By providing customers with real-time insight into all goods movement, logistics service provider Vonk and Co expects to contribute to the 'Uberisation of logistics'.
The Tiel-based transport company is investing in Yellowstar's logistics web portal Star Flow, an extension that can be easily linked to existing IT systems. Customers can track their products through an application. Enter the trip data and you can see exactly how fast the goods are moving, how many kilometres are driven and the costs incurred.
It is a good example of 'IT for social supply chain': companies invest in products that make it easier to inform customers and give them more insight. Moreover, according to board member Stephan Vonk, it is very user-friendly: "We took plenty of time to prepare for the implementation, companies were already familiar with the system."
Data
Because the company is in direct contact with customers, deviations and other important events can be easily passed on. Vonk can also give the client easy access to data, allowing to see when a delivery arrives, for instance.
Consumers can also use the system: by entering a postcode and house number, they immediately see what the scheduled arrival time is. The location of the delivery vehicle can be made visible with an image on a map or Street View.
Uber
Osman Akdemir, director of innovation at Yellowstar, compares the new developments to Uber. "The logistics world is moving towards a form of Uberisation. Deliveries are increasingly consumer-oriented. After all, the customer wants to know what or who to expect." According to Akdemir, the portal mainly saves time for Vonk and Co. "Moreover, the quality of the questions customers ask planners is higher. We also see that customers are actually using the login facility a lot. Those volumes have already grown considerably."
Vonk says the number of customer call-outs has been reduced by half. "Our planners have time left for other things," he says.
