Stable technology mandatory for app-based delivery, says Pickme

One thing that has become a great convenience to many during the COVID-19 lockdown is the home deliveries. However, while this works like clockwork for some, it still is a problem in some areas, where the essential goods are difficult to access either due to the unavailability or more likely, for the want of a proper system of collecting and transporting goods to the end-user.

Pickme Chief Technology Officer Mithila Somasiri says a stable app is of utmost importance to build a seamless distribution system, where goods are collected from the supplier and directly transported to the consumer without hassle or delay.

“You may have any number of vehicles and drivers at your disposal to transport goods but you need a smart stable technology platform to connect the supplier and driver with the consumer and to ensure operations at the scale in which it needs to happen.”

He says if the app breaks down when the number of users increase, there is not much use in having a large fleet of vehicles and a large variety of suppliers. The entire system would come to a grinding halt.

“If you are to cater to hundreds of thousands of people like the home delivery services warrants, you need a technology infrastructure that has been developed on enterprise-grade and that cannot be achieved in a day or two. It requires time and a great deal of investment, which is what we have done at Pickme.”

“We have a dedicated engineering arm, which is manned by 100 staffers. There are engineers, architects, designers, those who run the programmes on 1,500 CPUS at any given time on a daily basis – all of them are continuously sharpening our technology, which is strengthened and evolved every day. We are always on the ready to do 10 times more than our current capacity. For example, if we are doing 100,000 deliveries today, our application can scale to 1,000,000, if the need arises,” says Somasiri.

Pickme CEO Zulfer Jiffry says that the company has worked on its technology for over five years and continues to perfect it.

“We have invested a great deal both in terms of technology and people in bringing our app to a standard, where it can scale to any level within just a short time. We continue to improve it, not only in terms of scale but also in terms of user-friendliness, both for our drivers and our customers. We were able to prove the versatility of our app during this lockdown. The government institutions like Sathosa were the first to put their trust in us and now so many other suppliers have joined with us.”

According to Somasiri, a fair percentage of the drivers who are working with Pickme on the home delivery run are those who have been with the company for a long period and are well versed in using the app.

“However, we have made the app so easy to use that even new drivers would not find it difficult to handle.”

He says they receive many inquiries from new drivers who are interested in joining the delivery fleet and while they provide the necessary guidelines to them, they would not find it difficult to grasp the working of the app in a short time.