In today’s increasingly competitive retail landscape, delivery times are becoming a crucial differentiator between brands. According to research by Deloitte, the wide majority (83%) of shoppers consider fast shipping to mean delivery within two days or less.

 As a result, people are no longer happy to wait days or weeks for their goods and next day delivery is now considered a standard, rather than a luxury.

With major disruptions to the UK’s roads, including adverse weather conditions, roadworks and even pesky potholes, logistics companies are now under more pressure to ensure customer demands are met.

Last year the Beast from the East, threw the country into complete chaos – poor driving conditions prompted online supermarkets to cancel tens of thousands of orders and saw profits slump as a result.

It is safe to say that the British weather is getting harder to predict. This February saw temperatures peak at 21oC in London sparking a rush in for goods usually associated with summer. Conversely periods of freak weather may prompt consumers to postpone certain purchases until later in the year.

In order to keep up with these peaks and troughs in consumer demand logistics businesses must ensure that they have an effective business mobility strategy in place across their entire supply chain.

Mobile devices and apps, when used in transportation and logistics, hold the key to visibility across the supply chain by providing access to real-time asset visibility on everything from drivers, to vehicles and their cargo.

By integrating an effective business mobility strategy across all devices and backend systems, organisations can improve efficiency, accuracy and timeliness across the delivery process.

An effective mobile device strategy will provide insight, from confirmation scans of material being received at the hub or arriving at the depot, through to the state of mobile devices out in the field.

The ability to monitor and gain insight into devices used by drivers can also help companies protect their workers by locking down and limiting functionality of mobile devices based on vehicle speed.

This could effectively limit the risk of distracted drivers and reduce potential accidents as a result.

With customer expectations continuing to grow at a rapid pace, it is important to ensure that items are delivered on time, without delay.

Having access to these real-time updates and accurate information makes everyone happier: the shipper, the carrier and, most importantly, the customer, who now demands online tracking access to see their parcel’s whereabouts in real-time.

If organisations do not leverage an integrated mobile approach to improve the visibility, management, and support of their business-critical mobility, they run the risk of limiting their ability to swiftly respond to issues, which could directly lead to losses in revenue.

By having access to real-time insights, brands can minimise driver downtime and improve overall customer service as a result.