1. In our previous issue, we
analysed how an ERP solution
could emerge as a great
enabler for businesses, across
verticals. Continuing with
our endeavour to introduce
readers to the most relevant
technologies for their
businesses, in this issue, we
turned to the logistics industry
to analyse the challenges
faced by it and ascertain if IT
could be the wonder pill to
address those as well!
Vandana Sharma
BenefIT Bureau
Challenges
Abound
IT Paves
The Way
For Logistics
Service
Providers
BenefIT / November 2009 / 15
Logistics

2. “
Move to higher ground,
where the view is better.”
—Anonymous
T
he need to have a better view
of business operations is
indeed driving organisations,
especially the ones that deal
with logistics and supply chain
management, to look for tools and
technologies that can help them
achieve this. But the challenge lies in
taking businesses to a higher plane of
operational efficiency! Experts believe
that understanding the nature of
challenges and then finding remedies
to them can be the best way forward.
Therefore, to understand the key
deterrents, we turned to logistics
firms and technology specialists who
deal with such operational challenges,
virtually 24x7.
An overview
The issues that mar the efficiencies of
any logistics business range from the
non-availability of timely data related
to in-transit material, to lack of
transparency related to the collection
and delivery schedules of cargo, and
so on, observes Balaji Swaminathan,
practice head—Logistics, Ramco
Solutions. Most of these impediments
are due to the lack of coordination
between the various entities in the
supply chain, he adds.
As it is said, without diagnosing
the ailment well, the treatment will
never be appropriate. So we thought
it best to first analyse these challenges
in a holistic manner. We narrowed
down on the main causes lead to
such process-level disconnects, and
grouped them under the following
four heads:
• Transportation management:
Effective management of
transportation requirements has
become more of a boardroom
concern. This is because
A transport firm adds
momentum to its
operations, with ERP
P
ankaj Transport offers
services related to
transportation, crane
rentals, freight forwarding and
logistics.
The firm’s growth lead to many
process-level challenges that it
was unable to deal with, with
its existing legacy systems. “We
were not able to cope with the
transaction volumes and this was
leading to critical tasks not being
completed in time,” recalls Pankaj
M Mehta, chairman and managing
director, Pankaj Transports.
Apart from this, servicing the
clients with consignment related
information was not possible
in real-time. The information
updates required to take critical
decisions did not flow in, on time.
Client invoices were not getting
generated on schedule, which often
led to a cash crunch within the
company, shares Mehta. On the
whole, there was a desperate need to
integrate processes and bring about
transparency across the board,
within the organisation.
The company opted for the
SAP Business One ERP solution
to achieve the much-needed
accuracy, consistency and
timeliness in its support functions.
According to Mehta, the ERP
system has helped the company
in streamlining and integrating
all its business processes, and
improving information flow in the
organisation, leading to employees
getting a better view of operations
and hence being able to offer better
service to its customers. •
Pankaj M Mehta,
chairman and managing director,
Pankaj Transports
“The ERP system has
helped the company
in streamlining and
integrating all its
business processes, and
improving information
flow in the organisation.”
Logistics
16 / November 2009 / BenefIT

3. them from meeting customer
demands and growing the business.
Roy explains the intricacies associated
with this challenge: “A critical process
area for LSPs is the end-to-end
quote-to-cash (QTC) process, since it
involves all major internal functions.
These include sales, quoting rates
to customers, order management,
planning, execution, monitoring
and settlement.” In other words,
the QTC process is crucial to the
success of LSPs. It drives the customer
experience, revenues, and margins.
But information challenges arise as
a consequence of an organisation’s
inability to keep a tab on order expiry
dates and analyse revenue leakage
and lost business, says Roy.
He explains: “When there are
manual processes for routing,
shipment consolidation, and
operational accounting; or when
there is an inability to monitor cost
accruals, profitability, and shipment
flow in real time throughout the
shipment lifecycle, inaccurate
billing may happen, resulting in
customer billing disputes, revenue
leakage, and increased ‘days sales
outstanding’ (DSO).”
transportation comprises the lion’s
share of the overall cost of logistics.
