Enhancing Transport Operations to be 54% more efficient
Client
OneStop.
Type
B2B New Value Product
Platform
Cloud & browser-based web app
Overview
Download one pager (coming soon)
Retrospective Summary
A delivery management system to simplify and optimise operational transport tasks and processes for streamlining container movements throughout the supply chain
Team
x1 Designer (me)
x1 Front-end dev
x1 Full-stack dev
x2 Back-end devs
x1 Subject Matter Expert
x1 Product Manager
x1 Business Analyst
x1 Tester
My Role
Design Lead;
Product designer
Process
Lean Product Development;
Discovery → MVP
Services
End-to-end design
Strategic transformation
🚩 The Challenge 🚩
Envision the chaos of orchestrating cargo movements amidst a web of inefficiencies – lost paperwork, outdated spreadsheets, and communication spanning SMS, CB radio, emails, and irate customer calls, all compounded by antiquated software from the early 2000s. The pressing call for a paradigm shift is undeniable.
In the dynamic world of containerised transport, Transport Operators who orchestrate and manage the delivery of cargo face a critical issue – a fragmented ecosystem hindering visibility and information sharing. This challenge creates a domino effect, causing significant harm to businesses and disrupting the smooth flow of cargo. They grapple with problems in container planning, scheduling, manual inefficiencies causing delays, ownership uncertainties, penalties and fees, furthered by a ripple of negative consequences affecting customer service and communication. The delicate balance of cost, time, and effort is always hanging by a thread.
⚡️ What we delivered ⚡️
The DMS is a Delivery Management System for Australian Transport Carriers to - Plan, Optimize and Execute all transport tasks in one place.
A cloud web-based solution that is designed to simplify and optimise operational transport tasks and processes and turn them into standardised workflows for the Transport Carriers of Australia and New Zealand by streamlining operational data for container movements throughout the supply chain to - Plan, Optimize and Execute in One Place.
We figured out a way to aggreagate and orchestrate containerised cargo data into one holistic tool that we could structure into standardised workflows for transport operations that required significantly less manual work, automating big parts of their tasks and processes with minimal intervention.
Despite all the choice of tools, the tool that was present in every T.O.'s tool box was Microsoft Excel. So to make things as smooth as possible we borrowed many spreadsheet functions and applied them to our interface. Whilst combining data servcies and learning from the negative conditioning of the plethora of incumbent industry standard tools.
🎯 What were the outcomes 🎯
Impact
Changed Transport Operators day-to-day tasks and operational efficiency to be less stressful, less reactive and cheaper to do making them save time, effort and money.
Value
A 54% decrease in overall business operational costs and time on jobs per month. 87% decrease in cost per job/ container & 72% decrease in time on task per container
Return on Investment
A 40% year-on-year growth for our organisation for 3-5 years once fully realised.
Product Benefits
💎 Near real-time data updates and is shared instantly with those transactional parties that need to know.
💎 Data enriched workflows based off industry tasks that saves time & money.
💎 Inexpensive as its based on fluctating container volumes p/ month
💎 Connected to a larger ecosystem of freight data for accuracy + validation
💎 Reduced setup and onboarding time in hours NOT weeks or months like competitors
Think of this product as Excel on steroids – ‘actionable intelligence’ in a spreadsheet format with near real time data and event based triggers and statuses under the hood to give Transport Operators (the user) the most up-to-date information as it happens so they can focus on making better decisions and keep everyone updated with less effort.
Data enriched workflows based off transport industry tasks presented and accessed through customised tabs which allow the user to switch and skim through to manage.
Accessible data views supported by a navigational structure that provides an almost flat perspective of the ops data so there is minimal tunnelling for the information.
Operational tasks are now synced and linked together to create standardised workflows that reduced the cognitive load (stress) placed on the user roles as they maintain and increase speed and accuracy with their work because there's more order to their tasks. Shifting them from being reactive to proactice in their work.
New objects and more granular statuses to the various stages of a container movement in relation to a job that is connected and reflected in event-based triggers.
Optimised tasks that reduced manual data entry, alleviated the stress and time pressures on the users and reduced the cost of the task to help maximise profit.
🔄 How we solved it 🔄
The Process
This was a strategic transformation initiative as a new value product that seamlessly integrates all transport and container management processes into one tool that finally addresses long-standing complexities in the logistics sector. It was the spark to creating a larger platform experience.
🤓 What did we learn 🤓
💎 To really solve the problem for the users we had to look bigger at the larger systems challenges to be able to meaningfully solve the problem which was a bigger investment than the organisation had initially planned for.
💎 The change process was significantly harder when you're evolving and transforming your own organisation as well as your customers and it required more support, buy-in and resources than we expected which took a toll on the team.
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