When Disaster Strikes: Continuity for Couriers

Businesses rely on technology more and more everyday. From desktop computers to mobile phones, these modern tools have brought unprecedented levels of productivity to the workplace. When everything is working smoothly, companies reap the benefits of these expanded capabilities. Unfortunately, there are always unforeseen problems lurking out there. When things go wrong, the loss of technology can seriously impact your operations and even force a virtual shutdown. Businesses like couriers and air freight truckers are in a class of extremely time-sensitive firms and must address this risk. But how?

Have a Plan and Use It

A business continuity plan is no longer an option, but a necessity. Expedited delivery companies are increasingly becoming 24-hour operations. Interruptions due to weather, natural disasters or utility service faults figure into most plans. Unfortunately, plans don’t always deal with less dramatic but no less damaging impacts.

If your company maintains its own hardware for a courier software system, there is a potential point of failure. Minor flooding, electrical surges and a host of other problems can spell disaster for that system. Even if there isn’t any damage to your building or other equipment, your relatively fragile server can be damaged much more easily than trucks or structures.

Because you can’t always protect the server, make sure you’ve protected the valuable data from your operations system. Losing information on accounting (especially collections) and customers can be crippling. All it takes is a breakdown in your server or a faulty backup tape and you suddenly find yourself with no way to take orders, track shipments or bill customers.

Get That Data Out of Here

For the ultimate in protection and continuity, keep your data completely off-site. Modern courier software is all web-based and relieves you of the burden of care and maintenance for your own server. Housed in a secure hosting facility and maintained by technical professionals, these cloud-based solutions are available anytime, anywhere from any web browser.

Leading technology companies can host a system that’s available over 99.999% of the time. Their staff has the experience and knowledge to reliably run a professional system on your behalf. Why not let the experts handle all the maintenance, upgrades and backups for your system. In turn, you get to focus on what you do best and manage your company’s operations.

There are all kinds of hazards in the world of expedited deliveries. Smart companies meet those challenges using best practices that minimize their exposure. Being prepared is the first step in protecting your business from unforeseen dangers.

Meeting Shipper Expectations: How Do You Win and Keep Business?

Shippers expect good service, but how do you prove your value to them? The right technology can help to differentiate your business from the competition.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone appreciates getting full value for their dollar whether times are good or bad. The trick lies in being able to demonstrate the value to your customers. If they can’t see it, they may think it’s not there. In a competitive industry like expedited delivery, your competition is just a phone call away. So you do a good job for your customers, but can you actually prove it to them?

If deliveries don’t turn up in the right place and at the agreed time, someone is bound to notice. Ironically, it’s when everything goes as planned that your customers wonder what’s really going on with their shipments.

Technology Creates Visibility

Before modern technology started changing the face of the delivery business, no one had much visibility into the actual process. A shipper just had to trust that a carrier was doing the job as agreed. It was only when things went wrong that traces were initiated and telephones started ringing. Without any way to check progress, a shipper was essentially blind to the status of a job.

Courier software companies started changing that situation back in the 1970s. A pioneering company created a complete “back office” application to help couriers and truckers run their businesses. For the first time, these carriers were able to gain visibility into shipments and share that information with their customers when needed.

Mobile Means Real-Time

As cellular phones and handheld computers with GPS entered the scene, shipments could be tracked down to the minute. Shippers could log onto the carrier’s web site and get real-time information about the status of their shipments. Carriers were now delivering more than just goods—they were delivering logistics data to their customers.

Shippers also realized the value of this information and used it to keep tabs on their carriers. Unfortunately, they were often accessing the data only when something went wrong. They weren’t getting the positive information that would demonstrate the value of the carrier’s service.

Using Technology to Create Value

These days, advanced courier software is only delivered over the web. Information is available anytime, anywhere through an internet browser with these solutions. So, a shipper can see for themselves that everything is going smoothly.

In fact, one logistics technology company already offers a way for shippers to keep up with all the jobs in progress with various independent carriers. Using a virtual dashboard, the shipper is constantly updated on the status of their deliveries. They don’t just check when there is some kind of exception. Instead, they get to see that a majority of the work is proceeding right on schedule. A carrier’s good work is constantly on display to remind their customer of the value they bring to their link in the supply chain.

In a highly competitive business like expedited delivery, a business owner has to constantly win their customers’ business. The best way to demonstrate value is to provide the tools and information they need to see that value for themselves.