We are setting sail upon some very stormy waters – Covid-19 is peaking again, there are only 63 shopping days until Xmas and 7 days after that Brexit washes up on our shores.
For transport operators, a flexible and cutting edge TMS solution will be required to cope with a period of significant, if not unparalleled, turmoil. Obviously, operations have already been changed and stretched by Covid-19 for most of the year but now what appears to be a vicious second wave of the pandemic is likely to bring yet more upheaval – while we’re heading for the build-up to Christmas with all the usual strain that puts on stock projections (which will be a real guesstimate this year, thanks to Covid-19), ordering and delivery.
Christmas will no sooner be over than the end of the Brexit transition period will be upon us a mere 7 days later. There’s no doubt that coping with the disruption and the changes that will bring (whatever deal may be done or not done) will test transport operators to the limit.
With all this going on, will your TMS help or hinder?
Companies will need to ensure that their systems are robust and flexible enough to cope with the changes introduced by each major impact as it hits us and ensure that their customer service does not suffer – nor the costs to deliver their customer promise grow out of proportion.
Effective management of operations will require not just delivery of an operator’s material service but transparent reporting that details the performance of transport against every regulatory and management requirement – all with different and variable criteria.
A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) TMS will definitely help. Transport operators will need a TMS like Deltion’s CarrierNet that can:
Track information at the most granular level and associate SKU’s by collection/delivery
Introduce new elements as necessary to satisfy last minute regulatory changes
Produce reports on performance-by-activity – NB operators will need to be able to produce their own reports
Incorporate new users seamlessly, whether internal or external, without the need for any costly and inconvenient equipment or software upgrades
If your TMS has difficulty in any of the above please do not hesitate to contact Bashir Khan – bashir.khan@deltion.co.uk