Automatic notification enables forwarders to improve their processes and reduce costs.
- Automatic notification
- Transparent customer information
- Improved time management
Notification reduces
service times at Emons
Consignees can book desired delivery dates and times online.
Emons ensures more transparency in customer service and faster communication with EIKONA Notification.
What was the challenge for Emons regarding notification?
In the past, consignees had to be notified of upcoming shipment deliveries, entailing a great deal of work for logistics providers. This is because the shipment had to arrive at the receiving depot before service staff could notify the consignee by phone. However, this only worked if the consignee took the call. Emon's goals for this IT project: automatically provide delivery notifications, reduce the workload of its service staff and simultaneously produce notified shipments faster. Consignees should arrange delivery dates online even before their shipments reached the receiving facility.
Solution: integrated modular notification services
The modular solution based on the EIKONA Logistics Cloud was customised to the service provider's logistics operations and provided just the support that Emon needed. Consignees that need to be notified of an imminent delivery now receive an automatic notification by text or emailas soon as the order is entered. This notification contains a a shipment-specific link to the freight forwarder's online service portal. In the portal, consignees choose from all available time slots for the delivery and save their selection. However, if they have not selected anything by a predefined deadline despite being notified, the service will automatically notify the dispatching department that they will have to set up the delivery by phone.
Emons also supports its team digitally when making appointments by phone. The EIKONA Notification module can place calls to landlines from an IVR system. The IVR system presents the time slots to the consignee. The system transfers the selection directly to the freight forwarder's transport management system (TMS). Even manual calls can now be transferred to an external call centre. Its agents were specifically trained for the task and use the text templates provided by the freight forwarder. The EIKONA Notification module also immediately transfers the results of these conversations to the TMS.
That means that, in times of a skilled labour shortage, Emons has three options to provide advance shipping notices and schedule deliveries without using additional staff:
- E-mail or text
- IVR system
- Call centre
This increases flexibility, especially when handling seasonally volatile volumes.
EIKONA Notification eliminates 3 hours of work for an employee who would otherwise have spent the whole day providing shipment notifications. That makes us more accessible to our customers and softens the impact of the skilled labour shortage.
Emons Software Requirements Management
Result: automatic notification accelerates production times
Automatic consignee notifications allow Emons to save considerable time and resources in logistics and deploy its staff more efficiently. Production times for notifiable shipments have decreased significantly. Now, thanks to advance shipping notices, shipments can generally be delivered on the day of arrival and so do not take up storage space at the transloading terminal. Automatic advance information and delivery scheduling through the online service portal have also slashed the number of phone calls. It is an efficient solution that has greatly simplified organisational processes at the company.
Logistics benefits
- Consignee notification:
Goods are automatically announced - Coordinate delivery date online:
Consignees choose their preferred time slot - Digital process:
Avoid notifications by phone
About the company
Emons
Cologne-based Emons Spedition is an established global transport and logistics company that meets high quality and environmental standards. Read on to learn exactly what the medium-sized family business does and what goals it pursues. Since 1928, Emons has been synonymous with continuity, reliability and flexible services as one of the few medium-sized privately owned logistics networks in Germany.
What is a notification?
When consignees don't have fixed opening hours, freight forwarders have to call ahead to notify the consignees of an upcoming delivery or pickup. Advance shipping notification is thus a process that strains the service provider's human resources. Thanks to the use of modern software solutions, call centres, email and text messaging can also be used to provide advance notifications and schedule deliveries.
