In conversation with Katrin König, VP for data analytics for the Deutsche Post DHL Group. From an interview held at ESMT Berlin’s Annual Forum 2018 on June 7, 2018.

In an industry which, traditionally, is very much focused around its physical assets, like trucks and planes, solutions like DHL’s SmarTrucking show us that data is more and more becoming an asset too.

An IOT-enabled fleet allows us to know, at any point in time, where our vehicles are and to optimize their routes in almost near real-time.

There are many more benefits because, with each shipment that we move, we create a series of data points and this data we can use to optimize our internal processes.

When looking at our customers, we can also use this data and data analytics to improve the customer experience.

Ultimately, I think that these data-driven applications will help us to match our physical transport journey with the digital customer journey of our customers.