The fact that the cost of logistics in
India is much higher than in Europe
or America, has made managing
transportation more complex now
than before, says Samik Roy, head—
Commercial Applications Business,
Oracle India.
Factors like—the large number of
unorganised players, multiple modes
to manage operation, congestion
on roads and ports, rising fuel and
other costs and increasing delivery
pressures, add to the complexity.
To deal with this, ensuring
transparency within the organisation
helps. This can be done by
developing effective transportation
processes that keep a tab on the total
landed cost of getting goods from
the factories into the hands of the
consumers, Roy advises. Logistics
Service Providers (LSPs) also need to
better manage risk and ensure timely
delivery of goods, he adds.
• Information bottlenecks that
choke profitability: For many LSPs,
information residing in silos, along
with disjointed and error-prone
internal processes are preventing
With an integrated, flexible and
secure QTC solution set, logistics-
focused organisations can automate
and integrate the entire process and
lower revenue leakage, reduce costs,
and lower DSO, Roy affirms.
• Dealing with expanding,
dynamic markets: The trend towards
increased logistics outsourcing
among major companies has offered
LSPs the opportunity to expand
their business by managing a greater
portion of their clients’ supply chain.
But the real challenge is to offer
comprehensive, customised services
to a diverse customer base without
adding overheads and eroding profits,
feels Roy. Rodney Strata, industry
principal—Transportation & Logistics,
SAP Asia Pte, Ltd, agrees and adds:
“Difficulty in managing a worldwide
network of business partners and
logistics service providers (LSPs) is
another challenge that is being faced,
increasingly.”
Suggests Amit Prasad, founder &
CEO, SatNav Technologies, “The key
is to ensure that a rise in demand
is fulfilled with an adequate supply
at the right time. The logistics
Samik Roy, head—Commercial
Applications Business, Oracle India
“With an integrated and
secure QTC solution set,
logistics-focused organisations
can automate and integrate
the entire process.”
Harinath Chakravarthy, GM,
Technology & Business Solutions,
TVS Logistics
“Lack of localised solutions
for the logistics sector has led
to companies using heavily
customised solutions.”
Rodney Strata, industry principal—
Transportation & Logistics, SAP
Asia Pte, Ltd
“Adaptable processes can
connect with the information
chain for improved, automated
collaboration with partners,
suppliers, and customers.”
BenefIT / November 2009 / 17
Logistics

4. itself to the adoption of IT solutions
on a large scale.” Besides, he feels
that currently, there are hardly any
solutions that provide economic as
well as business benefits for small
and mid-sized truck operators. “This
is so because of the complexity of the
solutions (software and hardware)
and also the cost of adopting and
running the solution,” he adds.
Harinath Chakravarthy, general
manager, Technology & Business
Solutions, TVS Logistics, also feels
that “there is a lack of localised
solutions for the logistics sector.
This has led to companies using
heavily customised solutions which
are designed to work in only certain
scenarios, i.e., these are not flexible in
adapting to new scenarios existent in
different geographies.
Finding solutions
With a view to increase revenues
and deal with the process-level
bottlenecks, LSPs are increasingly
searching for ways to reliably deliver
existing services at lower costs and
provide innovative new services that
streamline the supply chain.
businesses that successfully meet this
requirement are bound to succeed.”
Strata advises having adaptable
business processes that are easy to
manage. He explains: “Adaptable
processes can also connect with
the information chain (for example,
supply chain event management,
freight costing, and scorecards
of compliance with service-level
agreements) for improved, automated
collaboration with partners,
suppliers, and customers.” These
can enable global capabilities via the
multi-mode planning of activities for
air, ocean, rail, road, parcel and postal
transportation modes, he adds.
• A dearth of cost effective, easy-
to-use solutions: The non-adoption
of integrated logistics management
solutions in general is a major
challenge hampering smaller payers
in this domain. Ashish Sonal, CEO,
Orkash services agrees and shares
the reasons behind this: “Unlike the
logistics sector in advanced first
world countries, the fragmented
and unorganised structure of the
Indian logistics sector (particularly
the trucking sector) does not lend
Experts believe that technology
has found answers to most of these
issues. So, we turned to them and
collated a few technology tools
and software solutions that may
be of relevance for LSPs and help
them tie up the loose ends in their
organisations.
