The logistics industry has been undergoing a technological revolution of sorts for the past several years. Most of the solutions to come out of the first round of mass innovation, which began in conjunction with the 2016 federal ELD mandate, have focused on helping companies better react to challenges and market shifts. More recently, emerging technologies have embraced a more proactive approach, aiming to stop problems before they even start.
DDC FPO is ushering in this new era with the arrival of DDC Sync, an enterprise application designed to interconnect data, people, and processes, bringing harmony to previously cobbled together freight operations.
With DDC Sync, drivers are empowered to capture bills of lading data quickly and efficiently from the convenience of their cab without compromising accuracy. By gathering this information at pickup, DDC Sync is enabling near-time logistics planning and cross-team communication before a truck ever makes it back to the terminal.
With the full consignee data being pulled through to the web portal of the product, carriers ultimately get on average a six-hour head start on visibility per load, according to DDC President Art Zipkin. In an environment in which every second counts, these extra hours can mean the difference between success and failure.
And over the last twelve months, DDC has tested the proof of concept with different carrier and TMS partners.
Two of these partners – The Custom Companies’ Chief Experience Officer Joseph Klikas and Carrier Logistics, Inc. President Ben Wiesen – recently joined DDC’s Richard Greening on stage SMC3 JumpStart 2022 Conference in Atlanta to share their insights and experience of implementing DDC Sync.
“One of the greatest advantages within this new process we’ve created with DDC Sync is untethered access to the strength that data provides,” said Klikas.
Wiesen explained, “The difference between a dock worker being told a zip code, which is what they would get if data wasn’t entered, and instead being shown all the details of the consignee, all the markings, and everything else, is huge.”
While DDC Sync’s main purpose is to streamline and maximize BOL data usage, the solution offers a whole host of tools for users, including:
- Smart OCR image capture that auto-enhances, crops and submits BOL data for processing.
- BOL inventory management.
- Driver tracking and GPS tagging for more efficient routing and forecasting.
- Streamlined, documented driver-terminal communication.
- Real-time reporting and automated alerts for increased visibility into shipments, drivers and assets.
- Driver incident log with support for geo-targeted documents, photos and videos.
- Secure, permissions-based terminal administrative access.
- White-label capabilities for easy branding and customized data collection.
- A collaborative, connected driver community with news feeds and interest groups.
- Customizable reporting modules and dashboards with drag-and-drop functionality.
- Engaging gamification to achieve user adoption and enhance the driver experience.
Across the board, companies are looking to their technology partners to provide more multipurpose tools. Just like drivers suffer from app fatigue, professionals across the industry are beginning to experience portal fatigue. This is forcing companies away from solutions that promise to solve just one or two issues in favor of more well-rounded options. DDC has tapped into this market with DDC Sync, offering a whole slew of tools in one place.
While all-in-one solutions are gaining ground over more niche offerings, some more tech-wary players across the industry may be overwhelmed by long offering lists that may or may not seem relevant to their business models. DDC recognizes this technological gap and has designed DDC Sync to meet each user where they are right now.
“Everybody is different in the same industry. We have a team of people that work to customize DDC Sync to each customer’s needs,” Zipkin said. “We’ve been in the billing business for years and it all started with a paper invoice on someone’s desk in a terminal. That is where we came from, and from this standpoint, if someone is interested in expanding their tech capabilities, we will be there to hold their hand.”
