COVID-19 accelerates industry digitalisation to years: DHL Logistics Trend Radar Report

In the fifth edition of the Logistics Trend Radar, DHL has revealed 29 key trends that will impact the logistics industry over the next years. The fifth-edition of Logistics Trend Radar indicates that we are experiencing an overall stabilisation of trends from the past four years. However, with the logistics industry weathering the current global pandemic, transformation processes have been accelerated. COVID-19 has driven changes regarding recent logistics innovation, automation, and digital work more rapidly and has accelerated industry digitalisation by years. Conversely, many trends initially perceived as disruptive game-changers for the logistics industry have yet to deliver on their disruptive potential. Self-driving vehicles and drones continue to be held back by legislative and technical challenges as well as limited social acceptance.
Logistics marketplaces are stabilising on a few leading platforms and established forwarders are entering the game with their own digital offerings, backed with robust global logistics networks. From cloud computing to collaborative robotics, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, logistics professionals have to make sense of a vast market of novel technology. Modernising all touch points of supply chains, from an elegant digital or customer journey, through fulfillment transport and final mile delivery is the new imperative for long-term success. Those who adopt and scale new technology and up-skill workforces fastest will have a competitive advantage on the market.