By eliminating manual tasks, boosting productivity and improving customer satisfaction, technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA) are addressing the pressure to stay competitive and grow revenue. These compelling bottom-line benefits not only reduce costs but also position providers to offer higher value services, creating a tangible competitive advantage.

Call it competitive inspiration, driving operators to explore how RPA can transform operations and the overall way 3PLs work. Essential business activities, such as scheduling and order and inventory tracking, demonstrate the value of automation in action. The World Economic Forum and Accenture state there is $1.5tr of value at stake for logistics players, and a further $2.4tr worth of societal benefits, as a result of widespread digital transformation in the transportation industry. RPA plays a key role, and a recent Transparency Market Research report estimates that the global IT robotic process automation market will reach $4.98bn by 2020.

In the following article, we’ll look at a few examples of how automation is changing the logistics landscape.

Schedule Shipments by Email as a Premium Service

The ability to request a shipment pick-up by e-mail is a premium service offered by Pitt Ohio, a 3PL provider. It’s a process that could require up to one full-time equivalent (FTE) role per premium customer, based on the need for significant re-keying of data and updating of multiple systems as a means to keep data synchronized.

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