Whether personal or professional—key to successful relationship—was, is and will always be communication! The success and robustness of supply chain is entirely dependent on how permeating and stable the line of communication has been developed by a company and its partners.

Quote, unquote ‘general perception is strategic leaders, spend a remarkable amount of time in communicating. The aim is to discover and discuss new facts, opportunities, ideate, build relationship within and outside the organization, align stakeholders, plan next course of action and make smart informed decisions.’ Defined and uninterrupted channel of communication is very important, and to be competitive, businesses must take into cognizance the importance of transparent and timely communication in 3PL industry via automated customer services.

What is Automated Customer Service?

Automated customer service is AI-powered system, integrated in supply chain management to provide support to customers for routine and recurring queries, where human interaction is not required. It instrumentalizes chatbots for providing status updates, to register inquiry or complaints, or when customers are looking for some specific resources. Automated customer service brings transparency and delivers timely communication for the next course of action.

Let’s delve deeper to figure out how gamification in retail can bring real-time insights, why user-friendly interface is helpful in efficient inventory management and how they contribute in proactive decision making. With numerous gamification concepts to explore, retailers must be able to find an equilibrium to balance gamification marketing for eCommerce retailing and offline business.

Why Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Require Transparent & Timely Communication System?

Third-Party Logistics (3PL) are specialized companies dealing with logistics as well as the distribution functions of other businesses. Small and sometimes big eCommerce businesses outsource logistics and other operations of supply chain to third-party service providers who have hubs to manage inventory, warehousing, logistics operations and support successful order fulfillment. 3PL providers are also approached by those eCommerce retailers who want to expand business and distribution networks but lack amenities, have low budget and do not have distribution centers. 3PL service providers offer a multitude of services to numerous companies, at times even with customized solutions. When a company opts for outsourcing its services, the main idea is to streamline operations, invest and explore core competencies of the company and the employees, reduce costs, and improve efficiency.

3PL providers receive a high volume of information and data which is specific to the nature of business of each client through an automated system used for tracking business dynamics. To disperse this humungous volume of data to each client, 3PL providers need a system which allows transparent and timely communication. With real-time insights and timely sharing of information, a business can benefit in many ways—

• Empowers informed decision making.
• Timely attention to defects and problems in the product.
• Identifying scope of expansion.
• Connect with customers in real-time.
• Efficient inventory management with less stock-outs and overstocking.
• Market prediction.
• Efficient logistics till last mile.

A 3PL provider can build strong business relationships with clients with fully integrated system and dedicated automated customer service for a client and ensure continuous exchange of information with the client. The transparent and timely communication ensure even the 3PLs do not encounter any anomalies in the smooth functioning.

For instance, demand for a SKU of a retailer had sudden increase in demand. If the retailer gets an analytical insight on the progress of demand specifying location, age group, purpose and other dynamics, then it would be easier for the retailer to manage the SKU and roll out appropriate amount in the market and send to vendors online or offline. The availability and timely sharing of articulated data with clients, also help in the growth of 3PL service providers.

Benefits of Automation for Your 3PL Business

Under this topic, attempt is to explore how various automation tools used by a 3PL business can benefit both the client and 3PL companies in scaling up. By leveraging Artificial Intelligence and automation tools, 3PLs can improve their scope of work, become more competitive, be a one-stop solution provider for supply chain operations in order fulfillment of clients. Automation streamlines processes, minimizes chances of manual errors, make 3PL industry more efficient and brings down cost.

• Automation Tools Improve Communication Efficiency

3PLs are expert in handling communication on behalf of their clients. The industry leverages technology to mitigate and connects the client to their customers. Some of the automation tools used for improving communication efficiency for their partners-

• Automated email responses as reminders, promotions, offers, about new launches or queries.
• Scheduled promotional feeds for social media sites.
• Automated Inventory Management.
• Analytical Software for measuring and tracking.
• Automated Customer Service.
• Scanners and bar codes to track and trace.
• Interactive Dashboards for measuring performance.
• Route optimization via real-time tracking.

These are some of the tools used by 3PL providers for enhancing business relationships with the clients and help them in realizing goals and improve efficiency.

• Benefits of Automation for 3PL

Third-Party Logistics (3PL) companies are a part of supply chain management of a company. These are specialized companies to whom retailers outsource work for cutting cost and for harboring inventories, transportation, providing warehousing facility and several other operations of supply chain. Since the magnitude of work handled by 3PL is voluminous and each client is different, so a dedicated automated system must be integrated with every individual client.

• Improves Inventory Management by segregating products of different clients.
• SKU mapping aids in real-time visibility.
• Analytical Software automatically analyzes information and shares with client.
• Automation helps in route optimization by planning delivery of the same routes, maximizing driver output and ensuring on-time delivery.
• Track and trace through scanners and bars improve warehouse management.
• Customized automated ordering to synchronized flawless workflows for each client to automate requisition, material transfer and order creation for purchase.