END-TO-END SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY REMAIN UNATTAINABLE FOR APAC LOGISTICS COMPANIES - HERE TECHNOLOGIES

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Bernama) -- HERE Technologies, the leading location data and technology platform, has published an inaugural study, APAC On The Move, to provide insights from transportation and logistics professionals across Asia Pacific (APAC) on the current technology trends and practices that are shaping supply chain, fleet, and logistics management.

A key finding from APAC On The Move 2023 is the extent to which end-to-end asset tracking and shipment visibility remain a challenge for logistics companies three years since the onset of the pandemic, according to HERE in a statement.

Nearly 90 per cent of APAC logistics companies surveyed have cited technology implementation challenges as their biggest barrier to achieving real-time end-to-end supply chain visibility, despite the motivations to improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

The study reveals more than half of the firms surveyed (52 per cent) have cited the challenge of identifying the right partners and/or suppliers as their biggest barrier to technology implementation.

According to the study by HERE, software integration challenges with existing infrastructure (52 per cent), the lack of time to implement the solutions (39 per cent), and high implementation costs (39 per cent) are the main barriers to adopting logistics assets tracking and shipment/cargo monitoring solutions.

The pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of manual interventions in the global supply chain. Yet, approximately 45 per cent of APAC logistics firms surveyed are using asset tracking and shipment monitoring software in combination with manual inputs to track assets, shipment, and cargo.

Across APAC, the Japanese logistics industry is leading the way with 70 per cent of companies surveyed having moved to tracking assets in real-time with no manual inputs.

With intensifying competition and rising customer expectations in the region, the logistics sector wants to improve fundamental business performance indicators. The strongest motivator for adopting logistics asset tracking solutions is to increase customer satisfaction (48 per cent).

Looking ahead, more than a quarter of logistics companies in APAC are planning to invest in drones (33 per cent), robotics (30 per cent), and artificial learning and machine learning (29 per cent). These technologies have been identified by the logistics sector to seize opportunities and create lasting competitive advantage (41 per cent), improve operational efficiency (40 per cent), and increase customer satisfaction (39 per cent).

This inaugural study consists of market research data and analysis from March 2023, based on responses from 1,300 players within the transport and logistics industry across eight countries in APAC.

-- BERNAMA