Southampton Freight Services Ltd (SFS) is a leading international freight forwarder and logistics provider, offering comprehensive solutions for import and export requirements across air, sea, road, and international courier services. SFS sought to optimise their consignment processing workflow to enhance client satisfaction and operational effectiveness.
Introduction
the challenge
Previously reliant on manual processes and PDF-based documentation, SFS recognised the need for a more streamlined and automated system to handle consignment management. They faced challenges in processing consignments efficiently and providing real-time updates to clients regarding their shipments. Building upon our successful collaboration in previously developing a quoting system, SFS approached b4b to create a tailored consignment management system.
Key features & functionalities
The new quote management software developed for SFS includes several key features that cater to the unique needs of the freight forwarding industry:
result
By automating consignment processing and integrating with ARM's API, SFS has significantly reduced manual workload and processing time, leading to enhanced operational efficiency. Designed with scalability in mind, the system also accommodates SFS's evolving needs and future growth, ensuring long-term effectiveness. All-in-all, the team at SFS are extremely satisfied with the results!
We have been working with b4b for many years and used their team to create our CRM system in 2022 and later our warehousing system in 2024. Due to our company's niche of handling last mile deliveries for vessels, off-the-shelf stock based warehousing systems would not work for our business model.
The system we were using previously was only semi-automated and required double entry of information on two computer systems, which was incredibly time consuming. We made a basic outline of what the project needed to achieve from start to finish and over several meetings refined this further with the help of the insightful team at b4b, who were extremely adept at providing solutions to potential problems. B4b then produced a prototype of how the system would work in terms of functionality, along with a timescale for delivery.
The new warehousing system created by b4b has exceeded our expectations and has been in constant use since day one of its inception. The system has saved us huge amounts of admin time, avoiding the need for double entry, providing printed output for despatch, sending automatic notifications to clients in real time, and providing a reference for any queries. At the touch of a button, you can see an entire movement record, including photographs.
Any issues were quickly remedied by b4b without exception. With our ongoing support package, our intention is to continue building on this to automate other tasks in the future, such as billing, and to provide live customer access to their shipments via a web portal.
Stuart Green
Security, IT and Regulatory Compliance Manager
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