This is the sixth and final article of our Vizlib Industry Supercharge series! In this article, we will talk about how modern data analytics can help prepare your transportation organisation to thrive in the future. And for the purposes of this article, we’re going to address commercial transportation and logistics as ‘transport,’ as both often face similar issues and operate within similar markets. And what an incredibly robust, critical market it is.
The transport industry is already a data-driven one. Data and analytics is how couriers know where to establish key hubs, and how long-haul freight companies understand the best routes to plot for their drivers. But what if organisations, like yours, could drill down even further into their data to really make the most of it?
That’s where Qlik Sense + Vizlib come into play. Let’s look at how these two powerhouse solutions can supercharge the transport industry.
Anticipating the unprecedented
Recently, the aftermath of global COVID-19 measures – such as vaccination requirements and isolation regulations – has caused major global travel issues. Many airlines and airports had to shutter flights during the pandemic, and even now that people are able to travel again, there’s challenges posed when, for example, individual travellers are competing with businesses for the limited space available on the reduced number of flights currently operating globally. In fact, smaller couriers often book up the spare space on commercial airlines to transport their goods. This has led to massive delays in several areas, such as Schipol airport in Amsterdam, and Heathrow airport in London. These challenges, while frustrating, can teach organisations important lessons about the future of logistics in a post-COVID economy, if you can harvest and analyse the vast amounts of information available quickly and easily.
Qlik’s Associative Engine lets users do exactly this: explore large data sets, and combine data sources regardless of size or location to create a single source of invaluable truth. And once your business has gathered information relating to delays, for instance, or your supply chain, implementing Vizlib Self-Service will empower anyone in the organisation to create secure data sandboxes and slice and dice the data however they need. Importantly, the establishment of independent data discovery can lead to meaningful insights into issues such as future delays, and be used to inform better solutions.
A better experience for customers
A famous marketing tactic was employed in America by a popular pizza chain in the 1980s: “Under 30 minutes or it’s free.” But a few years after the campaign started, they dialled this promise back, and it’s easy to see why: half an hour is an incredibly small window to receive an order, make a pizza, and get it delivered to the customer. Ultimately, this is an example of over-promising and under-delivering, and the delivery issue was logistics-based. Today, that same pizza company wouldn’t make that promise to their customers unless they had data to back it up.
Taking a customer-focused approach – like promising a shorter delivery time – is paramount for most businesses. By shifting towards a more customer-centric approach, you can provide patrons, users, or partners with the best possible experience. But a customer-centric approach doesn’t happen in siloes. For example, operating a fulfilment service successfully means bringing together many different departments that need to work in harmony: item storage, packing, shipping, inventory, and billing.
All of these departments need to be able to communicate with each other, discuss any issues that may arise and solve those problems. It’s important that the people in your organisation can accurately highlight any insights with data. Using Vizlib Collaboration, is all about collective intelligence, bringing your team and data together, and eliminating spreadsheet risk. But eliminating risk isn’t enough – your analytics tool should also help you navigate challenges to uncover opportunities and help you grow as a business.
Improving profitability in the organisation
Every single part of a transport operation requires cash outlay, from servicing vehicles, insuring assets, and purchasing boxes for shipping – for this reason, every part requires a close eye on finances. Integrating Vizlib Finance, a modern finance reporting solution for Qlik Sense, will allow the finance department and decision makers a flexible way to explore and drill down into the cash flow of the organisation.
There are many other ways to further improve your transportation business (or needs) with Qlik Sense + Vizlib. Any person in the company, from interns to data specialists, can use Vizlib Library‘s no-code approach to creating incredibly intuitive data dashboards, while Vizlib Gantt is the perfect project planning tool.
Interested in learning more? Sign up for a demo today.
