Delivery Management Software
Delivery Management Software
Delivery management software for optimising and scheduling multiple delivery routes and deliveries
Simplify the planning and monitoring of deliveries, while having the ability to include customer notifications and driver engagement tools, plus electronic proof of delivery and location tracking software.
Descartes delivery management software is the solution
Reduce planning time and improve customer satisfaction with delivery management software.
Optimise multi-drop deliveries for all of your depots and vehicles quickly and easily.
Delivery management software makes it easy
- Reduce delivery window times
- Make more deliveries on time
- Improve efficiency and reduce costs
- Analyse data to improve performance
- Plan & dispatch multiple vehicles across multiple delivery routes and depots
Delivery management software features and benefits
Plan Multiple Drop Delivery Routes
Plan optimised delivery routes for multiple deliveries on each vehicle quickly and easily.
Optimised delivery routes
Minimises route distances, reduces stop durations and improves on-time delivery performance.
Accurate ETA's and delivery times
Improved customer satisfaction with on-time deliveries and a reduced office workload as the number of phone calls enquiring after deliveries diminishes.
Contactless Proof of Delivery
If a signature is not to be collected as proof of receipt, alternative methods for proof of delivery such as capturing an image can be easily configured.
Delivery notifications
Automated messages during the last mile of delivery minimise missed deliveries and improve customer communications prior to delivery, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Continuous optimisation
Achieve more efficient route plans for your fleet than traditional batch-based optimisation techniques and provide costed delivery options at the point of sale in seconds to influence buyer behaviour.
Route Optimisation Software Benefits
Optimised Deliveries
- More accurate and reliable delivery times and ETA’s
- Reduced driver hours
- Reduced vehicle mileage and lower CO2 emissions
- Increased productivity and delivery density
Improved Resource Management
- Improved utilisation of existing trucks, vans and drivers
- Improved customer service and satisfaction
- Reduced driver stress and fewer accidents
- Reduced costs
Proven Results from Existing Customers
- Increase delivery capacity by up to 35%
- Increased fuel efficiency >15%
- Up to 25% cost reduction
- Customer delivery satisfaction increased by 40
- Savings of £2m per annum
Customer successes with delivery management software
“Redefining the Customer Experience in the Tyre Replacement Market”
Jobs/van/day increased 194%
Mileage reduced 13%
Fleet size 400+
“Working with Descartes, we’ve saved 13% on annual fuel costs, which equates to approximately 354,000 fewer miles driven.”
Lee Holmes, Transport and Logistics Director
Annual Fuel bill reduced 13%
Productivity improved 56%
Annual savings £2 million
“Descartes Reservations™ and Route Planner™ solutions were integral to our strategy of offering a more extensive, but unified delivery service. The advanced optimisation capabilities and architecture of the Descartes solutions were critical, bringing new delivery service options to our customers in an economically feasible way.”
Andrew Gay - Systems Manager
Fulfilment costs reduced £1.8m
Increased delivery productivity 35%
Delivery windows provided at POS
“Investing in Descartes has been the game changer we expected it would be for our business. Descartes’ last mile delivery solution enabled us to win not just one, but two major contracts without increasing headcount.”
Matt Shields, Director, PBO Logistics
Delivery Capacity Increased 8x
Operations headcount No Increase
Saving on driver's hours 10%
“Overnight our business was transformed. Our planning team and drivers love using Descartes. Since introducing Descartes, Stop Start’s daily delivery volume has increased 50%. This rate of growth would not have been sustainable without digital planning tools.”
Andrew Bayne, Managing Director
Daily planning time reduced 75%
Annual distribution costs saving £450k
Delivery capacity Increased 12%
Delivery management software FAQ's
Delivery management software will improve delivery density and productivity. The planning process is faster with delivery schedules and routes being optimised quickly, making the best use of vehicles and drivers.
The software uses a combination of clever algorithms and machine learning, integrated with historic traffic data and real-time vehicle tracking to provide a planning and monitoring solution for your deliveries.
