I know we have talked about going digital for the past couple years! This project has dragged out so long that our team didn't think the digital revolution we were talking about was coming!

I can confirm we have done it, we have moved over to our new digital platform, with a last full time staff member being moved over this week.

We do have a small number of part timers to move over, as we resolve some challenges around supplier manifests, and special service routes etc.

Please bear with us as we navigate our new landscape.

Our drivers are using new systems and are now required to collect pickup and delivery photos for ALL jobs.

Our office team are now entering all jobs into our new system directly, which isn't quite as flexible as the old manual system of sending text messages for each collection!

Almost all changes have occurred behind the scenes. To date there has been little visible change from a client perspective so far.

As we work through teething issues and we all get our heads around all the tricks of the new system and we bend and shape our business processes to work in within the limits of the new system you will start to notice new things happening.

We are starting to introduce Job Tracking and Proof of Deliveries (POD's).

If you book via email, or using our online booking form, you will start to notice changes to the email booking confirmation.

You will notice we will start supplying a booking ID, and a link to our Track & Trace page - https://www.ideliver.co.nz/track - or available from the Tools and Forms dropdown on the website.

You can use this Booking ID to track from the moment you have received it, and it will update live as events take place, ie Driver Allocation, Collection, Delivery etc.

If the item has been delivered it will show a GPS location of the delivery as well as a supporting photo.

We will be introducing our online portal to those who book on our website over the coming weeks, so keep an eye out on your email inbox for your login details, and a following welcome pack which explains how you can use the portal to your advantage.

If you currently book with Paul via Text Message/SMS, we will be  moving this number into our dispatch team in the office, so we will need to ensure your text messages are clear and precise, ideally following the below format:

[Pickup name/address], [Delivery name/Address] & who to charge for the freight & any other important details.

Examples:

Hi, Sallys Flowers to 123 Petal Lane, Flower Town. Our Charge please, cheers Sally

Bobs Auto Parts to Flower Town Auto, Freight Forward. 1 x Engine on a pallet. Thanks Bob

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Helpful Tips:

• Ideally, it would be helpful to receive one job per text message
• We will require pickup and delivery details for each job you send through.
• Please try not to abbreviate or use acronyms for business names to avoid confusion
• If your collection is from a business which has multiple branches, please advise which branch you ordered from
• We won't be able to book pickups with generic locations for a delivery address any longer as our system will require us load the pickup and delivery address details for each job before it can be allocated to a driver.
• We need to know if your consignment contains any food items or food containers/packaging or Dangerous Goods, especially if your consignment contains any Classes 2.3, 6.1, 6.2 or 8 as these cannot be carried alongside food. We do have in some areas have DG dedicated runs and food dedicated runs, so knowing these helps us ensure the fastest delivery of your consignment, while ensuring we can segregate DG's.

Our transition to our Transport Management System (TMS) will be broken down into sections, as detailed below

1. Creation of Client and Supplier Contacts Databases
2. Test migration of select number of drivers to test & identify issues prior to scaled rollout.
3. Migration of Drivers into TMS
4. Test migration of Select number of Clients to test online portal - (We are here)
5. Move Text booking into the in office Dispatch Team (Louanne & Diana)
6. Roll out Client online portal to existing web booking clients
7. Extend Client online portal to clients who book via other channels.
8. Move billing from manual invoicing, to manual job pricing in new TMS
9. Per job pricing will become available on the Client online portal, alongside POD's
10. Introduce auto email POD's for clients who require it. We will investigate Text/SMS POD's however there is likely to be an additional cost for this service.
11. Migrate to auto job pricing after job as been collected, for auto monthly invoice creation at end of business on the last trading day of the month.

Thanks again for supporting our small business. Your support helps us deliver within the extensive delivery network we have built up over time and continue with the high frequency of services we offer, while keeping our team of 20+ staff employed and running!

Every little bit helps, as like all transport businesses, we have high costs, low margins, and only good freight volumes keeps the wheels turning