Big Data in Logistics – Move Beyond the Hype

Solutions & Innovation – the innovation unit of DHL - has recently launched a new trend report, entitled Big Data in Logistics to “move beyond the hype” and reveal the true value of Big Data for us and for our customers.

The potential for Big Data in the logistics industry had previously been highlighted in our highly acclaimed Logistics Trend Radar – a dynamic, living document designed to help us and our customers derive new strategies and develop more powerful projects and innovations.

Volume, velocity, and variety (the 3Vs) – is this Big Data?
The new trend report starts with an introduction to Big Data, which is commonly described as having 3Vs (volume, velocity, and variety).

But in our opinion, there is far more to consider before we and our customers can leverage information as a production factor and strengthen our competitive position. What’s required is a shift in mindset and application of the right techniques.

Big Data in Logistics goes way beyond the buzz words and offers real-world use cases. It reveals what’s happening now with Big Data, and what’s likely to happen in the future.

It presents an exciting and important role for sophisticated data analytics – the role of consolidating the traditionally fragmented logistics industry. Successful logistics providers are likely to seize pole position as “search engines in the physical world”.

This latest trend report proposes and explores three different categories of information exploitation:

• Operational efficiency: real-time route optimization, crowd-based pickup and delivery, strategic network planning, and operational capacity planning

• Customer experience: customer loyalty management, continuous service improvement and product innovation, and risk evaluation and resilience planning

• New   business models: market intelligence for small and medium-sized enterprises, financial demand and supply chain analytics, address   verification, and environmental intelligence

DHL Big Data solutions are showcased in all of these categories, demonstrating how organizations can exploit relatively untapped data assets once they adopt a shift of mindset and apply the right techniques.