Tracking capability is among the requisite technologies in logistics, given that customer satisfaction is key to success today, says Andrew Barrons, chief revenue officer at Clockwork Logistics Systems. 

Considering the importance of the delivery experience, it’s no surprise that Barrons sees a great deal of investment in tracking technologies today. Customers want to know where trucks are, of course, but they also demand proof of delivery and certainty that packages are delivered timely and without damage. “So there’s a lot of focus on getting that delivery experience right.”

Real-time communication is often an important component as well, because there is a need to know specific delivery times and locations. “Maybe it's a delivery where an engineer has to be present to build a product,” says Barrons. “So there's a lot more focus on that communication. It's not just visibility. Now it’s about creating that whole complete experience.”

He's convinced that customers are more aware of inefficiencies in deliveries — say, three trucks arriving at the same location in a single day — and how tracking technology can alleviate that.

Barrons is keen on remote inventory management and the role technology plays there. While inventory is constantly on the move through warehouses and typical supply chain infrastructure, much inventory is temporarily staged or cross-docked. Full-blown technology systems aren't required to track it.

“You need technology that makes it easy for the people on the ground to count in, count out, to take pictures of that inventory and to make sure it's flowing through all these temporary storage components in the supply chain,” he says. In other words, there’s a demand for “light” technology that can gather important data and feed it into the core systems that the supply chain runs on. “That sort of complementary edge technology is where I think you find a lot of focus today.”