We all know that tech giants like Google see a market opportunity and like to get stuck in, without any thought to the small businesses that may have been there first or even been the very people to discover a gap in the market in the first place. All is fair in business, right?
Understandably, those working for the underdog may feel a little disheartened at the prospect of squaring up against the Googles of the world. After all, they’ve got every resource to hand and massive marketing budgets. It is hardly a level playing field. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. Small businesses have their unique advantages. All they need to do is acknowledge these and work on playing to their strengths.
Speaking of Google, the tech Goliath recently saw the potential to enter the fleet management space and launched its system – Last-Mile Fleet Solution. Before we even get into the nitty-gritty of Google’s service offering, it’s safe to say that Google’s simple presence in this business space poses new challenges for the Route Planner developed by MyRouteOnline Route.
With that being said, however, challenges aren’t necessarily a bad thing if we take the time to see the bigger picture and use these as a way of improving our product. So, in this article, we’ll not just get to grips with Google’s Last Mile Fleet Solution, but we’ll also shed some light on why this product’s launch doesn’t signal doom for MyRouteOnline.
It’s no great secret that societies in developed parts of the world have become increasingly reliant on deliveries. Not just that, consumers demand that their deliveries are fast, reliable and don’t break the bank. As such, fleet operators are under pressure to improve their operations and provide a better customer experience.
Acknowledging this situation, Google recently launched its Last Mile Fleet Solution intended to assist fleet operators in offering their customers exception delivery solutions. Google’s tech solution allows eCommerce businesses to optimize their performance at each stage of the delivery journey. From capturing addresses, planning the most efficient delivery routes, helping drivers navigate their journeys, tracking the progress of a shipment and analyzing the overall fleet performance, Google strives to be on-hand every step of the way.
As one would expect from Google, their Last Mile Fleet Solution provides technological infrastructure that can scale up as a business grows. Thanks to the support of the company’s mobility solutions, such as their On-Demand Rides and Deliveries Solution, which has already proved to be a popular option amongst the world’s leading e-hailing and delivery operators, the Last Mile Fleet Solution definitely has the potential to disrupt the fleet management space. This however doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the edge over existing platforms like MyRouteOnline, and here is why:
As previously mentioned, having to compete against the likes of Google will always present a challenge for smaller platforms. However, being a proven and well-established route planning solution, MyRouteOnline does boast certain facets which can be used to its advantage in what seems to be a David vs Goliath style battle. As a smaller business, MyRouteOnline does have certain limitations when it comes to pitting itself against the likes of Google, but if they are able to acknowledge and play to their strengths, there is no reason why MyRoute can’t come out on top.
Let’s break things down here by looking at the characteristics which give MyRouteOnline’s business model the edge over more prominent competitors:
User Experience
As much as we live in a technological age, tech can be overwhelming at times. Most people don’t want to spend hours getting to grips with a platform; they want it to be user-friendly and straightforward enough so they can hit the ground running. Google’s Last Mile Fleet Solution is built on a sophisticated Application Programming Interface (API), allowing various applications to communicate. This certainly has its advantages, but it can be cumbersome from the user’s point of view. On the other hand, my route utilizes a much simpler User Interface, which is far easier to use even by a tech novice.
Development and Integration
On a similar note, businesses that choose MyRouteOnline can be up and running in next to no time. Its software has been designed to be straightforward enough for users to set everything up themselves. With Google’s offering, however, things are a little more complex. and unless the business owner has some sort of tech expertise, they’ll need to get a developer involved when it comes to integration.
Customer Service
Of course, for customers working with a very well established giant like Google comes with certain reassurances. However, in recent years there has been a move away from the big names to smaller niche enterprises. Why? Well, customers are tired of being treated like a number. The fact is companies like Google deal with billions of people across their businesses, so their service offering is less personalized. The major advantage MyRouteOnline has here is that they are a family-owned company that has built a reputation by treating each and every customer as an individual. It is this superior service offering where customers know they can reach out to a particular person, that keeps customers loyal. At the end of the day, the value of this human touch cannot be underestimated.
Pragmatism
Being a smaller enterprise, we always strive to treat our customers as king. However, we are pragmatic in our approach to customer relations. For MyRoute, our relationship with customers isn’t purely transactional. For us business isn’t just about making a sale and keeping the customer happy. We actively invite our customers to provide feedback on our product and we are dynamic in our response to customer requests. After all, it is our customers who have practical day-to-day experience using our tool and therefore have the insights to help us make positive changes to our service offering.
Increased Focus
Google is many things to many people. The company has its fingers in many pies. Naturally, it is great for a company of this size to have diverse business interests. However, from the point of view of a small delivery business, it is important to note that route optimization is not at the heart of Google’s business. In fact, Google Maps is the only real navigation app within their tool. On the other hand, MyRouteOnline lives and breathes route optimization, and it is the core of its business to the extent that this is what they’ve developed and researched over the past 40 years to get them to where they are today.
Flexibility
Companies that choose to use Google’s Last Mile Fleet Solution will find that it will be heavily linked to the use of Google Maps, which is the only navigation app within the company’s framework. MyRouteOnline, on the other hand, operates with a greater degree of flexibility which allows businesses to use it with any kind of navigation app, which is especially useful if a business is already accustomed to using other systems.
Concluding Thoughts
In short, the launch of Google’s Last Mile Fleet Solution certainly looks to shake up the fleet management and route optimization space. This is likely to encourage smaller route optimization platforms to reflect a little more on their service offering and consider leveling up their product to retain customers and grow their business considering the new challenges posed by the tech giant’s presence. However, the emergence of this Solution is no reason to feel disheartened.
As highlighted here, MyRouteOnline boasts several inherent advantages that give it an edge over Google. As long as MyRouteOnline can capitalize on their strengths and remain dynamic in the fact of competition, there is no reason why the business won’t survive, if not thrive, in this new competitive landscape.
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