Tuesday, November 10

Tracking Game : Big Data & Logistics

How can Amazon, FedEx, Flipcart of the world leverage the huge amount of customer and logistics data to improve, optimize the process and increase profits. Do you remember the  IBM RFID TV commercial in which ' A call center attendant is sitting on the highway stops a trucker and tells him "The Boxes you are carrying have told me you are lost and you are on the wrong road". The driver replies "May be the boxes should drive the truck'. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAvQcYcvyaw ) The advertisement was about RFID technology and since newer technologies are being used in logistics world.



Today's logistics is all about
1) Visualizing, Monitoring & Optimizing Delivery Routes
2) Ensuring Timely & Accurate Delivery by real time intervention
3) Predicting Future Demand and Peak Load by analyzing data
4) Reducing Inventory and optimizing processes

Big Data can help in achieving all the above goals. Amazon uses Big Data to optimize the supply chain. By using predictive analysis based algorithm like 'Anticipatory Delivery', many time Amazon surprises us by delivering items in a very short time -  X number of popular products are prepacked and already delivered to warehouses in certain cities based on the recent trend. Bluedart uses GPS based technology chip called 'SenseAware' that provides complete detail of each shipment including parameters like temp and humidity. 

These systems are nothing but solutions based on combination of current technologies like GPS, Hadoop, Complex Event Processing, Sensor Technology, Predictive Analysis and Recommendation Engine etc. Gartners, IDB and Forresters have already projected integrated Hadoop-like-systems that will work like a framework. Multiple flavors of Hadoop are already offered by different vendors and the competition has just started. What is important is that Logistics landscape has changed and by applying technology it has become affordable to monitor, track, optimize, innovate and at the same time reduce the operating cost. Today Haddop is not an option but a integral technology for the new generation Logistics Systems.



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