All too often, the weeks and months following the tender award can devolve into a mad dash to integrate new processes, systems, and technology as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the hand-off from commercial teams to operations personnel is rarely a smooth one.
This disruption can result in costly delays and scope creep. Ultimately, this occurrence will diminish or potentially destroy the once-promising operating margins that made the solution appealing to stakeholders in the first place.
Since this challenging scenario has become commonplace in the logistics industry, it comes as no surprise that many brokers and forwarders are fixated on the workflow after the sale. If transportation and logistics service providers can somehow condense the implementation process, then they can expedite the time-to-value and provide significant productivity gains for shippers.
Below, we outline Winsmore's unique roadmap for accelerating time-to-value by turning the traditional customer onboarding model on its head.
Why Forwarders and Brokers Look Ahead to a Time After the Sale
If the implementation of a new solution is bumpy, it can create a whole world of headaches for the LSP and shippers. Most notably, implementation delays can rapidly become extremely expensive. These costs can diminish operating margins and cause organizational leadership to experience buyer’s remorse.
A shaky implementation can have resounding impacts on the entire organization as well.
Employee buy-in is integral to the success of any new technology solution. If line-level staff, middle management, and C-suite executives are not convinced of the viability of a software solution, they will be less willing to familiarize themselves with its capabilities.
Shipper Implementations: The Key to Optimized Time-to-Value
Advancements in information technology and logistics software have forever changed the supply chain sector. However, countless software solutions providers and commercial deployment teams still rely on antiquated customer onboarding practices in order to implement new solutions.
If the capabilities of modern technologies have changed so drastically, why would companies use inefficient onboarding practices? That simple question has a very obvious answer: they shouldn’t be.
Instead, software solutions providers and LSPs must rethink the way that they onboard. Better onboarding leads to faster implementation, fewer scope creeps, improved employee buy-in, and an accelerated time-to-value. Modern onboarding should be nimble, efficient, timely, and most of all, effective.
How Winmore Helps: Traditionally, implementation and onboarding are significant pain points that can increase the time-to-value associated with new technology investments. However, Winmore works to turn this pain point into an organizational strength. Specifically, we help clients:
Facilitate a Seamless Handoff
Winmore provides clients with supplementary resources in order to facilitate a seamless handoff. A prime example of this is our RFP & Tender Collaboration software.
By leveraging these assets, commercial teams and operations personnel receive a comprehensive history of the design of our solutions. Additionally, they are provided with information regarding pricing, the context of deployment, and essential solution documents.
A smooth handoff from commercial teams to operations sets the stage for a deployment that is on schedule and on budget. From there, we continue to provide support for the entire implementation lifecycle so that we can help clients navigate any new hurdles that may emerge.
Leverage Automation
During onboarding, Winmore’s Custom Solution software will auto-assign tasks across the internal implementation team. This approach ensures that everyone is on the same page from the outset of a deployment initiative while also minimizing confusion among key personnel.
Organizational stakeholders and C-suite leadership will also have access to Winmore’s Custom Solution On-Boarding software. They can utilize the user-friendly interface to gain a bird’s eye view of the state of the deployment.
This view keeps them in the loop without requiring them to reach out to deployment personnel. When transparency is maintained for the entire deployment lifecycle, everyone is happy.
Maximize Transparency
Speaking of transparency, the Custom Solution On-Boarding platform eliminates deployment blind spots that are notorious during traditional implementation processes. If management personnel or organizational leaders discover concerning delays, they can allocate additional resources in order to get the project back on track.
Improving top-down visibility also alleviates some of the stress and tension that is commonly associated with large-scale technology roll outs.
Proactively Addresses Scope Creep
Few things diminish operating margins faster than “scope creep.” This term refers to alterations to a project’s scope after it is already underway. Unchecked scope creep can not only erode operating margins, but it can also destroy the morale of deployment teams.
Changing the scope of a project is much like moving the finish line in the middle of a race.
Just as the deployment team believed that they were on pace to finish the project by the established deadline, scope creep pushed their objective just out of reach.
By improving the handoff, combating scope creep, leveraging automation, and facilitating better transparency, Winmore has revolutionized the onboarding process. In turn, this accelerates the time-to-value for our clients and allows them to achieve broader operating margins more rapidly.