Customer success

“Overnight our business was transformed. Our planning team and drivers love using Descartes.....Since introducing Descartes, Stop Start’s daily delivery volume has increased 50%. This rate of growth would not have been sustainable without digital planning tools. ”

Andrew Bayne, Managing Director

Daily planning time reduced 75%

Annual distribution costs saving £450k

Delivery capacity Increased 12%

“Since implementing Descartes, access rates for customers have increased… we’ve unlocked additional customer service and operational efficiency benefits.”

Gordon Mack, Head of Operations at James Frew

Completed appointments up 4.1%

Marked increase in cost savings 4.6%

Customer communications Improved

“Working with Descartes, we’ve saved 13% on annual fuel costs, which equates to approximately 354,000 fewer miles driven.”

Lee Holmes, Transport and Logistics Director

Annual Fuel bill reduced 13%

Productivity improved 56%

Annual savings £2 million

“We were impressed by the investment and support that Descartes put into this product and the roadmap. This technology has allowed us to be agile, forward-thinking and work optimally with our fleet with benefits on costs, sales and satisfaction across the business and with our customers. ”

Edward Corbett - Head of Programme

Delivery capacity increased 25%

OTIF deliveries increased 15%

Fleet size 500+

“Redefining the Customer Experience in the Tyre Replacement Market”

Jobs/van/day increased 194%

Mileage reduced 13%

Fleet size 400+

“Descartes Reservations™ and Route Planner™ solutions were integral to our strategy of offering a more extensive, but unified delivery service. The advanced optimisation capabilities and architecture of the Descartes solutions were critical, bringing new delivery service options to our customers in an economically feasible way. ”

Andrew Gay - Systems Manager

Fulfilment costs reduced £1.8m

Increased delivery productivity 35%

Delivery windows provided at POS

“We’re delighted with the solution and the service we have received from Descartes. Ultimately, Descartes is helping us minimise our operational costs through its route planning and optimisation solution and is actively contributing to our corporate and social responsibility and sustainability efforts.”

Simon Macdonald, National Transport Manager

Avg distance driven/delivery reduced 2%

Manual processes Replaced

Nationwide stores 300+

“Introducing Descartes’ ePOD has translated into substantial daily savings of 16.5 staff hours as a result of more efficient customer delivery and invoice processes”

Rachael Adamson, Director – South-East

Daily time saving 16.5Hrs

Paper saved daily 1000 sheets

Site safety Improved

““Throughout the process, the level of collaboration and effort from the Descartes team to deliver the solution in the way we asked has been amazing.””

Curtis Akerman, Business Process Lead for Delivery

Real-Time Visibility Oversight Complete

Plan vs. Actual Performance Optimal

Fleet Utilisation Reporting Enabled

“The last-mile delivery solution has saved us approximately 25 hours per week in delivery planning for the Transport Manager and added 17 productive hours daily across our driver team. With the extra time available to us, we have focused on increasing delivery capacity, staff training, and pursuing other strategic goals.”

Jon Robshaw, Transport Manager

Planning time saved 25hrs/wk

Customer Experience Paperless

Fleet Size 17

“Investing in Descartes has been the game changer we expected it would be for our business. Descartes’ last mile delivery solution enabled us to win not just one, but two major contracts without increasing headcount.”

Matt Shields, Director, PBO Logistics

Delivery Capacity Increased 8x

Operations headcount No Increase

Saving on driver's hours 10%

“Descartes’ route optimisation and mobile proof of delivery solutions, integrated with our vault management and cash processing solutions, have given us that end-to-end, digital chain of custody, while also increasing the efficiency of our operations.”

Fiacra Nagle, Chief Executive

Fleet efficiency improved 20%

Planning time reduced to 1 hour

Fleet size 80+

“Descartes Route Planner and the Track-My-Truck feature have been a huge win for our customers, enabling us to give them the flexibility, responsiveness, and transparency they expect and deserve, while also reducing our overhead costs and boosting fleet productivity to drive growth. Delivery operations improved more than we expected, faster than we expected, and it’s made life easier and more efficient for customers and internal teams alike.”

Nathan Sanders, President and CEO

OTIF deliveries up from 91% to 97%

Delivery enquiry calls decreased 50%

Number of distribution sites 12

“Autoglass customers appreciate the real-time estimation of their technician arrival time.”