The main benefits are reduced costs and improved efficiency, but this can come from many areas of the whole delivery process, such as reduced planning time, better optimisation of vehicles and drivers and driving fewer delivery miles. However, some of the unexpected benefits can be an improved delivery rate and customer satisfaction due to shorter and accurate delivery times.
Yes, Descartes delivery management software will integrate with many ERP systems for the order input and most GPS Tracking systems for monitoring vehicle locations, while modules for customer notifications and delivery tracking can also be added.
As well as checking whether the solution will meet your specific business requirements, you should ask if it will smooth deliveries over multiple days and geographical areas, whether the number of delivery slots per vehicle can be altered or set automatically by the software. Ensure that your entire fleet can be used across all of your depots and that the software will cope with returns or depot transfers. A good analytics package will help ensure you get the most out of your software.
Providing narrow delivery windows and accurate delivery times which you can be confident of meeting eliminates potential customer anxiety as deliveries arrive on time. Customer satisfaction can be further improved with Descartes’ Customer Engagement software to provide automated customer delivery notifications, customer self-delivery tracking and feedback options and driver communications.
Cost will vary depending upon the number of vehicles and features required. Contact Descartes for a free 30-minute discussion to explore the options.
Shorter delivery scheduling and planning times and higher delivery density, resulting in fewer delivery miles will be the main area of cost reduction, however other less obvious areas of potential savings are lower vehicle maintenance costs due to fewer miles, improved driver retention due to reduced driver stress levels and improved customer satisfaction leading to continued or increased future orders.
Any industry with their own fleet of delivery or service vehicles can benefit from optimising the routes and schedules for their vehicles.
Descartes’ solution tracks vehicles either from a driver’s hand-held mobile device or from integration with telematics GPS devices. Descartes’ software will integrate with all well-known telematics solutions, providing a monitoring tool for location and providing accurate ETA’s.
Yes, the system can cope with multiple delivery routes and multiple delivery drops on each route. The Descartes system can be used to plan routes over more than one day, giving an optimal and efficient solution for deliveries.
Delivery management software will monitor all aspects of delivery performance, showing planned v. actual for timeliness, success rates, driver productivity, and route efficiency, helping identify future areas for improvement.
Differences may include feature sets, the number of parameters that can be set for delivery models and deployment options, scalability, and integrations with other systems, but also consider how the licences work.
Managers can be alerted of possible late deliveries before delivery times and Descartes’ software will enable rerouting and reordering of deliveries live, while the vehicle is on the road. If Descartes’ customer notification software is part of the solution customers can easily be informed and kept abreast of any delays, while also allowing for communications with the driver if necessary. Customers can also track the progress of their driver on a map via a portal.
Descartes provides a comprehensive and full training package at the start of every deployment, with 24/7 support for the reporting of any user issues.
Delivery management software should integrate with a company’s ERP solution, as information on orders and deliveries will be supplied by the ERP to the delivery management software. Over the years Descartes’ delivery management software has been integrated with all the main ERP systems, and many of the lesser-known ones too.
It will consider factors that include but are not limited to, delivery locations and addresses, traffic conditions, vehicle type, power train and capacity, delivery time windows from the customer and the goods or additional services required for the delivery in order to create the most efficient delivery routes. Descartes’ solution can also consider the depot where the goods will be collected from, so that more than one depot can be factored in for the collection of goods.
Descartes’ delivery management solution is scalable to businesses as they grow.
Common challenges include data transfer from existing systems, user adoption and training. A reliable internet connection is essential for users due to the solution being cloud based so that it can be accessed anywhere there is an internet connection. Descartes will work through all of these with you, having already setup many customers over the years.
Features like mobile apps and two-way communication tools allow drivers to receive updates, report issues, and communicate with dispatchers and end customer. The latter enables delivery information such as directions for hard-to-find locations or security gate codes to be sent directly to the driver.
Electronic proof of delivery can be added, with pictures and signatures being collected via a driver’s mobile device. This eliminates paper and printing while also shortening time to invoice and reducing damage claims from customers.
Delivery management software can monitor driving times, ensuring breaks are taken and a driver’s hours not exceeded, while the right/best vehicle can automatically be selected within the software for deliveries into Clean Air zones (CAZ) and Ultra low emission zones (ULEZ).