The Challenge

Neill’s Home Store, a retail furniture store’s journey from route planning to furniture delivery, was full of potholes as it consumed more time managing paperwork. The bigger challenge was to deliver furniture to lake home residents. When they had multiple orders, manually scheduling routes for each delivery was a cumbersome process. This traditional process not only dropped the delivery efficiency but also doubled the workload of their employees.

Secondly, they relied heavily on big office boards to manage order dispatch and delivery processes, which soon turned out to be unfruitful. Well, you know keeping track of papers is not easy. There are chances of misplacing them. A similar case was with Neill’s Home Store they clipped pages to maintain delivery records but lost many hours managing a bundle of papers.

Keeping that paperwork aside, they adopted a file folder system, which cost them scalability and accessibility challenges. Neill’s Home Store team also handles some repair services, which was another layer of complexity to their task distribution.

In addition to these challenges, efficient resource allocation became an ongoing struggle, hampering their ability to optimize delivery routes effectively.

These challenges posed a significant setback for Neill’s Home Store, as they were far away from the desired goal. Below are some consequences.

• The task distribution was not equally divided among all employees, and they needed extra manpower to tackle the delivery as well as repair service.

• Dispatchers had no clue whether the delivery was completed or not, as there was no such route checklist present in their system or mobile phones.

• Engaging in paperwork for better order management led them to the overbooking of delivery orders. Such things caused many issues for dispatchers and drivers.

The Solution

Since trying new things did not favor Neill’s Home Store team, they knocked on the door of route optimization software, Upper. “As use of office board and file folder system only resulted in delivery inefficiencies, we showed interest in Upper that really turned the tables.”, stated Derek Neill, founder of Neill’s Home Store.

Asking how the Upper’s onboarding process was, Neill answered, “It was so simple for their team to get used to the software. Planning and optimizing routes didn’t take much time, as we got additional help in the form of tutorial videos.” And this is how Upper breathed life into their delivery operations to battle out unwanted challenges.

Switching to automated route planning & optimization process

Amid the manual dependencies, Upper did the hard work and saved lots of hours by automatically planning routes. The delivery team found it easier to accommodate the extra delivery as they had a clear picture of the ongoing process. Employees were able to complete the extra office work as Upper’s route planning doesn’t require manual efforts.

Completing the switch to Upper, Neill’s team started utilizing time for other office work instead of keeping track of deliveries using the office board. While making the most of Upper, Derek Neill added, “Usually, it is not easy to adopt new software quickly as you might have issues like figuring out how it works, but that’s not the case with Upper.”

Advanced route scheduling to manage delivery orders

Apart from route optimization, Upper also lent a hand in route scheduling for furniture deliveries. Choosing the Upper as route optimization software, Neill’s Home Store started scheduling routes for delivery orders prior to weeks or months. The process lets their delivery team complete route scheduling for months in minimum hours instead of finding routes daily.

Upper allowed their delivery manager to add driver’s preferences as well as set the time window for multiple furniture deliveries. Hence, they didn’t require extra resources and deliver furniture to the clients on time.

Knowing the delivery status using a route checklist

Upper transformed Neill’s furniture delivery business with minimized route planning time and more happy customers. What really worked for them was a digital checklist that allowed dispatchers to see whether the driver had completed the delivery or not. Following the digital checklist, Neill’s delivery team was able to check if the driver was still at the first stop or having any issues in the middle of the delivery process.

Delivery managers can easily access the driver routes and break down the successful deliveries. It was easier to track drivers, like how many stops are covered or when they will return. This all was possible because of Upper’s dedicated driver app that streamlined the delivery process.

The Impact

Upper really turned the tables for Neill’s Home Store by leveling up delivery efficiency and eliminating manual calculations. Adding Upper as their go-to software for daily furniture delivery left no room for potential human errors and increased customer satisfaction as well.

Upper stood up to Neill’s expectations by reducing their employees’ workload, scheduling routes, and maximizing their day. This is how Upper helped them overcome many challenges. At present, delivery managers are not required to do paperwork, which means there is no chance of misplacing route plans. The software automatically assigns the tasks to drivers equally once the route plan is ready.With Upper, Neill’s business transformation resulted in improved productivity and delivery efficiency. Now, Neill’s team does not waste time adjusting routes using Google Maps or engaging in phone calls. Once the driver is off the mark, dispatchers can easily check how many deliveries are completed or pending.

Today, Neill’s Home Store has no issues planning efficient routes regardless of how many furniture delivery orders are there. They can simply find the fastest routes on Upper and share the delivery details with their drivers on the fly. Hence, no need for stuff like pen, paper, or office board.