Benefits of a Hybrid Mobile App In Logistics Management

In this blog post, we delineate the key benefits of a hybrid mobile app in the logistics industry. Subsequently, we’ll analyze the requirements and important considerations to successfully develop a logistics-based hybrid mobile app. 

The logistics industry has evolved tremendously over the past few years, expanding rapidly to new horizons and encapsulating cutting-edge technologies. The technological advancements have significantly improved shipping and transportation processes to connect rural and remote areas that were previously inaccessible. The advent of advanced logistics tools, inventory tracking systems, and multifaceted ERP software have been a major breakthrough in this field. With the availability of these entities, it is now possible to track every small movement of goods, vehicles, warehouse activities, and in-transit shipments. Above all, logistics companies have been amongst the first to adopt mobile app development services to streamline their operations and improve services. 

In logistics, it is essential to keep the managers and other governing entities informed about every single movement in shipping, transportation, and warehouse operations. Having said that, mobile applications can proliferate the accuracy and agility required to track logistics activities at your fingertips. In addition, a mobile app can provide many benefits to logistics companies as it enables managers to efficiently manage functions related to transportation, load management, and load planning. 

At Oodles Technologies, we have vast experience in developing hybrid, native, and cross-platform mobile applications to aid logistics activities. Our development team is skilled at using the next-gen mobile frameworks, tools, and SDKs to build a feature-rich hybrid app that addresses the logistics requirements of a company. 

Also read Flutter Application Development Cost, Time, and Benefits

The Significance of a Hybrid Mobile App

Hybrid mobile apps have become increasingly popular because of the several advantages that businesses can achieve, mainly in terms of reduced time and cost.

As opposed to native apps that require native SDKs for mobile platforms like Android and iOS, hybrid apps can be developed using web technologies like CSS, HTML5, and JavaScript. It gives the added advantage of cross-platform compatibility as developers can build an application for multiple mobile platforms using the same codebase. As a result, it accelerates the development process, reduces time-to-market, and mitigates project costs. 

Taking that into account, hybrid mobile app development is best suited for startups and small-to-medium enterprises having limited budgets.

Given below are the main benefits of a hybrid mobile app over its native counterparts.

Ease of Development

Since developers don’t need to work on native SDKs, it gives them better flexibility and liberty to choose their preferred languages and tools. 

Reduced Project Costs

Hybrid mobile apps are built in a unified development environment which means you don’t have to spend separately for building multiple versions of your app. Instead, you can ask developers to build a cross-platform app that would work effectively across multiple mobile platforms.

Reduced Time-to-market

In native app development, you have to build an application separately for multiple mobile platforms like Android and iOS. It significantly increases the development time since you are developing both versions of the application from scratch. On the contrary, hybrid app development doesn’t require different native SDKs for each platform. Developers can use a single framework to build multiple versions of an app using the same codebase. As a result, it reduces development complexities and accelerates the product development lifecycle. 

Seamless Integration Support

Since a native app works on a single mobile OS, it can be challenging to have it integrated with other apps or third-party services. Nevertheless, hybrid mobile apps do not encounter such issues and they facilitate seamless integration with minimal code changes.  

Native App-like Experience

A hybrid app can be designed to work like a native app with all requisite features when deployed on its respective mobile platform. Besides, any changes in app functionality will reflect on both mobile platforms where it is available for downloads. 

SEO-friendly

Hybrid apps give you the additional advantage of better search engine optimization as compared to their native counterparts. Consequently, it becomes easy to improve the search visibility of these applications on the App Store.  

You may also be interested in reading Comparing Native and Hybrid Mobile Apps For Enterprises

 

Benefits of Hybrid Mobile Apps In Logistics

In logistics processes, developing a native mobile app is not necessary since the app is majorly used for monitoring internal processes. That being said, a hybrid mobile app can offer you the same benefits at a much lower cost. Besides, you can easily develop a cross-platform hybrid app to ensure that all your managers, employees and workers can have access to it, regardless of their mobile devices. 

Read further to explore the other benefits of using hybrid mobile apps in logistics operations. 

Effective Performance Monitoring

Performance monitoring is a crucial part of logistics as managers must be able to oversee mission-critical functions like load management, load planning, and transportation. Developing a hybrid mobile app will enable logistics companies to enhance visibility into various processes including inbound/outbound logistics, quality control, and supply chain management. This, in turn, brings agility into processes, bridges performance gaps, and facilitates data-driven decision making. 

Accurate Shipment Tracking

Logistics-based hybrid mobile apps are effective at tracking in-transit shipments, transport vehicles, and cargo to provide real-time insights. These applications enable logistics companies to keep track of their assets at all times via GPS positioning. 

Real-time Information

The warehouse managers, store operators and consumers can track the existing location of their shipments at any time. A hybrid mobile app provides real-time insights into warehouse processes, transportation, inventory, and delivery of a product to store owners or end-users.  

Reduced Costs and Time-to-market

As already discussed, hybrid mobile app development services are comparatively cheaper and yet offer the same benefits as native apps. Therefore, by developing a hybrid mobile application, you can pin down logistics processes to achieve increased efficiency. At the same time, it lets you ensure a rapid delivery of products to store owners, distributors, or consumers. 

The Final Verdict

Understandably, hybrid mobile app development seems to be the better option for logistics rather than opting for a native mobile app. Native apps are particularly useful when you have to target a massive userbase and where scalability is of foremost importance. However, logistics operations mainly require an application for monitoring and tracking internal processes and users can be in the range of a few hundred employees. Taking that into account, a hybrid app can perform consistently well for the given userbase. Nevertheless, a large-scale logistics company that operates in multiple regions or countries may sooner or later require full-fledged native applications for multiple mobile platforms. In that case, it seems more plausible to go for a native application beforehand to mitigate potential challenges. 

Why Choose Oodles For Hybrid Mobile App Development?

We, at Oodles Technologies, provide end-to-end cross-platform hybrid mobile apps development services to address the business requirements of cross-industry enterprises. Our development team is skilled at using advanced JavaScript frameworks and HTML/CSS tools to build high-quality hybrid apps that are easy to scale. Over the years, we have successfully established ourselves as a seasoned hybrid mobile app development company that caters to the requirements of clients from across the globe. For more information, contact us at [email protected].