On May 20, the logistics employers’ association UNO organized a conference on the challenges and opportunities posed by digital platforms for the logistics and transport sector.
As part of this event, FIELDEAS has participated, through its Presales Manager, Alfonso Martín, in the round table “Digital platforms in the post COVID-19 era: keys to optimize the operations of Spanish companies” in which the keys offered by new technologies to optimize logistics operations have been analyzed together with other industry experts, such as Hector Gonzalez, Demand & Supply Chain manager of Yves Rocher, Gonzalo Madurga, Logistics director of Coca-Cola European Partners, Victor Gimeno, head of Logistics Operations of the Carreras Group, and Miguel de la Hera, Senior Delivery Experience manager of Zooplus.
In this regard, Alfonso Martín explained at the event how the uncertainty generated by the healthcare crisis has accentuated the need for tools that offer comprehensive visibility of the supply chain.
This improves decision making at critical moments, in a scenario in which the digital transformation process that has been brewing for some time seems to have definitely accelerated in the last year.
Digital transformation and collaboration
In view of this situation, FIELDEAS has responded with agility to help companies have technological tools capable of collecting data from multiple sources and correctly processing the information to manage supply chains in an environment that offers uncertainties, as well as to forecast demand as accurately as possible in the face of such a volatile scenario.
In this regard, Martín argued that more collaboration is needed between the different links that make up supply chains, so that information can flow and decisions can be made to improve the flow of goods.
This requires, in addition to a high degree of trust, an integration of all the information in easy-to-use and visual platforms with which to carry out integrated logistics management, allowing all links in the chain to have adequate visibility of their functions.
However, there are still many barriers to collaboration, especially because of the implications of sharing information with competitors.
To overcome these barriers and promote responsible collaboration, stakeholders must be aware that it is essential to exchange information that makes sense within each chain.
Specifically, in order to deepen collaboration within the chain, the FIELDEAS Presales Manager assures that the sector needs simple and flexible tools, capable of adapting to the needs of each company and that combine advanced digitization solutions with electronic documentation functionalities, especially with the capacity to provide additional legal security through the use of advanced electronic signatures.
Digitalization for companies of all sizes
Similarly, it is also necessary for digital transformation to reach all companies in the sector and to meet their specific needs, regardless of their degree of technological maturity.
In this sense, according to Martín, digitalization also has the capacity to adapt chain visibility tools for large companies and SMEs.
This is of crucial importance in a sector such as logistics and transportation, in which a large number of self-employed and small companies coexist with large global integrators.
In the case of small and medium-sized companies, the FIELDEAS Presales Manager believes that visibility tools bring process improvements, for example, by bringing forward invoicing through electronic processing.
In addition, they also strengthen customer service and enable smaller companies to compete on a level playing field with larger companies through intensive use of technology.
For these reasons, FIELDEAS focuses its activity on making technology not an added problem for companies.
To achieve this, technological tools must be transparent, user-friendly and able to adapt to the needs of each specific case, without losing sight of the human component, which is essential to get the most out of the platforms.
In this sense, FIELDEAS will continue to support companies to, as Martín states, move decisively towards a digitized sector that eliminates the use of paper definitively and is more sustainable.