New mobile app development by Schenker Australia 02 November 2014

Consumers and small businesses across Australia frustrated by delivery and payment delays will benefit from a new mobile App being jointly developed by DB Schenker in Australia and National ICT Australia (NICTA).

The mobile App, due out in early 2015, will ensure accurate tracking of packages in the final leg of delivery while enabling small delivery companies to provide ‘proof of delivery’ (POD) which triggers payments for their work across regional and remote Australia.

The collaboration to develop the free app, PanDA (Pickup and Delivery Assistant) was unveiled in Sydney in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a visit to NICTA headquarters following the weekend’s G20 conference.

For decades, Australian logistics and supply chain companies have struggled with inefficiencies in the ‘last kilometre’ delivery of goods and shipments to far flung customers, relying on manual and paper based ‘proof of delivery’ and therefore delays in payments.

The DB Schenker mobile App will ‘complete the circle’ of transaction information allowing local operators, often one-person businesses, to automatically confirm delivery and trigger payment within 24 hours.

With Australia’s large distribution footprint, the physical POD reconciliation is most often done after a long, multi-stop delivery trip. This could mean, done manually, at least 6-10 days before the system recognises a completed transaction. The PanDA app will cut delays by 75.0%, allowing merchants better revenue recognition and cashflow.

Australia has more than 46,000 transport companies of which 70.0% are small operators. Historically, the end customer is not warned if a delivery will arrive late and due to slow business processes, the product owner and Schenker receive late notification of proof of delivery. As a result the trucking owner receives payment later than necessary.

Product owners and shippers complain of the difficulty of obtaining good supply chain visibility, particularly in that final delivery leg. Many transport companies and product owners alike have built call-centre infrastructure with staff operating 24 / 7 to manage customer and supplier queries. The App will make an enormous difference to the efficiencies and cost savings as well giving the end-customers peace of mind that their parcel is about to arrive.