Supply chain management is a mix of challenges and opportunities! For harnessing opportunities, challenges need to be addressed. But, post-pandemic, a couple of things have jumped out of the coffin and disrupting third-party logistics—the backbone of supply chains.

• Post the pandemic, shippers and logistics providers wish to optimize operations, secure the system with better risk management, and minimize costs.
• As supply chain is dependent on logistics—sustainability in logistics is a must.
• 3PL service providers and the shipping industry need to compete with the ‘Amazon effect’ which signifies speed, convenience, time management, and ease of availability as selling points for a product.

With these challenges in tow, it can be concluded that 3PL needs attention for the benefit of businesses. Over here, an attempt has been made to check the functionalities of data analytics and how they provide support for performance optimization in 3PL.

Significance of Data-driven 3PL Enhancement for 3PL Service Providers

Post-COVID-19, the palpable gap between brick-and-mortar and online shopping has made a quiet exit, giving an advantage to customers, and putting performance pressure on retailers as well as vendors. The market has become competitive and a major challenge has been thrown by what is known as the ‘Amazon effect’, where time and convenience are everything and is winning customers by scores. At this point, to stay atop and to have margin success, businesses need to remodel and think futuristic by adopting analytics solutions for 3PL. Today, data is king and provides support in employing techniques for strengthening the supply chain for order fulfillment. The 3PL Reporting Software transforms businesses and it cultivates an atmosphere where they can sense, feel, comprehend, respond, and eventually evolve as a living being. With data-driven analytics systems for logistic service providers, experience is immense, and their competitive advantages are—

• Proactive Prediction for Operations Management: Automated reporting metrics for 3PL provide relevant data to predict future demand graphs and expected changes in customer attitude. Data generated is analyzed and helps decision makers to take a proactive approach towards making strategic planning related to freight, shipping, and transportation.
• Increases Scope for Improvement: With continuous access to data on inventory, it becomes convenient to track and trace KPIs such as time, logistics, warehousing, last-mile connectivity, and other operations. Information on such critical areas increases the scope for improvement and manages business in a better way.
• Reduces Cost of Transportation: Data-driven analytics in 3PL improvement also covers logistics and provides real-time information on shipping and transportation. Through the track and trace feature used for collecting data, management receives centralized insights on a single dashboard about multiple touchpoints of a business. This information is inclusive of costs on different modes of transportation, lead times, driver performance, wait time in the yard, cheapest routes to various destinations, and all such small nitty-gritty that can significantly bring down transportation costs.
• Gives Competitive Edge: Analytics platforms for logistics empower the logistics industry by providing data, that can reduce cost, improve performance, help in better management of assets, strengthen relationships with customers at lower cost, and show value-added shipping routes.

Integrated operations management in the supply chain creates a data vault. The structured matrix of information empowers businesses to perform, excel, and alternate business dynamics without interrupting the flow of work.

Types of Data and Metrics Required for Advanced Reporting for 3PL Performance

Supply chain management is a complex system and a cluster of several small as well as big operations. An integrated system generates a web of data that can be evaluated and analyzed for identifying KPIs and enhancing the overall performance of third-party logistics. A few from the exhaustive list of key areas from where analytics can be generated for advanced reporting for 3PL performance are—

• Fuel management
• Route optimization
• Shipping and transportation tracking
• Inventory management barcodes
• Warehousing
• Last-mile order fulfillment
• Optimization of intermodal and multimodal transportation
• Returns management
• Reducing delays
• Driver performance
• Yard management
• Carriers

These are some of the main key points from where crucial data is generated and used as reporting metrics for 3PL. Investing in these areas enables the generation of data in real-time and provides visibility, helpful in the smart decision-making process.

3PL Reporting Software Enhances Performance

3PL reporting software is data-driven and gives information to structure-function, making it competitive and increasing response time in the most cost-effective ways.

• Provide End-to-end Visibility of Supply Chain: With data-driven analytics, there is complete visibility into the supply chain management and the product life cycle. This boosts the performance as there is scope for working on loopholes.
• Makes Logistics Sustainable: Information is power! Real-time insights into shipping and transportation can cut costs as well as carbon footprint. Makes logistics sustainable and eco-friendly.
• Builds Trust with the Customers: With increased sustainability, customer trust is also built, and they prefer bonding with those who have an eco-friendly approach.
• Inventory Planning: Insights into demand, help in inventory planning as per requirement.
• Cost Cutting: Make business more profitable as the cost is streamlined and unnecessary expenditure is brought down.