1
Software applications
Effective supply chain
planning and execution can
help companies optimise
and streamline the flow of goods and
materials. Supply chain execution
solutions such as transportation and
warehouse management systems
(TMS & WMS) can significantly
help improve logistics efficiency,
suggests Roy. These software
applications (like transportation
management software, warehouse
management software, business
intelligence (BI) applications, RFID
(radio frequency identification)
software, etc) are available as part
of most ERP (enterprise resource
planning) software suites, and also as
standalone solutions. But in choosing
a solution, companies must consider
not just functionality and features but
also how well the solution interacts
within the larger business network,
cautions Strata.
2
RFID devices
One of the emerging
technologies used to
effectively manage logistics
in various industries is radio
frequency identification technology
or RFID. RFID tags refer to small
electronic devices that are made
up of a small chip and an antenna.
The device can carry approximately
2,000 bytes of data. And, similar to
how information can be retrieved
or read from bar codes or magnetic
strips via a scanner or bar-code
Balaji Swaminathan, practice head—
Logistics, Ramco Solutions
“The tracking devices and
software applications can
also be integrated with
any ERP software to give
better visibility of in-
transit cargo.”
Ashish Sonal,
CEO, Orkash services
“Integration of
technologies like GIS,
GPS and business
intelligence tools can
lead to valuable insights
for logistics businesses.”
Logistics
18 / November 2009 / BenefIT

5. 3
The interactive Web
One of the technologies
gaining popularity across
the logistics industry isWeb
2.0, or in other words, the interactive
Web. Om Logistics, a Delhi-based
logistics company, is using this
interactive nature of theWeb to run
a real-time online application to
enable its customers to have real-
time access to the status of their
consignment. S K Goel,VP—IT, Om
Logistics, shares more:“In our website
there are primarily two options that
our customers can explore. One is
to track consignments, with which
users can track any number of their
consignments, one by one.The other
option is‘Members Login’ that allows
users to track all their consignments,
in one go. Customers can also see the
reader, RFID devices also require a
scanner to retrieve the information
stored in them.
Thanks to its design and data
storage capabilities, RFID is one of the
most commonly used technologies
in managing the animal product
supply chain, says Vikas Sharma,
consultant, Sierra Systems. “Apart
from managing animal traceability,
RFID technology has tremendous
use in monitoring and controlling
the shipment of any material from its
origin to its storage and finally to its
customer or consumer. Industries like
airlines, couriers, pharmaceutical and
medical firms are using or planning to
invest in RFID technology to manage
and track the movement of luggage,
parcels, medical equipment, patient
history, etc,” he adds.
Considering the advantages
it offers, more and more logistics
companies are embracing this
technology to grab the first-mover’s
advantage. Sharma agrees and
adds: “It has certainly caught the
imagination of many and it is
just a matter of time before RFID
technology becomes an integral part
of any logistics business.”
status of their material on a map.”
There is also an option to set
Transport management systems (TMS):
This solution integrates and streamlines transportation planning, execution, freight payment
and business process automation across all modes of transportation, from full truckloads
to complex multi-leg air, ocean, and rail shipments. “With such solutions, companies can
lower transportation costs, improve customer service and asset utilisation and provide
flexible, global fulfilment options,” says Roy.
Warehouse management systems (WMS):
This software helps improve warehouse speed and efficiency while increasing customer
service levels by optimising core warehouse functions. “With a WMS, companies can
increase inventory accuracy and labour productivity while reducing the cost of handling
process exceptions and business changes,” says Roy.
On the hardware side, warehouse-security gadgets like CCTVs (closed circuit TVs)
and cameras connected with DVRs (digital video recorders) can enable LSPs to view the
warehouse developments, at any time.
Business/supply chain intelligence and analytics:
Business intelligence tools can help logistics companies in exploiting the large pool of available
raw data and identify the emerging trends and patterns for route optimisation, resource
optimisation, etc.The software also helps in doing an analysis of the demand-supply gap.
