Before determining the best route for your organization’s last mile solution – whether to build or buy – let’s consider some key factors. From technical expertise to tight budgets, Katherine Lehman, director of digital marketing at Onfleet, explores what factors impact your solution the most. 

Businesses competing in today’s digital environment rely heavily on data, analytics, and technology to grow and optimize their business operations. Determining whether to create your tech or buy a mix of off-the-shelf software solutions can be difficult and daunting. Depending on your business goals, the answer may fall somewhere in the middle, combining a blend of both approaches.

For example, a company looking to implement last-mile delivery capabilities might buy a software solution to capture data and manage day-to-day delivery operations. In addition, they may choose to build a small team of analytics experts to create and refine algorithms that use the data captured in the software to address business needs for increased last-mile efficiencies.

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Factors to Keep in Mind in Choosing Your Last Mile Solution

There is no cut-and-dry solution for last mile delivery technology, or any technology, for that matter. However, it is safe to say that businesses that supplement existing technical resources with outsourced software save time and money versus building all solutions in-house. Before determining the best route for your organization’s last-mile solution, let’s consider some factors.

1. Technical Expertise

It takes technician and analytics expertise to create a modern delivery management platform for optimizing last-mile operations. The skill required is often beyond that of many businesses. Do you have a development team that can develop and implement advanced technical infrastructures? Do you know how to recruit good analytics talent capable of building algorithms for AI applications like machine learning?

Building in-house requires a considerable investment in personnel and resources. Another option would be to hire a contractor or agency for their technical development and analytics expertise. Still, there is no guarantee of success on their build if they haven’t worked on delivery management platforms in the past.

Unless you plan to hire employees to deploy and maintain your in-house solution, doing it yourself can be …….

Source: https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/devops/guest-article/last-mile-delivery-technology-build-or-buy/