Skillweb launches real-time planning tool to optimise scheduling of same-day deliveries

Skillweb has launched a new real-time planning tool to enable courier, parcel and postal organisations to reduce the time required to schedule and manage time-definite and same-day deliveries by as much as 75 per cent. The innovative solution is an extension to the company's end-to-end item tracking solution Houndit Enterprise and will provide the ability to better coordinate deliveries and collections within strict time windows and service level agreements.

The system will provide complete visibility of all incoming orders from in-house and third party websites, so schedulers can quickly and efficiently allocate collections and arrange deliveries wherever they are. It will identify the most appropriate courier or delivery operative based on location, workload and skillset, with a job order sent directly to their handheld terminal which can then be reviewed, accepted or rejected.

All outstanding workload can be monitored centrally through the system providing an overview of live jobs and any at risk of delivery failure. This will offer the opportunity to recall a collection and rearrange with an alternative courier or operative to ensure it is completed within the necessary time window. Meanwhile, it can also communicate directly with third-party customer systems to confirm completion of a job, provide proof of delivery and trigger invoicing.

Paul Ridden, Managing Director of Skillweb commented: "With increasing demand for time-sensitive, same-day services, courier, parcel and postal operators are faced with the issue of how best to manage employees in the field to ensure that deliveries are completed within strict timescales. Therefore, we have extended our proven tracking solution Houndit Enterprise to help overcome this challenge by providing a simple and effective tool that will support the best possible service delivery and customer communication.

Initial trials have shown that the real-time planning system can achieve considerable reductions in the time required to effectively schedule and manage couriers and operatives, helping organisations to confidently deliver more time definite services."