| |JULY 20229to quickly scale-up their e-Commerce and direct to consumer capabilities, including strengthening the last mile offering. Pandemic is also forcing logistics companies to make big investment in digitization. From being a competitive edge in the past, digitization is becoming a necessary survival tool. Apart from upgrading the Warehouse and Transportation management systems, many large logistics providers are contemplating usage of IoT, AI and blockchain technologies to develop better response to future business interruptions. Smaller logistics and transportation companies may find this very challenging and could face existential risk.To be better equipped for future challenges, logistics busi-nesses in India need to understand and respond swiftly and effectively to the market changes, starting with the following areas.· Have flexible and adaptive business model to manage an increasingly uncertain environment, businesses inter-ruptions and fluctuating volumes.· E-Commerce is creating pressures and opportunities. Pandemic has fuelled global e-Commerce boom, and con-sumers expect their goods be delivered more quickly and reliably than ever before. Businesses will need to under-stand, meet and exceed customer expectations that are shaped by a diverse range of integrated platforms.· Businesses that invest now in new technologies such as automation, smart sensors, and data analytics will be better prepared to integrate with rapidly evolving distribution networks. Adoption of automations like pick/put to light, voice pick, autonomous mobile robots (AMR), and automated guided vehicles (AGV) are critical to warehouse transformation. Logistics providers will need to evaluate the cost benefits and implement proper automated solution based on the sector focus and futur-istic plans. · To implement the above initiatives, logistics companies would need capable and trained workforce. Hence, it is imperative to constantly train & upgrade the workforce and encourage adoption of digitisation.· Resilience ­ Strong Business Contingency Plans (BCPs) need to be created and aligned to customer business & needs and must have the ability to address possible business risks. Having regular cadence for testing and revising BCPs is critical for driving resilience. Further, logistics companies should have the ability to anticipate supply chain disruptions by developing right levels of visibility over a range of risk factors, including climate change.Sustainability ­ Progressive logistics companies must fo-cus on being as much environment-friendly as possible. From reducing carbon footprint in transportation, logistics compa-nies should continuously work on reducing usage of plastics and consider implementation of renewable energy strategies. Many global and local companies have started measuring car-bon emission on a monthly basis. From being a competitive edge in the past, digitization is becoming a necessary survival tool
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