Need to set up a home delivery service ASAP? These solutions will get you sorted!
Many companies, including bars, cafes and other small to medium businesses, are now forced to switch gears quickly, setting up a home delivery service to stay afloat during the COVID-19 outbreak. Under the circumstances, customers can’t come to you, so you’re going to them and need a remote management system in place to orchestrate the step-by-step logistics without too much interaction.
Adjusting to the new situation can feel pretty overwhelming. You’re facing all sorts of new challenges: How to adapt your business to social distancing and stay-at-home orders? How to keep track of the growing number of home deliveries with only a handful of drivers? How to keep track of who is available, and where your drivers are? Are the routes they take redundant or inefficient?
In times like these, you need a last mile solutions that will help you keep your finger on the pulse of all in-field activity while remote and maximize efficient output so that you can do more with the same resources. Telematics can be a huge advantage in this situation. Depending on the business you’re running and the complexity of your delivery operations, you have a few options when looking for a management tool, from light-duty apps to top-grade software platforms that cover more complicated logistics.
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1. Match Orders To Driver Availability
Task Tracker app is a simple way to establish local delivery services and fill orders as they come in. This mobile application is an easy, light-duty team management solution that provides simple tasks-assigning and tracking abilities.
You get an overview of where each employee is as they log into the app, and who’s ready for a new order. You can communicate with your employees faster, and they don’t have to keep coming back to check in and find out where they’re headed next.
Going digital also saves you a lot of time on administrative tasks, such as invoicing and payroll, and streamlines your processes. Use the app to create a task with the necessary details and send it to your available staff who also have the app on their phones. In the app, they can accept or reject it, depending on whether they are on another delivery.
Once the task has been accepted, the status will be changed to ‘In Progress’, while time-stamping the location where the driver is, as well as the location where the task is completed. This will give you a green light to let your customers know that their order is delivered.
Now your driver is available to take on a new delivery. In the meantime, the app shows you those orders that still need to be assigned, the ones that are currently in progress, and which have been done. It helps you keep track of the big picture and coordinate quickly with your employees.
2. Automate As Much As You Can
While Task Tracker is a great way to do some light-duty delivery management, GPS fleet tracking takes it a leap further with automated notifications, vehicle status in real time, route optimization, fuel and performance efficiency to run your business on a budget.
When setting up a last mile delivery service, you need higher visibility into what is happening in the field remotely and automate as many processes as you can. Big or small, they will add up, especially if your staff is lean and you can’t afford additional employees.
With fleet management software, you can keep track of your drivers and keep them on schedule, while responding effectively and quickly to customer orders, all from your computer screen or mobile device. Keep your finger on the pulse of everything that is going on remotely, having mobile tracking to view all vehicle activity on one web map – in real time.
You can cut down on response times significantly when immediate assistance is needed by identifying the closest employee to the area where you want them to be. Plus, optimizing your routes and having fewer idling instances will save you up to 12% on fuel consumption.
Set up rules and automatic notifications that get triggered as your drivers enter a specific location – or point of interest (POI) – to let your customer know their package is on their porch, without even ringing a bell. Get GPS and time stamps as proof of delivery for customer billing, without signature collection.
Best of all, you handle all job communication and records in one cloud-based system, keeping track of invoices and payroll, as well as being able to produce detailed reports and access historical data when needed.
On top of that, having a connected device in your vehicles will help you ensure the safety of your assets and accountability of your employees. Generate specific reports on fleet performance, based on actual vehicle use and see vehicle engine data to know when, how, and where a vehicle is being used – day or night. This will also help recover property faster, in case of misplacement or theft.
3. Get Help Customizing
If your business already has systems in place, but needs a modification that will help address a certain change caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, then you need a custom solution built by professional services. They specialize in custom solutions and integrations for the Field Service industry, and anything that deals with mobile workforce and resource management.
“With a sudden change to our fundamental business model, our logistics requirements have become far more complex and involved. The Fleet Complete solution allows us to more effectively manage our delivery fleet; ensuring maximum efficiency, accountability and safety for our drivers and customers.”
—Daniel Semmler, Co-owner, Wills & Daniel
Whether you need to create a unique app, process orders within seconds with minimal data entry, customize dashboard for scheduled routes or set up an ETA board (to monitor multiple routes, their status, route percentage completed, and traffic conditions on the road), they will build it out for you. This will help you adapt to the situation at hand faster and keep your essential operations running.
For more information on the services and solutions provided to help businesses adapt to the COVID-19 outbreak limitations, please visit Delivery Services by Fleet Complete and fill out a form to request a call back from us.
How Fleet Complete help:
- Lean on real-time GPS snapshots to track progress and staff whereabouts
- Provide accurate delivery time estimates to clients
- Get a time-and location-stamped proof of delivery
- Handle all job communication and records in one cloud-based system, from anywhere at
any time.
