Route Planning Software is a crucial piece of technology for any company that needs to plot a route between two or multiple points. Be that delivery businesses, emergency service providers, couriers or transport businesses. A whole range of different businesses use Route Planning Software each day to ensure that they are becoming more efficient and saving money.
What is Route Planning Software?
Route planning software helps businesses figure out the best, most efficient routes for transportation, delivery, or service visits. By analyzing various factors—such as traffic, road conditions, time windows for deliveries, and vehicle capacities—the software optimizes routes to save time, cut fuel expenses, and boost productivity. For companies managing fleets or handling multiple delivery points, this software takes the guesswork out of complex route calculations, which would otherwise be a time-consuming manual process. With a few clicks, teams can create routes and adapt them on the fly, helping drivers stick to schedules and hit their targets more reliably.
Beyond route planning itself, many of these tools come packed with additional features like real-time tracking, automated dispatching, and detailed performance analytics. Real-time tracking lets managers keep an eye on progress, making it easy to respond to unexpected issues like traffic jams or delays. Automated dispatching matches drivers and routes efficiently, considering factors like location, skill, or priority of each job. Performance analytics, meanwhile, provide insights into metrics like fuel usage and delivery times, helping companies continually refine their operations. By simplifying logistics and reducing waste, route planning software not only cuts operational costs but also enhances customer satisfaction and lowers environmental impact.
What is Route Planning Software also called?
Route planning software can also be referred to by a variety of terms depending on the sector and the breadth of the technology. These include:
Route Optimization Software – focuses on finding the most efficient routes.
Logistics Optimization Software – often used in logistics and transportation to streamline delivery processes.
Fleet Management Software – includes route planning as part of broader fleet management capabilities.
Dispatch Software – emphasizes coordinating drivers and delivery schedules.
Delivery Management Software – often used by delivery companies for planning and tracking deliveries.
Trip Planning Software – can be used for business or personal trip planning.
Routing and Scheduling Software – covers both route planning and timetable scheduling.
Journey Management Software – used for planning journeys, particularly in corporate or field service settings.
Use cases for Route Planning Software
Different businesses and sectors use route planning technology. A few examples of how different companies might use it are as follows:
Retail & E-commerce Deliveries: For retailers and e-commerce companies, route planning software optimizes home delivery routes to ensure packages arrive on time. It can organize daily delivery schedules, prioritize express orders, and adjust routes in real-time based on traffic, improving customer satisfaction and reducing missed or delayed deliveries.
Field Service Management: Companies providing on-site services (like repairs, plumbing, or IT support) can use route planning software to schedule and dispatch technicians efficiently. By optimizing travel routes, technicians can cover more service appointments per day, reducing idle time and boosting productivity while ensuring timely arrival for customers.
Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals: Medical supply companies and pharmaceutical distributors rely on route planning to deliver medications and equipment to clinics, pharmacies, and patients. Efficient route planning ensures timely delivery of critical supplies, minimizes travel time for temperature-sensitive items, and provides real-time tracking for sensitive deliveries.
Food and Beverage Distribution: Food and beverage distributors often handle complex routes with multiple stops to deliver perishable goods to restaurants, cafes, and stores. Route planning software helps optimize routes for time-sensitive deliveries, minimizing spoilage and keeping food and beverages fresh upon arrival.
Waste Management Services: For waste collection companies, route planning software is essential to optimize routes across neighbourhoods or business districts, reducing fuel consumption and labour costs. Efficient routing minimizes travel time between collection points and ensures a regular, consistent schedule, supporting sustainability and customer satisfaction.
Construction and Heavy Equipment Rental: Construction firms and equipment rental companies can use route planning software to transport machinery and materials to multiple sites efficiently. With this software, dispatchers can plan routes to reduce delays in equipment delivery, prevent downtime, and ensure that drivers follow the safest and most direct routes.
As the short list of different uses demonstrates, although it is perhaps not used by the masses, there are various businesses that can use the technology in different ways.
Who are the Route Planning Software vendors?
If you are looking to assess the Route Planning market, there are a range of technology vendors operating in this niche. We published another blog that takes a closer look at how to run a selection process for this area and also took part in a recent Logistics Business webinar on the topic.
The key vendors include the likes of (this is not an exhaustive list):
Trimble Transportation - a part of the wider US-based Trimble software company.
Descartes - the Canadian-based logistics and transportation software vendor.
CACI - the broad-ranging US software vendor.
Ortec - the Dutch provider of mathematical optimization technology.
Glow - the recently established SaaS vendor based in Norway and the Nordics.
DispatchTrack - the fast-moving and growing route-planning vendor.
Verizon Connect - fleet management software.
Omnitracs - Fleet Management solution from Solera.
How to find new Route Planning Software
If you are in the market for new transportation and logistics-based software and wider technology, take a look at our 'find and select' services designed specifically for Transport and Logistics.
The first step is to run a super-quick market assessment to see what good looks like. A market assessment can take many forms - our preferred approach is a 'Matchmaker Service' type approach, but there are many different ways to do it, including the traditional RFI process. The most important thing is to issue a 'problem statement' to the market and ask them to tell you how they can help. That's a great way to quickly get responses without making the market assessment too onerous for either the suppliers or your internal team.
Once the market assessment is completed, the next step is to run an RFP with the shortlisted vendors. Try to keep the shortlist...short. We think 5 is a good number - but it all depends on how well you have done the market assessment. If that didn't go well, there will be a poor final selection. If it goes well, your shortlist will all be potentially good to go. Take a look at our Rapid RFP Process for a super-quick way of going from shortlist to preferred vendor.
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Can we help? We've run market assessments for Route Planning Software before. If you would like us to help you to either run a market assessment, or to run a Rapid RFP, just let us know.
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