Sonal agrees and says: “This acts like a good forecasting tool to facilitate planning,
scheduling, optimum resource utilisation, correct demand projections and manpower
requirements assessment in an organisation, thereby, eliminating the chances of any
unpleasant surprises.
Software info bytes
Vikas Sharma, consultant,
Sierra Systems
“RFID technology
has tremendous use
in monitoring and
controlling the shipment
of any material.”
S K Goel,
VP—IT, Om Logistics
“Om Logistics is using
this interactive nature of
the Web... to enable its
customers to have real-
time access to the status
of their consignment.”
BenefIT / November 2009 / 19
Logistics

6. a single unified window for customer
queries. Apart from building the brand
image of the company and creating
awareness on the services and value
additions, the website is helping the
company in generating business and
sales queries,” says Mrinal Chakraborty,
GM—IT & OPS Processes, DTDC.The
website’s content is updated on a need
basis every fortnight, and is optimised
withYahoo!, Google, MSN, etc, he adds.
4
GPS navigation devices
GPS (global positioning
system) loggers that can be
deployed to track vehicles
auto-alerts on the website, after
which, the system sends e-mail
notifications to customers as soon
as it receives information regarding
their consignments having reached
the destination. Another e-mail is sent
to the customer after delivery of the
material. Also, customers can track
their consignments by sending an
e-mail to status@omlogistics.co.in,
and the ERP system reverts within 2
minutes, says Goel.
DTDC, another well-known logistics
company is also using theWeb to offer
the consignment tracking facility to its
customers.“The website is proving to be
in order to ensure streamlined
operations, without time and resource
wastage, is also getting popular.
The GPS logger is almost of
the size of a match box and can be
installed in the vehicle with great
ease. “The device facilitates passive
tracking. You can place the GPS
logger in the vehicle and allow the
driver to continue with his daily
chores. At any point, we can take
out the GPS logger and plug it into
a laptop or computer via a USB
port to retrieve a consolidated
report containing different statistics
related to the journey covered by the
Where IT steers the
growth of a logistics
company
W
ith operations in the
UK, Spain, Thailand,
USA, Germany and
China, through warehouses
located in 39 locations both in
India and abroad, TVS Logistics
has come a long way since its
inception in 1995. A part of TVS
Group, the company is into
providing low cost sourcing and
complete logistics management of
automotive components
from India.
As happens with every growing
business, even TVS Logistics also
faces many challenges, virtually
on an ongoing basis; most of
which are very niche to its nature
of operations. However, the
company has been steering through
each of these bottlenecks, by making
wise use of technology.
Harinath Chakravarthy, general
manager, Technology & Business
Solutions, TVS Logistics shares
more: “As core process management
solution, we have an integrated ERP
in place (a Ramco ERP solution),
with a bolt-on logistics module
for planning and execution. The
system also has functionalities to
support integration requirements
for customs and freight handling,
service provider alert messaging
and secure customer interfaces.”
Apart from this, the company
has deployed solutions for cross-
enterprise document storage.
Also, the firm uses GPRS-based
handheld devices for capturing
point-of-service information. It
also has IP-based cameras for
offsite facility management and
biometric attendance tracking
and access control systems for
on-site security.
An analytics solutions is
also in place for continuous
monitoring of service delivery
data and generating critical
information for the top
management (made available
via information dashboards) for
making profitability and spend
related strategies.
Logistics
20 / November 2009 / BenefIT

7. Goel agrees and reveals that
after deploying GPS-kits in the
company’s fleet of 3500 vehicles, OLL
has achieved complete end-to-end
tracking of its on-the-move vehicles.
vehicle,” says Prasad.
Information such as—speed,
distance, the route, detours taken
if any, number of stops made, etc,
also get displayed. This can be
of immense help for a logistics
company to keep a track of the
vehicles and the drivers without
making a heavy investment—a
perfect solution for people who are
willing to improve the efficiency of
their logistics services, adds Prasad.
5
Bundled intelligent
solutions, on rent!
