The customer experience is the beginning, middle, and end of the last mile.
The nuances involved in creating strong routing solutions and understanding last-mile delivery requires a team of skilled professionals. Our recent webinar, which I hosted with Omnitracs VP of Product Marketing Cyndi Brandt, discusses how Palmer-Donavin delivers consistently great customer experiences with Omnitracs. Read on for some key insights.
Digital transformation and innovative business objectives
Digital transformation, or the integration of digital technology in business, is a big buzz phrase floating around. Behind the buzz are a lot of bees. Palmer-Donavin VP of Operations Tom Bartlett shared the company’s story with us. As a leading Midwest building materials distributor and door fabricator, the business has aimed to keep its solid standing with customers by utilizing forward-thinking solutions in its operation and last mile logistics.
Being a long-time Omnitracs customer, Palmer-Donavin felt at ease coming to us to revitalize their digital approach. As we concluded in February 2021, over 20% of last-mile professionals responded that their companies utilize little to no innovation. Before they transformed their operation, Palmer-Donavin found themselves in the same boat as these fleets.
With their digital transformation, Palmer Donavin was able to:
- Reduce inbound calls by 20%
- Decrease driver-overtime costs by nearly a third
- Cut 18% of the time spent on daily routing
These metrics are impressive, but they point to perhaps the most critical efficacy factor involved in digital transformation — the holistic benefits:
- The decrease in inbound phone calls indicates an improved customer experience.
- The reduction of overtime helps drivers remain satisfied and loyal to the business.
- Optimized daily routing through an efficient routing solution gives time back to the back office to dedicate their skills to other productive activities.
Using routing solutions to bring tangible benefits
Palmer-Donavin upgraded their business strategy with enhanced routing and dispatch solutions within the Omnitracs One platform to bring innovation to their operation and enhance the customer experience. By doing so, they could connect their day-to-day operations and improve their business using reliable data. Additionally, they were pleased to utilize a driver workflow experience that worked for drivers, routers, and dispatchers in terms of ease and accessibility. With an enhanced workflow, they could be more prescriptive with driver functions, breaking down tasks in a contextual and digestible way. Improving the end customer experience was made possible with a proactive notification and alerts application that helped their customers easily view and remain in the know on the ETA of their orders.
With a cloud-based, intelligent platform that they could easily add on the Omnitracs suite, they wanted to use and seamlessly incorporate their third-party applications. Another area where they saw these improvements was via better two-way communication between their drivers and the back office. The final piece in their transformation came from having a platform that guaranteed their data integrity. With all their applications connected on one platform, Palmer-Donavin was able to keep the same data on one system and ensure accurate reporting.
Lead innovation in your operation
Toward the conclusion of the webinar, I posed Tom’s business sentiment to the audience: “Don’t settle for being a copycat. What can you do to adapt to best serve your customers?” While your business may not be the only one in its sector, it can always remain unique in strategy and the exceptional customer experience it offers.
Successful fleet leaders should always remain innovative, maximizing solutions that feed and amplify business goals. Once businesses reach the closing point with their solutions, transformation is vital. And, especially in the transportation space, change is a constant. As our world and technology evolve, our customers’ customers join the rotation. It’s imperative to place as much emphasis on the future as we do the present.
Read more about how you can leave a lasting impression in the last mile, just as Palmer-Donavin does. You can also watch the entire webinar here!