I've helped many UK haulage and distribution businesses with their systems. On this one I helped implement a bespoke cloud TMS, trained into its transport hub systems, and became its named technical contact with retailers, EDI providers and the WMS vendor.
A haulage and distribution business doesn't stop for a system change. Trucks still go out, trunks still run, customers still want their PODs and retailers still want their messages. A new TMS has to come in around all of that, without dropping a load.
And a TMS never works alone. It talks to the warehouse system, to EDI providers and to retailers. Each of them sees their own piece of the chain. When something goes wrong between them, someone has to understand every side of the conversation, and know who to call.
That person is usually missing. The vendor knows the software, the transport office knows the work, and the gap in the middle is where problems sit.
That last part matters more than it sounds. Retailers, EDI providers and software vendors each want one person who understands the technical detail and can answer for the business. A named technical contact sees the whole chain, and can say which side a problem is on, and why.
The TMS runs in the cloud. When a retailer, an EDI provider or the WMS vendor needs a technical answer from the business, there's one named person to go to.
It's the kind of role I've taken on for many companies over more than 20 years. Not a report on a shelf, but someone inside the operation who knows how the systems join up, speaks the language of the hub and the language of the developers, and can get the systems talking again when they stop.
If you're living with a problem like this one, tell me about it.
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