INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Mobile Technology
Connected logistics gives
rise to super-powered
mobile platforms
“We are finding
more and more
ways to assist
customers to do
better business
within one mobile
platform.”
Cassie Lessing, Managing Director, Strato IT Group
W
hile the supply chain sector is known to be an early
adopter of technology, locally the sector has been
cautious with mobile- and cloud-based technology
adoption. In the relentless race to meet the requirements of
customers, logistics providers have realised that today’s cloud-
based technologies can create the almost instant competitive
advantage they desperately need.
Cassie Lessing, Managing Director, Strato IT Group, has
seen it for himself. Two years ago, he launched StratoPOD,
a mobile business application that digitises the delivery
process: “At the time, StratoPOD was one of the first
solutions of its kind to market but although the business
benefits of digitisation were obvious, there were very
few early adopters. The Strato team had to work hard to
convince supply chain participants to take the first step
towards digitisation. Two years on, we are seeing a rapid
adoption of digitisation within the supply chain and
enormous growth predictions. Suddenly, customers want to
digitise, in fact, those that have implemented StratoPOD,
have identified several additional digitisation opportunities
that are evolving the technology beyond its initial scope.”
Lessing says that what was originally a mobile business
application aimed at assisting customers to digitise the
delivery process, has transformed into a fully-fledged
business process application: “It’s the birth of a connected
mobile business platform and we are now seeing customers
who want to take digitisation to new levels. StratoPOD
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has already started evolving its integration into back-end
financial systems and other enterprise software applications,
and introducing a powerful element of data integration.
This has resulted in much-needed analytics and customers
are now fully engaging with the concept of digitisation,
paperless flow and analytical intelligence.”
It is not just about providing a business application according
to Lessing, he says for StratoPOD, it is more about becoming
a mobile business partner: “We have worked with clients to
add in elements to the application that will ease a particular
pain within the business.” A good example he says is the
fuel dispensing tool integrated into Cloete Sand and Stone’s
implementation: “We are finding more and more ways to
assist customers to do better business within one mobile
platform. The fuel dispensing function has eased the logistical
pain experienced by the customer who was manually
dispensing at 2am.”
Lessing says that StratoPOD is now looking at incorporating
messaging functionality into the platform for sizeable
deployments: “When the fleets become large and widespread,
a confidential chat portal for dispatch controllers would be
beneficial. This will ensure the delivery is tracked, data is
captured and all in real time across the country.”
It is what analysts are calling connected logistics; where the
Internet of Things, cloud and analytics combine and become
key drivers within the supply chain. n
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