Best dispatch scheduling software: enhance your customer service

As customer experience rapidly becomes a major influencer behind online buying decisions, businesses no longer have the luxury of banking on traditional delivery practices. Manual methods of assigning and scheduling delivery tasks and planning routes simply won’t help improve customer service and battle competition. Automated and intelligent dispatch scheduling software is key to ensuring agile and customer-centric delivery operations.

Dispatch scheduling software is an advanced tool used by fleet managers and dispatchers to get people, equipment, and material to the right place at the right time. With scheduling and dispatching software, it becomes seamless for enterprises to plan routes and organize driver schedules, leading to faster and more efficient deliveries.

Today, price and quality are not the only factors that determine business success. There's a third factor - customer experience - that has emerged as a key brand differentiator in recent times.

But customer expectations are always changing and it isn't always easy to keep up unless you have advanced technology like dispatch scheduling software with real-time tracking on your side to ensure timely deliveries and to keep customers informed at all times.

In logistics, every extra second spent at various steps can delay a shipment by several hours and reduce profitability due to inefficient usage of available resources. A dispatch scheduling software eliminates the guesswork by automating the core delivery process. What you get is a single platform integrated with robust features like automatic and intelligent scheduling, GPS tracking, live chat features, and electronic proof of delivery to make the entire process completely transparent and efficient.

Some dispatching and scheduling software can also integrate with telematics devices that track location via GPS and provide additional information on fuel usage, engine diagnostics, route-based insights, etc.

If you are a logistics company with many vehicles spread across multiple regions, it is vital that you efficiently dispatch your drivers to optimize deliveries and streamline your operations. To achieve this, you need to track your fleet in real-time and stay connected to make room for last-minute cancellations and rescheduling.

A dispatching software is of immense value in such situations. It improves visibility and gives you better control over your fleet through an integrated platform for scheduling, dispatching, and tracking deliveries.

Powered by machine learning, modern scheduling and dispatching software can make the dispatching process faster and efficient by clubbing deliveries according to pre-defined parameters. It can also optimize route planning and driver scheduling, enhance carrier performance, reduce delivery turn-around time, and lift some burden off the last mile.

The result is happier customers and a more content fleet – which is key to gaining a competitive advantage in the field. You can also boost productivity and reduce the staff-hours spent on every task, leaving your executives free to focus on other areas requiring human effort.

- Automated delivery scheduling

- Real-time cargo tracking

- Optimized route planning

- Mobile app for instant rescheduling and cancellations

- Automated notifications for real-time status updates

- Digital proof of dispatch and delivery

- Business intelligence in the form of easy to understand, highly visual charts and reports

There are many benefits to using modern dispatch scheduling software. Here are five of them:

1. Enhanced fleet management

Efficient scheduling of resources and dispatching requires a high degree of collaboration. Operation and delivery managers must always know their fleet's actual position – where it is going and where it is supposed to be, which is impossible to manage manually. A dispatching and scheduling software provides an integrated platform that acts as a single source of truth for tracking every driver's position and status.

The software can also alert drivers of any changes in the schedule, owing to cancellations or rerouting due to a weather alert or upcoming traffic jam.

2. Automated scheduling

With dispatching and scheduling software, it is possible to automate scheduling and assign jobs to drivers directly. Automated scheduling and route planning also mean that your last-mile delivery agents get ready-made schedules by the time they report to work so that they can get started with the deliveries immediately. In other words, it simplifies roster management by planning work-schedules in advanced.

Such a system also uses predictive algorithms for clubbing deliveries on various routes to plan loads efficiently. Furthermore, dispatching software is also equipped to give you real-time updates on current traffic and weather conditions, throwing up customized routes for fast and efficient deliveries.

3. Accurate route planning and notifications

The fastest route is not always the most efficient. A dispatch tracking software focuses on multiple parameters, like location, vehicle, and fuel costs, before suggesting the fastest possible routes that are also cost-effective.

Many scheduling and tracking software also offer mobile connectivity to inform drivers of any changes in real-time. The software can send notifications to all stakeholders, including the customer, to keep everybody updated on the cargo's location, the expected time of delivery, and any potential delays.

4. Enhanced customer service

Your customers expect swift deliveries and prefer to stay updated about the position of their cargoes. With dispatch tracking software, you can provide real-time information to users while ensuring timely deliveries of their products.

Dispatching software also lets you collect proof of delivery and customer feedback that helps you track your fleet's performance and gain valuable suggestions for performance improvement.

5. Simplified business intelligence

You cannot improve what you cannot measure. That's why it is essential to evaluate the efficacy of your dispatching efforts at regular intervals. Dispatching and scheduling software regularly crunch historical data to give you actionable insights into your performance and suggest improvement areas. You can draw various charts and reports at the touch of a few buttons and receive information in easy-to-understand visual formats that are easier to act upon.