Logistics provider Transportation One recently announced it has gone live with T1TAN TMS to give its employees an updated experience in managing freight for customers.
Founder and CEO Jamie Teets told FreightWaves the company had used an off-the-shelf technology for the past 14 years. Still, as transportation management systems had become more sophisticated and easier to white label, it came time for a transition.
“We are trying to customize the areas of our business that have waste to create more efficiencies and productivity. We asked ourselves, how do we do two times the freight with the same amount of people we have today? In those little areas of efficiencies, we can create a better user experience to our employees,” he explained.
With an executive team full of industry veterans, Transportation One specializes in more difficult freight needs like white-glove, temperature-controlled and special projects.
Jim Keating, chief operating officer, discussed how those specialties were worked into the new technology.
“We have taken all of these different specialized load requirements and expectations that customers have beset on us and have applied it to all facets of the TMS,” he said. “In building each module, whether it’s tracking or accounting, we’ve taken all of those unique use cases and baked them into appropriate phases of the system. Each of these, from a user interface standby, have been calculated well in advance to take into account what the customer needs.”
Both leaders told FreightWaves that employees were heavily involved, from suggesting the name T1TAN to giving honest user feedback.
“We had months of user acceptance where we had four employees come in and test every module and try every feature. … After being rolled out for two days, the need for employees to ask for help has already been reduced,” said Keating.
This is important for Teets and his leadership team at Transportation One, as they work to balance the need for new technology and the importance of leveraging employees’ knowledge.
“We are not trying to be a digital freight broker. We do have technology that makes us better for our carriers and our shippers, but we are not trying to automate any of the human elements of this business. I think this system has created accountability around the productivity of servicing our clients,” he said.
Teets went on to explain that this is also a showcase of dedication to the human element of the business.
“It’s a positive culture shock. People see that we are truly investing in helping them push the business forward. We aren’t just talking about it, we are doing it, and in a tough freight environment it has been great for our culture to celebrate something.”
The company does have plans to make portals and apps for its shippers and carriers. Transportation One will zero in on making adjustments to its new platform based on employee feedback.
“Right now we are focused on finding that perfect user experience from the feedback of people who are in the system day in and day out. Then we can comfortably go and deliver a better experience for our shippers and carriers,” Teets explained.
Brief Bytes
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