Packet Port – International Parcel Delivery

International Parcel Couriers Predict That Deliveries Will Start To Track-Down Customers

2015 may well be the year that parcel deliveries go straight to customers or their Cars.

New progresses in GPS and mobile phone tech means parcel deliveries can now be made straight to consumers or right into the boot of their vehicle. The technology that enables your sat-nav, can also be used to direct people and a delivery straight to you. Everything from nutrition to clothing will be able to be delivered to your exact journey’s end. If you’re located in a city, the service might not be just same day delivery, but same hour delivery.

Some firms in the UK already use GPS to deliver parcels such as mislaid keys or laundry to a specific address, within periods being considerably less than an hour at some locations. However, couriers will be able to deliver to the right to the kerb anywhere you are. The same tech that controls Apps such as Find My Phone or Maps on your smartphone can be used to find consumers, so long as they have their phone or Smartwatch on them at the time. This means that there’s no need to postpone what you’re doing or be at a specific place so shoppers can carry on with their day without interruption.

If customers don’t wish their parcel to be delivered directly to them, then their car is also an option. Pick-up locations have proved to be an accepted substitute to home delivery, but, even more suitably, your car could well be a locker on the move, and on wheels. The owner doesn’t really need to be with it to take delivery either. Volvo’s Roam Delivery facility has been trialled magnificently in Sweden in combination with an online grocery supplier and a third party distribution firm. Shopper’s items were delivered right to their own car, which is located in the same way as mentioned above, via GPS, and unlocked and locked again through technology.

The UK seems to now be leading the way with direct deliveries to your car. When customers sign up for the deal a tiny signal transmitter is fixed to their vehicle. This is then used to locate the car and unlock/lock it remotely when the delivery lands. The firm can even track patterns of parking behaviour so as to plan parcel deliveries accordingly. Some people may be worried about security but all the data is time limited and the tracing can be turned off at any time. This kind of service is predicted catch on, with shares in companies rising sharply for those that provide this service. In time hopefully it will spread to international parcel delivery too.

Keeping Your Business Current with Technology

Staying updated with the latest technology has been our cultural obsession for a long time now, and the world of business is no exception to this rule. However according to Neil Camenker unless your business model demands having the latest and greatest technological systems, I would encourage exercising a certain degree of restraint when it comes to staying up to date.

Because of the expense involved in buying new systems, a conservative approach can pay off dividends. While employees may be clamoring for the hottest PCs on the market to replace their current workstations, perhaps upgrading them would serve your purposes just as well. Part of your long-term technological strategy could include purchasing systems that are designed to be upgradable; buying a new system once every 4 years and upgrading 2 years after the purchase, rather than buying all new systems every other year. Not only would this reduce the costs of the systems themselves, but it will also increase employee productivity and decrease training time because the employees will already be familiar with how the systems work.

Computers go out of date so fast that keeping them current is a constant struggle. It seems like every release of the operating system slows them down more. They are a continual source of frustration to employees, and can hinder productivity when they don’t function the way they’re supposed to. This doesn’t always justify replacing them, however, as new computers are just as likely to have quirks and problems that make them frustrating for employees to deal with. Something that you may wish to consider is investing in some IT employees to handle computer problems.

Software is always being updated, and the different companies compete to release the programs with the most functions. New software tends to use up more computing resources than older software, so when upgrading software it can create the need to purchase new computers as well.

Networking equipment has a shelf-life just like any other piece of technology, and needs to be updated from time to time to keep up with new technologies and increased demand.

Servers run the web technology that your customers interact with, and are therefore an important thing to keep updated. As your web traffic and customer base increases, you should upgrade your servers to ensure that they have the capacity to handle the new demand being placed on them.

The web applications customers use on the web are some of the most important technological applications a company will ever buy, because they represent the company to the world and must therefore function perfectly. This is something that you should never skimp on.

Watch out for the Diderot Effect: the perception that one new purchase necessitates making further purchases. It’s not uncommon to see companies upgrading their entire range of technological systems at one time—an amazingly expensive endeavor.

By Neil Camenker

The Art of Document Translation

Document translation goes beyond helping your children with their French homework. It has grown and adapted and now translating documents enables sharing across languages and different generations. How exactly I will come to in a moment, but for the meantime let’s focus on the sheer technology of it all. Technological advances are great it is generally agreed and along with everything else, document translation has been the beneficiary of light speed type technological advances. Gone are the days of using a dictionary and translation book, now you can have paragraphs and even pages of text deciphered at the click of a button. Of course there is no substitute for actually learning the language and becoming fluent, a skill that is still very vital technology or not. However it is nonetheless impressive how algorithms have adapted to detail any and all foreign language into your mother tongue. Such tools are of much help for my cousin. Whilst only young she often writes short stories in class, these stories are great to share with her elder Portuguese grandparents. However as their native tongue is Portuguese translating can often be a long and drawn out process with my broken knowledge. However thanks to online document translation tools I helped my cousin sit down at the computer, type out her story and then with a click of a button have it automatically translated into Portuguese. Then our old friend technology enables me to fire this off in a quick email (which the Grandparents can just about handle) for them to read and enjoy. Using document translation has also helped to improve my own second language and engage my cousin into learning more Portuguese and communicate with her grandparents. They too have taken to writing back to my cousin and I when the phone is not available. It is safe to say then that document translation has opened many more doors than would have been possible just a few years ago.

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