Why your drivers might prefer electronic tickets to paper ones

Here at Podfather we make it our business to get to know our customers’ business and that often involves getting out on site.  It’s not unusual to see Podfather engineers, customer success managers and even the sales team donning PPE to get out and see what’s going on in the real world. After all, us software companies can have a tendency to hide behind our screens and resist getting out there in the real world.

We are happy to report that in the past few weeks we’ve been on site at a number of clients – Breedon, Rexel, Scot JCB, and Taylor Foods (part of Bidfresh) and part of the drive was for our system engineers to get first hand feedback from the drivers that rely on our app, day in day out to process job information.

Do you know what…almost all the drivers we met loved the app, found it easy to use, and by their own admission, would not be without it!  Some of these drivers have never handled a smart phone before.  That’s why our app is designed to get the job done, which is something else we hear frequently when customers talk about Podfather.  In short our solution does what it says it will do, and it does it well.

Hurrah, team Podfather cries.  But why do drivers like using an app rather than paper?  Here are some of the insights that we’ve collected on our travels in recent weeks.

1. Using an app, gets rid of paper.  Drivers don’t have to worry about losing a ticket or returning a soggy piece of paper back to the transport office when they’ve been out and about in bad weather.
2. For customers, that use third party hauliers, its completed tickets that trigger payment.  Lost, damaged, or disputed tickets cause issues.  So, in short, most of the hauliers we speak to are more than happy to hand the tracking of completed jobs over to Podfather and consign paper tickets to the past.
3. When you use our driver app your drivers have clear proof of what they delivered where and when.  Over the years we’ve all heard horror stories of disputes that have cost our customers money, and even big contracts, as they can’t prove exactly where a driver was, what they were moving, and when. 
4. Moving to electronic tickets gives drivers, and transport teams as a whole, the safety net that enables disputes to be handled more quickly and effectively. Just tally up how many refunded orders you’ve had to deal with due to a discrepancy in the past month and you’ll understand having that information digitally can have a big financial impact. 

• Our app only ‘tracks’ drivers when they are logged in and working. We don’t access photos, and we have no interest in a person’s browser history.  Any driver that is showing huge resistance to being tracked is going to ring alarm bells for any employer.  But, to be clear, checking driver behavior is very rarely the reason that people implement a system. 

• Our app will capture information even when you have no signal.  This is a big plus on construction sites that are remote or isolated.  When a driver comes back into range the app will catch up with itself and you’ll get all the information through.

• Our app will increase first time, on time delivery.  As part of the Podfather product suite we offer Customer ETA notification as standard to all core product users.  Customers will know that a driver is on the way and ‘should’ be ready to accept the order, reducing time waiting onsite to unload, and waiting around in general.  And if the customer keeps you waiting repeatedly, you have the information to prove it with time, date and location stamps that are part of our standard feature list. 

• Our app does not have to run on a really expensive smart phone.  A basic device will do and the app is available for both Android and iOS users.  We find most of our users opt for Android devices and we have suppliers that can help you source devices if you need them. 

• Our app really is easy to use.  As the person writing this blog it is well known across the Podfather business that as I’m as technical as a wood spoon.  In short, I can use it.  If I can use it, anyone can use it.

Here at Podfather we take driver training seriously and we have resources in place that are designed to help your drivers get up and running with our app quickly.  Once a driver has processed one or two jobs they will get the hang of it, we promise you.  They might even grow to love it – their cab is tidier, they have access to satnav should they need it, and they have a clear trail of what work was completed when.

So if you are one of the companies that is putting off digital transformation (which does, by the way, sound kind of scary) then I hope you find this blog useful.  Of course, we do from time to time get the odd driver who just can’t get to grips with the technology but we’ve found that through sound training documentation, excellent support and a bit of patience, we can win over the most hardened of stalwarts. 

Podfather specialises in the development, delivery and support of route optimisation and electronic proof of delivery technology.  We are a UK-based team, located in Edinburgh, and we are passionate about what we do.  We work with companies of all shapes and sizes, from industry giants such as Tarmac and Breedon to well-known names such as Rexel and ODDBOX and everything else in between.  It doesn’t matter what you are delivering but if you have a multi drop distribution operation and are looking to make changes then we can help.  Our solution includes the following as standard:

• Route planning and optimisation
• Vehicle checks
• Customer ETA notifications
• Driver tracking
• electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD)

Together we can help you improve cashflow, reduce empty running across your fleet, improve delivery performance and get costs under control.  Get in touch with us today!