“Qargo is always looking to improve its offering and adapt to client needs.”
Over the past 20 years, haulage company Premier Logistics has experienced stellar business growth resulting in a workforce of 75 employees, 40 vehicles, 85 trailers and a 200,000 square-foot facility. But how could the haulier secure its future for the next two decades?
Relying on Premier Logistics’s existing processes was becoming increasingly unviable as they depended on an outdated platform coupled with an over-reliance on Excel. “Our customers would put their orders on to our existing platform while we would plan our general haulage fleet in Excel,” explains Premier Logistics’s client relationship manager Macauley Christopher. “It meant we were duplicating the work – and that needed to change.”
Full stop
His decision to transform how the Leicestershire-based company worked was accelerated by Premier Logistics’s then TMS provider of nearly 15 years being bought out. At first, the platform’s new owner appeared to offer all the features needed for the haulier to transform its backend.
However, six weeks into the onboarding process and it became clear to Macauley that certain promises made by the provider would not be delivered on to his satisfaction. Undermining his confidence even further, the provider subsequently fell victim to a cyber attack. “It was like we were being told that moving forward with them wasn’t the right thing to do – so we went our separate ways,” recalls Macauley.
Starting over
This led to a review of the current TMS market to ascertain which solutions could fully deliver for the haulage business. Macauley's brief was simple: Reduce admin burdens and improve operational efficiency so business growth could be supported – all without relying on additional manpower alone. Another key area of the decision making was the customer experience, we wanted to ensure our customers have full visibility off each order so they can receive live information and ultimately communicate this to their customers.
As part of the selection process, Macauley posted on LinkedIn, asking his industry peers for TMS recommendations. ‘Qargo’ was mentioned several times in replies and after receiving a follow-up email from Qargo itself, Macauley agreed to sit down with the team.
The meeting left him impressed with Qargo’s range of benefit-driven features. “First, it was a cloud-based system so there was no need for a server at our end,” says Macauley. “I was also impressed with the platform’s integration capabilities with other systems such as tracking.”
How Qargo’s driver app integrated with the platform also appealed to Macauley. For instance, the platform would give Premier Logistics and its drivers – via a mobile app – the ability to issue delivery updates, plus allow the main office to manage a multi-legged journey as a single job, instead of multiple ones.
“The driver app was revolutionary as we had never had such capabilities before.”
Right people
While these top line features were important, what impressed Macauley the most was the Qargo team itself: “Sometimes when you meet people, you can tell if they are full of ‘it’,” says Macauley.
“However, the people from Qargo were straight down the line and very honest. Crucially, they were open and transparent about the areas where the system still needed to be improved. Ultimately, Qargo never tried to present its platform as ‘the perfect system’ because no such solution exists.”
Because of this transparency, Macauley green lit introducing the Qargo platform into Premier Logistics’s operations. To facilitate the roll out, Macauley set about mapping out the haulier’s internal processes. This ‘roadmap’ was then introduced into a sandbox version of Qargo. It allowed Macauley to test drive the platform by adding drivers, rate cards and other key information. This helped to identify any efficiencies and savings as well as any potential pinch points – all before going live.
On target
The sandbox environment also enabled Macauly to demonstrate to each of Premier Logistics’s departments how the platform worked and how to use it. Such an inclusive environment was essential for not only training personnel but changing the culture of the company itself.
After all, Premier Logistics’s people had been utilising its previous TMS solution for well over a decade. “The saying ‘old habits die hard’ is so true,” says Macauley, “and it was challenging ensuring our people truly understood how Qargo could work for them and make their working lives better.
“However, for instance, I could show the team that they would no longer need to send start time messages to each and every of our 50-odd drivers individually. Instead, it could be done with a single click of a button.”
“Like anything new, change can be very hard to accept but Qargo’s offering helped change in-house perceptions.”
Timing matters
For the roll out itself, Macauley settled on the Xmas period between Christmas Day and New Year 2023, traditionally a time when far fewer deliveries are made. This meant Qargo could go live without the risk of causing serious business disruption if any problems should arise.
“For the live date, we had two Qargo guys come in for four days, working 10-hour shifts to ensure all was working well,” recalls Macauley. “They also worked alongside Premier Logistics staff who needed the most support getting on board with the system.”
Benefits delivered
Fast forward to mid-2024 and Premier Logistics is already reaping the benefits of making the switch. “We have resolved the duplication issue forever,” says Macauley. “This is probably saving us two hours per day per person. The ability to mass-send start times to drivers is saving around 30-45 minutes a day, too.”
Premier Logistics also no longer needs to send 10-15 Excel format files to freight distribution specialist Palletforce each day, which saves further time. In future, the aim is to stop directly using Palletforce’s system altogether, instead relying on Qargo to interact with the service and save our customers time switching between two systems, receiving positive feedback from our customers tells us we have made the right decision moving to Qargo.
Forging ahead
As for the future, Macauley believes Qargo’s offering is ideally placed to support Premier Logistics’s continuing growth plans. “We want to add other companies to our group,” he says, “and when we do acquire another business, we know we can integrate it into our Qargo system and retain total visibility and control.”
Critically, this level of flexibility and transparency puts the company in the best possible position to face the opportunities and challenges of the future. And we hope in 20 years time, we can sit down with Premier Logistics to discuss – and celebrate – its 40th anniversary.
“We’re very positive about Qargo and will continue using the platform so long as it continues to deliver.”
