By Benny Lim

Real-time end-to-end supply chain visibility is a reality for “slightly more than half" of logistics companies located in the APAC (Asia Pacific) region.

45 percent of Asia Pacific logistics companies are still using freight monitoring software and tracking assets that rely on manual input to track the movement of cargo. Conversely, 51% of APAC organizations use tracking tools that do not require any manual inputs whatsoever. Four percent of APAC logistics companies only use manual inputs to track their shipments.

Less than half of APAC logistics companies still require manual input in some part of their asset tracking and shipment monitoring process. This may be a huge challenge for a company. To some extent, this increases the company's intangible costs, whether it is time or money, and its efficiency is not higher than that of a company that has invested in IT systems. Just imagine, a company has to set up a related department to deal with the real-time update of the company's customers' cargo tracking dynamics. This is bad for the company or customers. If customers can't get accurate cargo tracking information, it will be a bigger concern for the company, make it less trustworthy.

Especially due to the congested port and railway congestion caused by the epidemic in the past two years, customers have become more concerned about whether a logistics company has their own IT system for real-time tracking of cargo, which has also enabled most of logistics companies to compete and make differentiation for now . Adjustment, emphasis on differentiation, and real-time tracking of goods is one of the major advantages.

Despite the disparity between preferred tracking methods, half of all product-centric firms in the APAC Region plan on investing in real-time visibility tools in 2023. Additionally, 67% of APAC Region supply chain leaders said they have invested in digital dashboard services to bolster their end-to-end supply chain visibility capabilities based on an April 2022 survey by McKinsey & Company.

Even though companies are interested in using and investing in tracking tools, some barriers are holding back the mass adoption of shipment-tracking solutions within the APAC region. Fifty-two percent of logistics asset tracking solutions said that integration challenges are their biggest roadblock when it comes to the mass adoption of these capabilities. That number jumps to 53% for shipment and cargo monitoring features.

In the next three years, 33% of APAC logistics firms plan on investing in drones. Thirty percent say they will invest in robotics, while another 29% aim to invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities over the next three years.

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