Mag : What else are shippers demanding from carriers if they want to do business with them ?
Adams : Chain of custody requirements are increasing substantially from what they were especially when it comes to air cargo . The TSA is scanning everything . They want to know exactly what ’ s in the boxes .
We also have customers trying to figure out how to do better flight tracking . They don ’ t have any control over the flights , but they ’ re the ones that must take responsibility for the ultimate delivery . It ’ s big in pharma , but we ’ re seeing it in general tender too , especially for carriers that are doing next flight out work . They are looking for better tracking of exactly where those packages are . Just because a courier delivers a package to the airline ’ s terminal doesn ’ t guarantee that it ’ s going to go out . Especially now with the airplanes being less than consistent . The couriers used to be able to hand off a package and say to the shippers , “ I did my job . I dropped it at the airport .” That was the end of the conversation . Not anymore . Shippers are saying , “ You ’ re going to book the flight , get it to the airport and be able to tell me whether someone has to pick it up at the other end at 6:00 p . m . or 9:00 p . m . You ’ re going tell me where that package is at all times .”
Mag : Does that means a courier ’ s system has to tie in with the airline system ?
Adams : Ultimately , yes . People are trying to figure that out right now . They are looking for ways to make the technology better at this because of increasing call volumes . Shippers are having people calling them and asking , “ What flights are my packages going to be on ?” Some are actually having people sitting there tracking planes to figure that out . They want to know what the boarding pass of the package is . They are trying to make sure that the package gets on the right flight and when it ’ s going to land so they can update it .
Mag : So that ’ s kind of a future thing that they ’ re going to have to solve because you can ’ t keep doing that with people forever ?
Adams : Yes . That ’ s an emerging piece . There ’ s a lot of people trying to play in the automation game . It ’ s something that has a lot of interest . Lot of folks in technology are trying to make it work . It ’ s very complicated .
Mag : Leave us with some final thought about this question of what shippers want . What can last mile providers do technology-wise to be more responsive to shippers ’ needs today and tomorrow ?
Adams : Data transparency is the key . You need to be able to integrate with shippers so they have real time visibility to the latest status , good or bad . This helps to prevent misalignment and ultimately customer frustration .
Be prepared for the fact that shippers are going to ask for the analytics on how you performed . Dashboards with transparent reporting will be a major part of demonstrating value . If you don ’ t provide them , be assured they will create their own metrics of your failures . How would you respond if your shipper asked for all the details for the last six months ? Could you provide it quickly and would it be accurate ? Enabling an organization to do this doesn ’ t happen overnight . CLDA
“ Your API needs to be on point and provide shippers ’ customers with easy access to track their packages right to their doorsteps .”
22 customized logistics & delivery Magazine I winter 2023