Solutions based on
geographic information
system (GIS) technology, which
Here are a few GPS devices that you may explore:
• SatNav’s SatGuide GPS logger is a tracking device
that comes coupled with a map repository software, which as per
the company, contains detailed maps of 404 cities and 16 lakh POIs
(points of interest), from across the country. “SatGuide GPS logger
is an affordable solution for tracking the movement of vehicles.
This product can be bought at a onetime investment and doesn’t
require monthly recurring expense or costly bulky solutions,” says Prasad.
• Falcon-i, a vehicle tracking system (VTS), developed
by American Megatrends India (AMI), is another such
tool that provides real-time information about vehicle
movement, helping companies take well-informed
decisions to enhance the productivity of operations. This
device sends information about the vehicle position,
speed, distance travelled and duration of each halt,
through GPS/GPRS. The information can then be accessed
from a central location through a website or mobile phone.
• Another option is to go for a range of portable
navigation devices, handheld GPS units, and GPS
products by Garmin, a leading mobile navigation device
manufacturing company.
The above mentioned tracking devices and software
applications can also be integrated with any ERP software to
give better visibility of in transit cargo, adds Swaminathan.
Now map your fleet’s route!
Quickfinder–I is a service using which
LSPs can track their vehicle or assets,
even while it is indoor or in a remote
location. Powered by Tata Teleservices
CDMA (code division multiple access)
network, the product enables real-time
tracking of single or multiple vehicles via a
secure Web interface.
Designed in a modular format to
offer flexibility of tracking, monitoring,
controlling and analysing fleet
performance Quickfinder–I enables firms
with the flexibility of customising MIS
(management information system) reports
to their requirements.
Quickfinder–I also enables cargo
management, a service designed for
consigners; consignee and third party
logistics providers who wish to have
real-time updates and monitor the on-road
movements of their cargo, says Shabd
Shrivastava of Tata Tele Services. “The
system also provides privileged access to
all stakeholders in the value chain, be it
the consigner, consignee or the third party
who can get updates via email and SMS
during various stages of cargo movement
— start-time, arrival at destination and
deviations from the route.
“The major advantage of this service
is that it can be easily integrated into ERP
systems. The application has the inbuilt
capability to store up to 90 days of data,”
adds Shrivastava. Another interesting
feature of the application is also the ability
to calculate dynamic estimated time of
arrival based on the on-road movement of
the vehicles.
An interesting location-based service
product Picture
Amit Prasad, founder & CEO,
SatNav Technologies
“You can place the GPS
logger in the vehicle
and allow the driver to
continue with his
daily chores.”
BenefIT / November 2009 / 21
Logistics

8. captures, stores, analyses, manages,
and presents data that is linked to
location, are also of immense use in
the logistics domain. These solutions
can track and trace goods and other
logistics resources. Most often, these
solutions are being deployed in a
stand alone manner, says Sonal.
But isn’t it more like under-
utilising this otherwise expensive
tool? Sonal agrees and explains how
integration of technologies like GIS,
GPS and business intelligence tools
can lead to valuable insights for
logistics businesses. “While the GIS-
based platforms help in generating
intelligence pertaining to road
conditions, tracking of vehicles, load
and delivery tracking, etc, it is the
business intelligence tools that do
the analysis and generate patterns for
better informed decision making,”
says Sonal. Orkash Services has also
integrated GIS and BI tools and is
offering this service as an on-demand
or software as a service (SaaS) solution
to reduce the cost of adoption.
6
Social network
communities
A recent study conducted
by Orkash Services reveals
that in India the small and medium
trucking companies account for
about 75 per cent of the logistics
sector’s revenues. However, due to the
discrete and unorganised nature of
the trucking sector, there is a need to
create Web-based ‘trusted networked
communities’ of small truck operators
to bring about visibility of demand
and supply, achieve reverse logistics
efficiencies, optimisation of resource
utilisation for economies of scale,
and to reduce the time and cost of
business transactions, says Sonal.
And, as is happening in the case of
other verticals, the social networking
medium can be leveraged by this
industry also to share domain
best practices, create knowledge
repositories, and reach out to other
players in the eco-system. This
could be done by building network
communities over the World Wide
Web, using platforms like LinkedIn.
com, Facebook, etc.