Customer ETAs Accurate

Efficiency & satisfaction Increased

Mobile Technicians 1,100

“Driver feedback is a game-changer for us and provides a wealth of information. Previously, negative feedback would be directed to a sales colleague and escalated over a matter of weeks. Now, customers get a call from a senior manager within thirty minutes, to see what we can learn from the experience. ”

Michael Alldridge, Operations Director, South-West and Wales

Driver Retention increased 45%

First-time access & customer experience Improved

Fleet size 800+

“By using the Descartes solution to create opportunities for real-time customer engagement in our field service operations, we’ve significantly reduced access issues and gleaned insightful responses regarding the customer experience.”

Neil Martin, Sales Director at Spacepro

Costs Reduced

First-Time Access Increased

Customer Engagement Improved

“..not only are we creating more efficient routes and delivering goods more accurately, we’re building better customer relationships too.”

Customer chase calls reduced 50%

Fleet mileage and costs Reduced

Planning time now takes Minutes

““The rapid implementation of the routing solution, coupled with Descartes’ change management expertise, enabled us to immediately reap the operational and bottom-line benefits across our combined fleet of vans and transport trucks that deliver to both grocery stores and wholesalers as well as to small business professionals.””

Isabelle Libert, Executive Assistant at Jacques Remy & Sons

Delivery capacity Increased

Operational costs Reduced

Customer experience Improved

“Descartes ePOD solution has unlocked considerable benefits for both our business and our customers. We have seen the number of requests for PoD decline dramatically and have received increasingly positive feedback from our customers.”

Peter Russell, IT Director, Carpet & Flooring

Customer POD requests reduced 80%

Successful 1st time deliveries Increased

Delivery operation costs Reduced

“After extensive research, we partnered with Descartes to help transform our distribution management practices because it proved to be a real benchmark in the market. Their tools are very effective. The routing solution has been a resounding success resulting in lower costs and greater customer satisfaction, while the appointment booking capability is in great demand from our customers and their consumers. ”

Nicolas Tellier - Chairman

Operational costs reduced 5%

Customer Net Promoter Score (NPS) Increased

Fleet size 250+

“Our clients place a high value on timely, precise, and flexible deliveries. Our mission is to deliver on-time and provide excellent customer service. That is why in Norway, Sweden and Finland we complement our solution in Denmark with route planning from Descartes.”

Per Rimkjaer, Project & Transport Manager

Customer Service Enhanced

OTIF Deliveries Increased

number of outlets 180

“In the past year since having the Descartes' system our jobs per route has improved by just short of 10%.”

Martin Alldritt - Planning & Optimisation Manager

Jobs per route has increased 9.9%

Average mileage between jobs reduced

Improved Customer Service

“Descartes' Route Planner™ On-demand helps us have more efficient delivery operations by taking into account our assets, business rules, customer requirements and geographic information. Seamless mobile solution integration ensures we can track actual performance against optimized route plans and address new work or delivery exceptions as they happen to better serve our customers.”

Nimmoo Adam, IT Manager

Delivery temperatures recorded

Delivery costs analysed

Proof of delivery collected

“The advantages of automation are mainly the reduction of error rates along with a reduction of delivery miles & transportation costs.”

Tom de Rocker - Dispatcher

Reduction of error rates and transport costs

Reduced paperwork around returned empty crates

Improved Customer Service

“We estimate that we've reduced our transport costs by 10% per ton delivered.”

Frédéric Poirier - Logistics & IT Manager

Transport costs reduced by 10%

Optimised mix of own vehicles and third parties

Maximised driver and vehicle utilisation

“By using the Descartes solution, route planning is executed automatically; it doesn’t give us much to worry about. We now notice that we can schedule more stops within various time windows. We will deploy the experience gained from using the solution in Amsterdam to implement the process in various other cities.”

Lodewijk Aandewiel, Logistics Designer at PostNL - Bike Logistics

More Stops

Faster Planning

Automated Planning

“Descartes’ integrated routing and mobile solution is helping us meet our customer service commitments while making our fleet, drivers, and dispatchers more productive.”

Henk Tol - Distribution Manager

Improved fleet productivity

Customer commitments met

Accurate orders delivered on time

“We now have the tools to automate formerly manual processes, which increases our efficiency in vehicle routing, asset tracking, fleet maintenance, Department of Transportation (DOT) compliance and more”

Barry Crane, Director of Logistics at Wimsatt Building Materials

Efficiency Improved 20%

Customer Service Improved

Lower Operational Costs

“Before using Descartes, managing compliance for our large and widely dispersed fleet in Europe was a time-consuming and labour-intensive operation for Gist.”

