Every delivery generates a trail of records, from proof of delivery and loading schedules to customs documentation and photographs. Getting them to the right people quickly can speed up customer queries, compliance checks and payment.

“If a company can prove that goods were delivered and received, it can move much more quickly towards payment,” says Junaid Hussain, Head of Digital Services at Ricoh South Africa.

Ricoh has deployed DocuWare in logistics environments to connect these records to the broader delivery process, track their status and route them to the people and systems that need them. Documents are indexed and searchable, giving authorised users access to delivery and compliance records across the business.

Proof of delivery becomes part of the live process

Logistics companies need to know which delivery notes have gone out, which have been signed and returned, and which are outstanding.

A digital document management system can track these records and feed their status into dashboards. Once a signed proof of delivery is entered into the system, it can be matched to the original delivery note. Customers can be granted controlled access to retrieve it, or the signed record can be sent automatically to the relevant supplier.

That makes document automation as much a financial issue as an operational one. Once a signed POD is available, accounts receivable can confirm delivery and progress the transaction for payment.

AI takes on more of the document capture

Artificial intelligence is reducing the manual work required to process logistics documents. Intelligent document processing capability can monitor sources such as email inboxes or document repositories, pull documents into the system and automatically extract data from them.

In logistics, this can include weighbills, delivery notes and third-party delivery documents. The technology can extract data for indexing and route the document into the appropriate process, leaving employees to focus on exceptions, approvals and decisions that require human judgement.

These workflows can also connect with ERP, accounting and logistics applications through APIs and other integration tools.

“That’s important in logistics environments where dispatch, delivery, finance and compliance operate across different applications,” says Hussain. “A document and workflow layer can connect those systems and automate the flow of records while allowing companies to continue working with their existing technology.”