MAS supports contractors and installers across the UK offering a fast-paced, delivery-led service with a strong focus on reliability and responsiveness. Part of the Airvance Group, MAS operates a dedicated fleet of light commercial vehicles, making up to 80 deliveries a day, from three depots, with a combination of planned routes and reactive, same-day requirements.
“Prior to implementing Podfather, our mobile operation was largely manual and paper-based,” commented George Ferrar, Manager at MAS’s Leatherhead Branch. “This required significant administrative resource including printing and preparing daily job sheets, manually allocating jobs, and chasing paperwork after deliveries had been made. Also, as the business has grown, this was becoming increasingly inefficient and difficult to scale.”
Following a rigorous research and benchmarking exercise, including reviews of other systems against key requirements of efficiency, visibility, and automation, MAS selected Podfather based on its comprehensive functionality and ease of use. MAS was also impressed with Podfather’s strong reputation within similar industries, the quality of support and onboarding, and competitive pricing for the value delivered.
MAS is now using Podfather, which includes real-time tracking and notifications, route planning and optimisation, and the capture of electronic proof of delivery (POD) evidence, across multiple areas of its operation. Delivery routes are automatically optimised, reducing planning time and improving efficiency, resulting in more deliveries completed in less time and back-office staff and management have full visibility of drivers and deliveries. Customers automatically receive ETA notifications and updates on delivery status, which improve transparency and reduce inbound enquiries, and Podfather’s inbuilt reporting features help MAS monitor performance, delivery success rates, and operational efficiency.
Using the Podfather app, drivers complete daily vehicle checks to improve safety management and compliance and the app is also used to capture, record, and share Proof of Delivery evidence including date, time, and location stamped photographs and signatures.
“Podfather has had a significant impact on our business,” Ferrar continued. “We have improved our customer service with faster response times, more accurate and more proactive communications. The flow of information within the company is also easier, faster, and more informed.
“It is currently a very challenging time for many businesses and Podfather is helping us address some of the issues we are facing. Improved efficiency is helping us offset fuel and labour increases and drivers benefit from simpler, less stressful workflows. Better planning allows us to handle more work, with the same resource, and optimised routes reduce mileage and emissions. We are also cutting down on paper usage with digital records improving our audit readiness.
“Moving forward with Podfather, we are hoping to leverage more of the reporting and analytics features, explore additional features to further optimise our operation, and potentially roll the solution out to other areas of the business.”
