Skillweb’s track and trace delivery solution

03 September 2008, 7:30am

Skillweb, supplier of mobile computing solutions for the logistics industry, provided the Isle of Man Post Office a solution to improve customer delivery service. The Post Office is provided with customer signatures and delivery info in REAL TIME. Chris Wright, Managing Director Skillweb, reports.

The Isle of Man Post Office operates the largest postal and courier service on the Isle of Man. It offers a wide range of postal services, delivering mail directly into the domestic and international mail streams for worldwide delivery, quickly and efficiently. It also offers other services including an Island-wide retail network, collections and deliveries, Door2Door distribution and Special Delivery.

Isle of Man Post Office handles a significant number of deliveries on behalf of several major third party parcel carriers and has recently introduced a state of the art tracking system to capture shipment details. The organisation has invested in the latest technology from Skillweb to enable a track and trace service of its parcels and packets delivered throughout the Isle of Man. Isle of Man postal delivery workers have been equipped with mobile devices incorporating barcode scanners and a touch screen to capture customer signatures.

FLEXIBLE SOLUTION

Isle of Man Post Office selected Skillweb’s 2020ePOD solution following a tender process, where it reviewed several other competitive products. Skillweb’s solution most closely matched the organisation’s needs and was also priced competitively.

According to Mike Cubbon, General Manager Parcels, at Isle of Man Post Office: “We had decided that we required a parcel tracking system as many of our business partners already had invested in similar technology. We wanted one that could talk to our partners’ systems and that also suited our needs.

“Skillweb’s solution was exactly what we required – it could be developed within our tight time and budget constraints. We were also impressed with Skillweb’s proven expertise and established reputation in the business.”


STREAMLINED PROOF OF DELIVERY

When deliveries are carried out and the customer signs the screen on the handheld device, the details of the shipment are transmitted to file servers hosted by Skillweb that store the information. This data is then also sent on to third party carriers, to provide proof of delivery in the Island. Similarly, all collections taken at the counter and passed on behalf of other carriers are tracked through the Post Office’s point of sale systems. Details are sent via the Skillweb solution to the parcel carrier systems.


IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICES

The new system has enabled the Post Office to provide an improved service to customers. The Customer Services Team has access to real-time delivery information and is able to update customers exactly on the status of their delivery.


“We wanted to develop our service to meet today’s customer expectations – to be able to respond quickly to enquiries with the latest information. Skillweb’s solution has enabled us to give a much better customer service. Customers can phone in and enquire about the status of a parcel and we can tell them if it is still on a vehicle,” said Mike Cubbon.


BUSINESS BENEFITS

The new solution has also resulted in considerable business benefits. Using just one system has improved efficiencies, both in the time taken to process delivery information and the reduction on manual inputting of data. Previously paper receipts or dockets were used for proof of delivery which required a lot of collating and administration, particularly for larger account customers and partners. Now paper trails have been eliminated and the reconciliation of accounts is both more accurate and faster.

“Our revenue collection processes are much more efficient,” said Mike Cubbon, “which has obvious benefits for the business both in protecting and reconciling revenue streams. We are confident that Skillweb’s solution will enable us to accommodate changes as we meet the needs of new partners and our requirements grow.”

www.skillweb.co.uk

Chris Wright - chris.wright@skillweb.co.uk

Managing Director Skillweb