Out with the old and in with the new: Is your routing and delivery scheduling software holding you back?

The majority of fleet operators have been using some form of routing and scheduling software for many years. But, how do you know if your existing solution is still effective or if there is something better and it’s time to replace it? 

The distribution business model that many companies have used for years is challenged by customer demands, driver shortages, rising costs (fuel and labour), the growth in clean air zones and a robust regulatory environment. As companies look for new ways to serve their customers better and become more profitable, they must determine if the solutions they use to plan, dispatch and track routes and supporting mobile apps can meet the challenges and enable the business to continue to prosper.  

Consider the following, if you recognise any of them it is a good time to look at what the latest route optimisation, delivery scheduling and mobile applications can offer your business.

Do you recognise any of these issues? 

1. Route planners manually create routes rather than use the routing software.  
2. You want to introduce new delivery services, but the software can’t support them. 
3. Planners and dispatchers have to work outside of the planning system to make last-minute changes. 
4. You have customer service issues because you can’t react quickly or correctly to last-minute orders or changes in a timely and effective manner. 
5. Drivers change delivery sequences because they believe route plans are not feasible or take too much time. 
6. Delivery service times (ETAs) are guestimates and that results in more inbound calls. 
7. You don’t know how drivers are progressing on routes unless they call in with problems. 
8. The drivers use multiple mobile apps, only an app for basic POD or no app.   
9. You cannot easily measure plan versus actual route performance or individual driver performance. 
10. The mapping is often out of date. 
11. Your current vendor does not have a clear, customer-driven roadmap for future development and product enhancements. 
12. You have to deal with a number of suppliers for routing, mapping, telematics, drivers’ hours compliance, customer notifications and ePOD etc. 

If you are suffering from any of these issues it will hurt your business and hold you back. A modern and effective route optimisation solution will not only mitigate these issues but will be able to accommodate growth and changes in customer demands and delivery services.  

Descartes’ fleet software solutions have proven to be a success for companies with fleets from 15 to thousands of vehicles including many household names such as Halfords, John Lewis Partnership, Topps Tiles and SIG, see customer successes.

The cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are scalable to grow with your business. You will always have access the latest version and mapping anytime and anyplace you have an internet connection.

Contact us to find out how Descartes can help to optimise your fleet efficiency, reduce costs and deliver a better customer experience.