7
Web conferencing
Web Conferencing is
a communication tool
that allows users to
enjoy the facilities of voice and
Balaji Keskar,
head-Marketing, Cisco Webex
“For any logistics business,
the timing in providing
customer service is
extremely important.”
There are many free and paid Web-
conferencing options available in the
market, and most of these are easy to
set up. However, Cisco WebEx’s Web-
conferencing tool has gained quite a
lot of acceptance in the professional
world as a secure and reliable platform
for data exchange. It is available as
an on-demand pay-as-you-go service.
Organisations can buy a limited number
of licences at the outset and depending
upon the usage, can move the slider up
and down. The service is available for less
than 100 dollars per month, per user.
As regards the bandwidth requirements,
Keskar says that a bandwidth speed of
256 KBps is all that a user needs to use
the tool. But if a user has a 512 KBps
connection, the quality of the video
becomes better, he affirms.
A few other Web-conferencing options
available over the Web are:
Skype: www.skype.com
Yuuguu: www.yuuguu.com
Vyew: www.vyew.com
Yugma: www.yugma.com
Dimdim: www.dimdim.com





Web-conferencing:a few options
Your favourite Linux Magazine is
now on the Web, too.
LinuxForU.com
Follow us on Twitter @LinuxForYou
THE COMPLETE MAGAZINE ON OPEN SOURCE
BETA
Logistics
22 / November 2009 / BenefIT

9. teleconferencing, and can even
enable participants to share/show
the data residing on their desktop,
which may be in the form of
presentations, spreadsheets, or
in certain cases, even software,
demos, programs or movie files,
says Balaji Keskar, head-Marketing,
Cisco Webex.
In other words, the medium
integrates both the video as well as
teleconferencing worlds over the
Internet, where users can also enjoy
rich media collaboration.
As regards Web-conferencing’s
relevance for LSPs, Keskar explains:
“For any logistics business, the
timing in providing customer
service is extremely important. This
alone determines the customer’s
belief in the company.
“At a time when the world
is living in the ‘now’ age where
information delays mean business
opportunities lost, by using a
Web-conferencing tool, a logistics
company can connect with
customers on the Web conferencing
platform, track their consignments
online, and show them the proof of
delivery (POD), in real time, instead
of saying that they will fax or e-mail
it to them later.”
Through this medium it
becomes possible to share just
about any type of information that’s
available at your end, in any format,
with your customer, prospect,
partners, or even your employees.
This is a rich audio-video
communication medium to get in
touch with external and internal
stakeholders where the cost is a
mere fraction of the benefits that
the tool renders. “Certainly,” says
Keskar, “companies can save so
much travel cost and time by opting
for Web-conferencing tools. The
best part is that the host company
(which buys the licence to use the
service), can invite anyone to join
the conference where the receivers
can attend the call for free.”
The connectivity and cost-
effectiveness of this tool is great,
enabling LSPs to keep in touch with
their partners and customers much
more effectively.
8
Telecom services
Last but not the least, a
mobile phone can also
serve as an immensely
valuable tool and play a significant
role in keeping contact with
resources and even tracking them.
Many telecom service providers
offer services and solutions that
integrate with the ERP system
of an organisation. This enables
organisations to access real-time
information about the whereabouts
of their employees, provided the
employees carry the mobile phone
of that telecom service provider.
Also, using this medium, LSPs
can send out alerts, or any other
important information via the ERP
route on-the-move employees.
Many logistics firms* are using
these services to keep track of the
location of their fleet’s drivers, or
that of their on-the-field staff.
[*Names of the firms have been
with held on request.]
Conclusion
Technology is indeed a great
enabler; it is more like a vast
reservoir from which organisations
can pull out the solution(s) that
suit the nature of their business.
We hope the list of solutions
mentioned here serve as a quick
reference source for logistics
companies and help them zero in
on solutions, apt for their set of
business challenges!
APortalForTechnologists
AndTechnopreneurs
BenefIT / November 2009 / 23
Logistics