Getting your stuff from point A to point B is a huge part of planning in your business. Whether you run a local food delivery service or a nation-wide trucking company, you’re going to want to move your people and your goods quickly, and efficiently.
Delivery route optimization is all about how you plan routes to be time-efficient, cost-effective, and beneficial to both employees and customers. Let’s check out some of the ways that the modern delivery route is using the best of tech, A.I., and human wisdom to keep your business rolling, and expanding.
GPS Systems
One of the simplest tools at your disposal as your route plan is a GPS. This system can work either as a separate device or as an app your driver will used to route plan, and make deliveries. They’re cost-effective, and useful, too.
GPS planning can help a driver plan ahead as he map reads, and alert him to hazards on the road, slow traffic ahead, or upcoming speed limits. These added bits of info can greatly increase driver safety, and improve your company’s reputation as safe and responsible.
The simple delivery route planner offered by the GPS can help the driver save time, fuel, and effort when deciding which route to take. Modern GPS systems will give drivers the option of selecting the fastest rote, shortest route, avoiding tolls, or avoiding slower roads. This can help a driver make up for lost time, and integrated tracking technology can give you the opportunity to see, in real time, where your driver is.
AI Route Planning
Another increasingly popular option for delivery route optimization is utilizing Artificial Intelligence to plan routes and find the most efficient path through traffic, and over multiple stops. The intense and concentrated amount of digital brain power used by an AI-based system can plan and present a multi-stop strategy in an instant.
AI can also correct itself in real-time. Should your driver meet with a delay or traffic, the AI can re-plan accordingly, and provide new instructions. Using real-time data, your AI-based delivery route planner can handle multiple drivers, multiple stops, and can be used to factor in weather, traffic, and delivery priority.
Integrated Route Planning Software
So why switch to a digital system? The benefits are numerous. Your human drivers can save an immense amount of time and effort by allowing an optimized route planning system to map out the route for them and find the most efficient path between two or more points.
The less tired your drivers are, the better they’ll be on the road. This software can also link up to a centralized hub and integrate with GPS tracking to map out where your drivers are in real time, how fast their going, and how far they are from a given destination.
Get updates to the delivery route in real-time as you call ahead, reassure clients, and keep communication open about arrival times. This entire streamlined process can save you money, improve your reputation, and save drivers valuable time, as well. Your clients can likewise get real-time updates on certain systems, allowing them to track driver progress and plan their time accordingly.
It’s a system which can greatly increase client satisfaction, streamline operations, give real-time feedback and data, improve driver safety, and help you move goods faster than ever.