This is a complete look at how to build an agile delivery operation.
In this new post, you’ll see what agility can do for your delivery. Including:
Plus, we’ll throw in a super useful hint that you can try out straight away.
(But more on that later)
Right now, if you want to get more out of your delivery, agility will get you there. And this article will help you get started.
So without any more delays, let’s jump in.
An agile delivery operation is a modern approach to delivery.
It lets you adapt to change, and improve the speed and efficiency of your activities even at scale.
This kind of strategy gives you the ability to:
Creating an agile delivery also lets you react to the reality of day-to-day delivery management.
Doing so makes it possible to cut costs while maximizing the bottom line.
Adopting this strategy to your delivery planning right now enables you to build an agile delivery early on, and drive agility at scale once you grow.
But this doesn’t happen overnight.
So, before you can do that, let’s take a look at what it means to be agile.
Achieving agility is a complex undertaking. There is a lot that goes into it.
In fact, a research survey suggests there are no less than five dimensions to agility:
But that’s not all.
Planning your strategy around these five dimensions is just the first step to obtaining agility.
There are still a few more steps you will need to take.
Agile transformation touches every part of delivery operations.
And that means centering a strategy around the structure, process, people, and technology in your company.
One doesn’t work without the others.
But once you reach this goal, agile delivery allows you to adjust the entire operation to your actions and decisions.
And let you take full advantage of opportunities that create value for the service.
Here’s a breakdown of what you need to do for each element of your delivery:
There is no right or wrong path to operational agility.
Some companies develop agile deliveries from the start.
If you haven’t deployed your delivery yet, take the time to evaluate how agile your strategy is.
That makes it easier to quickly scale your service as you grow.
On the other hand, if you already have a working delivery, you have to adapt and adjust it to develop an agile environment.
And there are three ways you can go about this:
First, you can take the “all-in” approach to agile transformation.
This requires you to invest a lot of resources to organization-wide commitment, so you can deploy every stage all at once.
Then, there is the step-by-step approach.
This is more systematic and lets you build an agile operation one stage at a time.
Finally, you can initiate the transformation from the bottom-up.
This is an emergent approach that is more informal and relies on the efforts of each person in your organization to succeed.
After you deploy the process of transformation (using any of these methods), you will quickly see how it will improve your delivery.
Agile transformation is on the rise. It’s taking place as we speak across various industries and environments.
And most companies understand this.
Whether you want to achieve an uninterrupted pharmacy delivery or improve food delivery for your restaurant, agile operations can get you there.
But it is not an easy task to achieve.
According to McKinsey, only 4% of companies have an agile organization.
However, the same survey suggests that there are another 37% of companies that have started the process.
So, it’s the right time to get into the game.
And whatever your industry, the landscape is demanding transformation.
You need an agile delivery operation because of four reasons:
When it comes to consumers, all of them want fast and convenient delivery.
That means creating a customer-centric culture that focuses on experience and service.
For example, same-day delivery matters so much to customers.
And agile delivery is the only way your operation can achieve those speeds.
It’s also a good starting point to learn how to compete with Amazon delivery or anyone else in the modern competitive landscape.
Have you noticed that there are more companies that offer similar products and services like you?
That’s because the market has lower entry barriers than ever before.
Emerging companies can offer new solutions to old customer pains at the fraction of the cost it took you to launch your business.
In part, this is thanks to one of the newest delivery management trends - data processing.
Companies can now collect, access, and use massive amounts of data about their customers.
That lets them create and customize personalized offers.
So for example, they can drive the price of delivery down and immediately impact your bottom line.
But this wouldn’t be possible without the emergence of disruptive technologies.
Legacy solutions for optimizing delivery operations are now obsolete.
They have been replaced by flexible solutions that support agility, like eLogii.
These systems are also more available than before.
SaaS companies are adopting a cloud-first approach to delivery logistics with increasingly more feature-rich environments.
At a more affordable price, your company can now gain access to single vs multi-depot planning, route optimization, or electronic proof of delivery all through a single platform.
But so can your competitors.
And that means it’s no longer enough to have the best offer, data, or tools.
You also need the agility to integrate all of that effectively.
So, if you are looking to stay ahead of the game, it’s time for an agile transformation of your delivery operations.
The rewards of an agile delivery operation are real.
But to reach them will take no small amount of forward-thinking.
That’s why it’s important to understand the forces driving agility, commit to it, and integrate technology that helps you reach that goal.
And when it comes to tech, we did the math.
Currently, the best choice on the market is delivery management software.
And we can help you with that.
We have everything you need to start improving your delivery.