Srinivas Chitturi is the Co-Founder and CTO of MTAP Technologies, the country’s leading SaaS-based company providing IoT-powered digital platforms to track and manage a wide range of transportation requests. He spearheads the innovation and product development at the company, backed by a rich experience of more than 15 years, to find solutions for a wide range of rental transport needs. Under Srinivas’s able leadership, MTAP Technologies has carved its niche in the logistics and transportation space with its AI-driven, cloud-based vehicle tracking and automated transport technology.
Covid-19’s impact on the transportation industry is unlike anything we have ever seen. The logistics sector was among those that took a significant hit, experiencing a downturn in productivity.
As most businesses turned their operations digital almost overnight, commuting’s sphere reduced to professionals working in essential sectors. Simultaneously, the availability of cab services dropped significantly, giving people a hard time booking taxis even during emergencies.
Against this backdrop, new-age logistics service providers rose to the occasion to provide tech-based mobility as well as fleet management solutions, helping the sector navigate the choppy waters of the pandemic.
How digital technology can drive the logistics sector in the post-pandemic world
Although most private sectors switched to remote work during the pandemic, some essential service sectors such as FMCG and pharma braved the viral outbreak to sustain the restricted economy. Such service providers, working within a limited movement framework, required a consistent, reliable, and practical mobility solution to go about doing their job.
For this segment, providing a safe travel method was a priority. To bridge this need-gap, innovators came up with services such as automated dispatching, driver/vehicle monitoring, GPS, and sensor-based SLA compliance, among others. No wonder, then, that the demand for new-age fleet management tools integrated with safety devices like in-cab cameras, lane departure control, etc., saw an upswing following the viral outbreak.
Astride the digital boom, technological advancements in the automobile industry have accelerated the adoption of automation to streamline processes and increase productivity and efficiency. The automobile industry leaders have already been using AI-led automation and allied tech for R&D aimed at realizing futuristic concepts such as self-driving vehicles. The same technology and vision can be utilized to augment the fleet management landscape. Doing so can empower companies to provide safe and dependable transport solutions to their employees. Optimized fleet management systems can help schedule trips, provide tracking information to employers in real-time, and generate an invoice to ensure a safe and seamless trip for employees.
With the prospect of mass inoculation just around the corner, office spaces are set to open soon. This will revitalize commute and boost the demand for safe and hygiene-centric mobility solutions. Beyond the workplace, schools, colleges, and educational institutes will also follow suit to ensure students, teachers, and staff’s safety. For instance, parents and relevant authorities can use an automated school bus tracking app to ensure that the team follows health and safety protocols. The children are wearing their masks during the transit to school and back home.
A holistic experience for all
The advantages of digitalized fleet management are not limited to just the end-consumers. With automated management tools, fleet managers can remotely manage, schedule, and dispatch vehicles on-demand. They can also manage travel requests and optimize their supply in real-time in the face of travel restrictions. This results in improved work efficiency in operations, thereby creating a seamless booking experience for both the management and passenger.
A digital fleet management system can also help leaders save time—a critical resource— by automating repetitive manual tasks such as keeping records of your fleet on paper. By utilizing the power of automation in apps and systems, businesses can deal with massive data quantities within seconds.
With a digitalized fleet management system in place, new-age logistics players can minimize human intervention and the risk of human errors, thereby driving efficiency and cost-optimization. All they need to do is tap away on their screen to solve all their challenges faster than eyes can blink.