Ken Clarke - Head of Transport Operations in Europe

Enhanced compliance across Europe fleet operations

One solution to manage compliance in 7 countries

Time and labour savings managing compliance

“By optimising planning, scheduling and routing, we’ve lowered our distribution costs: we’re getting more capacity out of our fleet and have reduced the number of returned loads by ensuring the right product is loaded onto the right truck. ”

Mark Parsons - Managing Director

Reduced cost of distribution

Increased delivery capacity

Reduced number of returned loads

“The Descartes solution provides the advanced capabilities we need to transform our logistics processes and, in doing so, improve the responsiveness of our delivery operations and reach higher standards of customer service. ”

Einar Geir Jónsson, Head of Business Development

Optimised delivery routes

Electronic proof-of-delivery

On the fly adjustments to deliveries

“Since implementing the Descartes Route Planner™ solution, the time taken to route deliveries has reduced from approximately four hours a day to a matter of minutes, while the number of vehicles sent out each day has reduced by roughly 15 per cent.”

Dave Middleton, Supply Chain Manager, Ontex UK

Payback of the solution achieved within Months

Route planning reduced from hours to Minutes

Vehicles dispatched reduced by 15%

“Descartes route optimisation software was designed to be deployed in an operational capacity to manage collection & distribution rounds. We have now adopted it to respond to calls for tenders and support our regional business units by undertaking centralised optimisation studies”

Charles Fouche, Engineering & Optimisation

New tenders won

Centrailised optimisation

Easy to accomodate unique customer requirements

“With the Descartes solution, we now have real-time visibility into deliveries as they are made—and proof of delivery when customers receive their orders,”

Nicholas Chesna - Fleet Assistant Manager

On-time delivery has improved

Real time visibility of deliveries

Great delivery capacity

“We now have a system which we can optimise the automation of the routes thanks to Descartes... We have improved service levels expected by our customer in full compliance with the time-windows.”

Gabriele Golinelli - Operations Director - Fidelitas

Customer Service levels improved

Employee shift scheduling has been simplified

“Our objective was two fold, to improve our customer service and to continue to drive our operational leverage...both of which we have seen significant improvements in. But one thing we have realised is technology isn't the answer to everything, that people and process play a big part of that.”

Joe Zanette - Solution Manager

Transport costs saved $3 million

Number of deliveries utilising POD 600,000

“The transactional feedback data is worth its weight in gold. It solves the challenge of trying to be precise and recognise after each repair whether the customer is happy.”

James Emblow, Head of Property Analytics, Paradigm Housing Group  

YoY Reduction in carded appointments 20-40%

Customer satisfaction rating 4.6/5

Mobile operative downtime Reduced

“Since the introduction of technician tracking, “Where’s my technician?” query calls for wastewater appointments have decreased by 50 percent.  ”

Decrease in "Where's my technician" calls 50%

Outbound calls to collect feedback Reduced

Customer response to digital updates Positive

“It’s been simple. To anyone considering using the solution, I’d say absolutely go for it!”

Harry Abraham, Operations Director, Halo ARC

Inbound calls Reduced

Feedback response Increased

Driver downtime Reduced

“What’s great about the solution is that customers can see their appointment details, see where the engineer is and provide feedback all in the same place.”

Louise Healey, Head of Service Operations, Ogi 

Missed appointments Reduced

Feedback response rate 1 in 4

Customer experience Improved

“To anyone considering the solution, I would say go for it. It’s really good value and there are so many extra benefits in addition to reducing no-access. Customer expectations are high because of services like Amazon: they don’t want to wait in long call queues or be given five-hour ETA windows. The solution really modernises how we work.”

Nicole Arthur, Head of Housing Assets, Gravesham Borough Council

Decrease in no-access rate 26%

Follow-up phone calls Reduced

Feedback response Increased

“If you’re looking to improve the customer experience, there’s no reason not to use the solution. We chose the platform to improve the customer experience and saw additional benefits such as a reduction in missed appointments and increased response to feedback.”

Andrew Rysdale, Assistant Director of Property, Fairhive Homes

Reduction in failed appointments 37%

Customer feedback response rate Increased

Customer satisfaction star rating 4.5