Automating Rating to Free Resources, Drive-up Revenue & Customer Service
Challenge: Manual Processes Impeded Efficiency
Hellman Worldwide Logistics is a growing logistics service provider (LSP) that is expanding into new regions and service offerings. An increasing volume of customers are requesting quotes and expecting a quick turnaround on customer service. As a result, there was additional pressure on Hellman to manage carrier rates, surcharges and allocations.
In the complex arena of logistics, providing an accurate quote across various shipment legs, charges, and carriers began to reduce available resources. Hellman needed an on-demand, cloud-based solution, such as Descartes Global Price Management™, that could centralize rate management activities without expending valuable IT resources.
“Being able to leverage the expertise of Descartes Global Price Management is a huge bonus for us. The pricing component is central to our customers’ journey. With Descartes, we can focus our resources on execution, since that is one of Hellman’s core differentiators to bring value”
--Christian van Eeden, VP, Transformation Architecture, Hellman Worldwide Logistics
Solution: Freeing Resources to Scale
With a goal of maintaining exceptional customer service and logistics execution, Hellman continues to expand. The need to both maintain growth trajectory and meet customer expectations became challenging with existing systems. The company needed to tap the expertise of a technology provider that could gather and collect carrier pricing and serve it up in an easy-to-use customer-facing format.
“We deliver services to the customer and have rich domain knowledge about how shipping and global supply chains work,” said Christian van Eeden, VP, Transformation Architecture at Hellman Worldwide Logistics. “At the same time, we still have customers reaching out to us continuously that need pricing. We knew that we needed a digital tool that we did not have to build to serve-up this pricing.”
“However, it is not about digitizing, providing pricing automatically, and then eliminating staff. Instead, we are trying to reallocate our skilled staff and free them from mundane tasks. This way, they can spend more time with the customer.”
“In regard to technology, since our industry is constantly changing, the adaptability and changeability of the system is also a key factor—How quickly can a vendor respond to changes and incorporate new ideas. Being able to leverage the expertise of Descartes Global Price Management is a huge bonus for us. The pricing component is central to our customers’ journey. With Descartes, we can focus our resources on execution, since that is one of Hellman’s core differentiators to bring value.”
The Results
Increased Efficiency:
By eliminating time-consuming manual processes, the Descartes Global Price Management solution is able to optimize the quote workflow.
Achieved Exceptional Customer Service:
With Descartes, Hellman can provide consistent, reliable communication with customers about their quotes across complex or multi-leg shipments.
Free Resources for Growth:
With less labor required to communicate and gather carrier rating data, employees refocused on tasks that expand the business worldwide.
Increased Profitability:
Descartes GPM provides up-sell service recommendations to help Hellman drive-up revenue and expand service offerings.