In a highly competitive market, producing an optimal delivery route, managing staff and keeping in close touch with clients is essential in maximising customer service performance and driving down costs.According to Renko Bergh, COO of the Forte Group, the challenge of streamlining distribution operations lies in the ability to process the required documentation as soon as the delivery is complete.“At Forte, we address this need with FLOW Mobility for the logistics and warehouse industry. This custom form application takes clients to the next step of visibility,” he explains.Replacing the pre-printed delivery note documentation with an electronic version (ePOD) is the first step, but also sending a digital version of your client’s documents for a true combined electronic proof of delivery, or POD, with no need to print and sign, is what’s really required.Improved visibility, along with the immediate availability of documents, says Bergh, reduces invoice disputes through better tracking and recording of deliveries, while increasing service performance through improved workforce utilisation and optimal service-level compliance. “It also creates immediate notification and prompts for lost or damaged stock from collections not recorded and from failed deliveries, which is a very costly process to manage reactively.”Bergh says the world of service delivery within the logistics industry is evolving rapidly and that yesterday’s best practices are barely enough to satisfy today’s increasingly demanding customer expectations, let alone establish the foundation for sustained service excellence in the years to come.“Logistics operators need to find innovative ways to respond to market trends. One such way is the ability to improve workforce productivity and utilisation with paperless submissions of daily work activity,” he says. “Transferring traditional paper-based activities to the use of an app on a mobile or device provides not only time-saving and real-time availability, it also creates a culture of digitisation and allows for the upskilling of the mobile workforce. These are the kingpin members in the actual execution of the work – the truck drivers, forklift operators, warehouse inbound and outbound controllers, and many more.”He says many examples of digital forms and documentation can already be seen in use through broad industry adoption. These include incident reports, inspection sheets, handover sheets, electronic delivery notes, claim notices or reports, and even Covid-19 daily check forms. “Operators want the freedom to create their own forms with software partner customisations or specification processes. This is why we created FLOW Mobility: it’s completely self-maintainable by our clients.”It creates immediate notification and prompts for lost or damaged stock.– Renko Bergh
