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Uber model to drive growth of pharma logistics in future: Rajesh Pednekar
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Laxmi Yadav, Mumbai
December 30 , 2016
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Pharma logistics is known for being an old-fashioned business but
changing shipper expectations, new market players, and eroded margins
have prompted industry leaders to move from rigid frameworks to flexible
business models like Uber, said Rajesh Pednekar, International Expert –
Pharma Supply Chain and one of the top 50 influencers in Asia Pacific
as adjudged by Terrapin, Singapore.
Uberised business formats are
characterized by elements such as the use of a digitalized platform
enabling peer to peer, or quasi-peer to peer transactions, minimizing
the distance between the provider and customer of a service and the use
of a rating system for the quality of the service provided by a
provider.
Uber type platforms are bound to have a direct impact
on first time or casual shippers. However, the relationship between
freight forwarder and customer continues to emphasize interactive
communication because not all shipments are alike, especially in pharma.
Uber model is essentially the same as that of a freight broker, and
reflects much of the role associated with 3PLs (third-party logistics),
said Pednekar.
Players in pharma logistics industry need to be
prepared to meet the demands posed by uberisation which is on-demand
model connecting buyers and sellers, facilitating transactions, setting
prices to buyers and sellers and taking a fee.
They will need to
be ready to serve megacities and extend their reach farther than ever
before, focus on timeliness, with "fastest" becoming a key measure of
success, be able to keep pace with the omni channel world, when
e-commerce gets approved in pharma, make intelligent asset investment
and utilization, share transportation assets efficiently, achieve
complete digital transformation to derive all the benefits of staying
connected, align with constantly changing regulatory requirement, stay
agile to meet the volatility of demand, seamlessly integrate disruptive,
futuristic technologies within their existing systems, adopt systems
flexible to disparate conditions in different geographies.
Uberisation,
especially post GST implementation, seems panacea to pharma logistics
industry bogged down by challenges such as minimal end-to-end
visibility, apprehension to invest in technology, lack of integrated
systems and a 360-degree planning and execution, dependence on legacy
systems, inability to place customer, etc.
Companies which
operate with particularly inefficient high-cost models, with continued
reliance on email and telephone, are likely to be dragged beneath the
service by Uber like players in pharma logistics, he said.
The
core infrastructure required to move freight - containers, planes and
trucks - is not fundamentally changing, but improving data movement that
guides freight movement is key to increasing efficiency.
More
and more of today’s pharma logistics managers and freight buyers grew up
with a smart phone in their hand; they want everything on mobile that
they can access from anywhere that makes mobile-app platforms such as
Uber model a must for logistics companies, concluded Pednekar.
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