Parcelforce Worldwide transforms tracking and reporting with new dashboard

Client challenge: Parcelforce Worldwide needed to create a new tracking and reporting dashboard to be able to supply a wide array of tracking information on its website to all of its customers and provide an improved customer experience

Solution: Parcelforce Worldwide partnered with Capgemini to create a new tracking and reporting dashboard that provides its customers with unique and transparent insights into the tracking details with secure access to account information. The customer can drill down three levels from an overall view of all the parcels in transit down to the status of individual parcel. The customer can also self-serve by running bespoke queries on various parameters and download the parcel data for analysis or invoicing purposes

Benefits

• Faster delivery of relevant information to customers
• Greater visibility 24/7
• Enhanced accuracy
• Greater control for customer services
• Reduced costs

More information for a better customer experience

As a key player within the express carrier industry in the United Kingdom, Parcelforce Worldwide has built its business upon satisfying its customers’ interests while safely and rapidly delivering packages to a diverse range of domestic and international locations. A member of the Royal Mail Group family, Parcelforce Worldwide has spent over 30 years investing in IT and infrastructure to ensure an optimal experience for businesses and consumers. As a result, Parcelforce Worldwide handles a massive number of shipments at any given time and must not only ensure that those packages reach their intended destinations, but also that the customers who send them are kept informed of their status.

As part of its continuing effort to improve the customer experience, Parcelforce Worldwide needed to create a new tracking and reporting dashboard to be able to supply a user-friendly portal to deliver information more quickly than the existing process. By doing so, the organisation intended to enhance its efficiency, responsiveness and accuracy. The solution would need to provide a complete view 24/7 of all parcels which are handled by Parcelforce Worldwide, with a modern look and feel, as well as a smooth interface.

Collaborating as a single team

Parcelforce Worldwide wanted a partner that understood the unique challenges it faced and had a history of customized, digital solutions that utilized best-in-class technology. That partner was Capgemini, not only because of the existing relationship between the businesses, but the commitment to true agility and a “one team” approach that was demonstrated.

For this project, the organisations followed an agile methodology that involved daily co-ordination, maintaining a consistent dialogue about business rules, objectives and the Parcelforce Worldwide future vision. This approach ensured early buy-in from stakeholders because it established the need for a full commitment to and time investment in the solution. Through working as a single, cohesive team, Parcelforce Worldwide and Capgemini established an approach that would deliver a fully bespoke and innovative solution to meet the customer need.

Delivering a new depth of tracking insight

To create the dashboard, the partners began with an existing Capgemini technology stack that consisted of state-of-the-art database technology. They then added or adapted elements of the stack as needed, creating a new pre-processing capability and applying the front-end capabilities in entirely new ways.

Through the creation of a bespoke built solution, Parcelforce Worldwide and Capgemini created a new dashboard that supplied three levels of tracking information without the user ever needing to pick up the phone. On the first screen the dashboard provides a high-level view of a business’ in-transit packages. By clicking on a segment of this initial view, users can narrow the selection of information to a set of specific shipments, creating a watch list. For example all parcels en route to London. Finally, the dashboard makes it possible to search for a single package, providing detailed information such as delivery address and current status, meaning time critical parcels can easily be tracked.

This is made possible by a unique preprocessing capability, connecting the dashboard to Parcelforce Worldwide’s existing data tracking system. Once this information is collected and aggregated, the new system manages preprocessing every 15 minutes, after which it is stored in “buckets” to enable rapid user access. In this way, the system ensures that all Parcelforce Worldwide data is organized and available constantly through a single source. In addition, users can submit queries through the dashboard or download information, largely removing the need for tracking-related calls by customers.

Thanks to the new, user-friendly tracking and reporting dashboard, Parcelforce Worldwide has experienced substantially improved operational efficiency. Customers can now see all of their parcel information in one place, enabling them to self-serve. In addition, this new level of detail and access has substantially boosted the level of visibility Parcelforce Worldwide can provide, while the regular preprocessing of data ensures greater accuracy.

Achieving a joint success

Parcelforce Worldwide now has an advantage within a highly competitive market. It is able to provide a unique level of support through an unprecedented amount of information that concerns a volume of parcels that other organisations cannot track as effectively. This project has once again demonstrated Parcelforce Worldwide’s dedication to innovation and to its customers, while providing yet another proof point of Capgemini’s flexibility and aptitude for delivering unique, best-in-class solutions.

The success of this project can be attributed to the close collaboration between Parcelforce Worldwide and Capgemini. By operating as a single, agile team, the organisations were able to completely understand the challenges they faced and the options available to address them. This relationship will only grow stronger as they continue to focus on enhancing the ability to support Parcelforce Worldwide customers.