a high-expense problem. You'll face IT labour costs, potential device replacements, configuration expenses, and the potential revenue loss from missed packages or failed payments at pickup.
Centrally monitoring the usage and performance of every device in your fleet is perhaps the most important aspect of all. It’s how you control the amount of money you make, save, or lose as a result of your mobile technology spend.
If you can monitor which devices aren’t being used or charged properly, you can take proactive steps to get the situation sorted. The same goes for device performance - if you (or your IT team) are alerted to a potential battery, security, or connection issue early on, you can troubleshoot and resolve it before it becomes truly disruptive. Preventative device maintenance and management is always the best strategy, especially when those mobile devices are the only way you can provide real-time navigation guidance to your drivers, and real-time tracking for customers.
Choosing the Right Device for Your Business
Many logistics providers make the mistake of purchasing mobile devices based on price alone, but cheap devices often exclude critical features. For example, without a proactive support system from the manufacturer, logistics companies are left to troubleshoot on their own. As a result, delivery drivers may have to work offline or use non-secure personal devices that are unable to take payments in the field or access mobile dimensioning tools to properly process parcels they are picking up.
To make matters worse, companies might lose considerable money and time having to replace devices they can’t get fixed due to expired warranties. In the event the warranty is still valid, they might have to jump through hoops to get the device ‘cleared’ for replacement, often sending it into a service centre first. If the device can’t be repaired, they may have to wait lengthy periods of time for replacements or fork out extra money to buy spares in the meantime (because letting a delivery driver go even a single day without a mobile device in hand can be equally expensive).
So, when reviewing all the possible mobile devices on the market, logistics companies should explore the benefits of a proactive managed services solution (that can integrate with their existing enterprise mobility management software if desired), then weigh them against the benefits and risks of sticking with a more reactive device management approach. Talk to other companies about their experience with different types of device management solutions, particularly end-to-end managed service models, and ask for their honest feedback on questions like:
Did they get the ROI they expected?
Were they able to reduce device losses and failures?
Do they see better cost containment after deployment?
Was the user experience improved through proactive device management?
Did they have access to end-to-end services and support, including application testing and validation, OS and security management, intelligent/proactive analysis and reporting, and training?
Could they – and their end users – access a helpdesk 24/7?
Did the managed services provider also offer a fully integrated mobile management platform and back-end repair infrastructure?
Getting answers to these questions will help you weigh up your options and ensure you are making the right choice for your business.
Learn more about Zebra’s full suite of solutions for Transportation and Logistics here: https://www.zebra.com/ap/en/industry/transportation-logistics.html
