8 April 2009

According to an eBook, recently published by end to end delivery solutions supplier Skillweb, delivery companies such as couriers, parcel carriers and distributors need to adapt to beat the current economic climate by looking at what their customers want first. By working backwards from the customer’s front door, Skillweb believes that technology can be harnessed to support the whole business resulting in excellent customer satisfaction. This is achieved by communicating with customers, particularly when things go wrong, so Bad News can be Good News, and is certainly a lot better than No News for the customer sitting at home waiting for a delivery.

Elegant recovery is one of the recurring themes of Skillweb’s eBook entitled ‘How to avoid 8 common potholes on the road to business perfection’. It advocates that organisations should be prepared to spend their time dealing with exceptions rather than the rules. When a delivery is made on time, everyone is happy; it is when problems occur that a system is tested. Is information available to the right people to so that the customer can be alerted, and alternative arrangements made? This is what Skillweb calls an elegant recovery. Can the causes of the problem be identified to prevent the same happening again?

With the buy price of software projects, whether in-house developed or procured from a specialist vendor typically being only 25% of the whole of life cost, the eBook suggests that companies should be insisting on viable recurring license models and avoiding excessive upfront charges.

The eBook goes on to discuss such areas as supply chain performance, cost containment, operational efficiencies and controls. It includes sections devoted to Commercial & Financial, Operational & Process, Technical, Security and discusses opportunities for companies in the sector to re-evaluate their traditional model in order to adapt and gain market share.

Joe Robinson, Business Development Manager at Skillweb said; ”The eBook has been written to trigger discussion within all types of logistics companies about total cost of ownership of technology, protecting cash flow, the best way to buy products, getting the cost/performance balance right, and how to avoid bottlenecks and points of failure in their business. Overall it is about how to harness technology to design and build business systems that put the customer first. Delivering excellent customer service will be the one of the key differentiators for companies that survive and thrive in these difficult times.

For a copy of Skillweb’s How to avoid 8 common potholes on the road to business perfection please contact: Andreina West, 01491 639500, Andreina@pra-ltd.co.uk, or click here to download a copy