One of the most frustrating experiences is ordering something but having no idea when it will arrive, and then finding out the vendor has no clue either.
For one of our trade shows, we ordered a TV and requested a specific delivery date; it didn’t show up on time. We called the delivery company for an ETA. We checked with the hotel to see if it had arrived. We called the delivery company again. Eventually, it arrived, but during a critical time for us, we had no visibility into where it was or if we were going to even get it in time.
While this is just one example, this pain is felt every day by customers anxiously awaiting their deliveries and by distributors fielding endless calls and emails asking for updates. Today, as consumers, we all have come to expect that Amazon experience where we see the status of our order every step of the way and even a picture of the delivery when made. Kodaris developed the Kodaris logistic work flows and branded delivery driver applications - known as Kodaris Proof of Delivery - to allow each and every distributor to deliver that exact experience to their customers.
As we shared above, the current B2B distribution delivery channel has not digitally matured to be like Amazon yet, but having this granular insight is vital to your customers for running their business. If your customer is a construction firm, they need to know that material has arrived with proof of delivery and condition as delivered. In business, unlike consumers, time is money. Understanding how to manage crews and scheduling can add real money to the customer’s bottom line.
Taking it a step further, by providing real time updates, and digital proof of delivery to your customer, you eliminate the burden of your customer needing to request, handle, and track paper proof of delivery internally inside their own operation. This higher level of service will delight your customer and also allow them to access what they need at their fingertips when paying invoices.
And as an added bonus to you, the app also can be used for digital signatures, filling out customizable questionnaires, and even uploading documents like damage waivers. With Kodaris POD, you remove all of the blockers to set you and your customers up for success.
Keeping pace with today’s operations - whether you’re in construction, janitoring, MRO or events - requires real time data. Depending on operations is critical, so when things happen, having real time data to adjust operations or mitigate costs or costly operational issues is key to their success and to maintaining strong relationships with your customers. And by sharing that data, you give your customers direct control over their productivity and operations.
No data point is too small to help with this decision-making. From our time out in the field, Kodaris has seen how companies benefit from all of these types of alerts:
With Kodaris POD, it’s a win/win for you and your customers. Not only do they get the real-time insight they need, you can see where your trucks are and the status of deliveries. Kodaris goes one step further to accommodate the complexities and contingencies of real-world logistics. There is a fault-tolerant mechanism that works in conjunction with automatic geofencing. Regardless of whether deliveries are being made to rural hardware stores or downtown locations, Kodaris POD ensures accurate data collection and avoids geofence-triggered data confusion.
Kodaris POD records every data point in the delivery process. This helps on the day, but it also helps both you and your customers far beyond that by improving productivity, optimizing processes, and ultimately decreasing costs.
Let’s focus on productivity first. By recording time spent at each customer's location, or the time it takes to unload, or the time to run a specific route, the data can be analyzed to see where efficiencies can be gained:
When it comes to optimizing processes, you have endless potential with POD. Every data point that the app is collecting documents the entire process and becomes another data point that can be fed into your analysis.
The system triggers digital workflows that sync data instantly, notifying all concerned parties—be it customers, dispatchers, sales reps, or accountants. For example, POD integrates directly with your invoicing system, so as soon as a customer accepts delivery, you can set up a workflow that sends the invoice automatically. No need to wait until the driver is back with the paperwork at the end of the day (or the start of the next day), no need for emails to fly around–as soon as that button is pressed in the customer’s app, you have the possibility to get paid more quickly. This level of automation removes barriers between disparate systems, enhances accountability, and streamlines the flow of information, leading to significant time and cost savings.
To go one step further in how your company can emulate Amazon, a little known fact is that every feature, every operation, everything that runs in Amazon is assigned data metrics. You can achieve the same using Kodaris logistics and delivery applications and even use the same business intelligence system Amazon uses by using AWS QuickSight embedded in Kodaris.
By breaking down data silos and providing a seamless flow of information, Kodaris POD empowers businesses to transition into a model where transparency and accountability are the focus. This then becomes the way you learn and improve your process over time.
Kodaris POD creates partnerships, helps both distributors and customers reshape their operations, and crafts an end-to-end digital experience for both internal and external customers. And as a fully-customizable system, Kodaris POD adapts and adjusts to each individual business so you can embrace the digital world of real-time, data-driven information.
Enable your business and empower your customers with Kodaris POD. Talk to us today about the current delivery process and how you are looking to improve it. As engineers, we love to brainstorm and see if we already have a great foundation you can leverage to increase your service and drive additional ROI at a reasonable price.