Loadsmart’s mission is to move more with less. Their platform helps shippers find cost-effective transportation solutions by leveraging data-driven insights, real-time pricing and dynamic routing to optimize routes and reduce transportation costs. To counter the inefficiencies faced by the industry, Loadsmart aims to optimize the way they move their customers’ freight. They’re not just improving their customers’ experiences; they’re optimizing their operations and reducing waste, with help from intelligent automation (IA). Their rapid success recently earned them an SS&C Blue Prism Customer Excellence Award for Best Newcomer.

Challenge

Loadsmart’s customers are facing ever-increasing fuel costs, capacity constraints and changing government regulations. To make its customers’ lives easier, Loadsmart aims to optimize its service offerings. In turn, they must continually streamline their operations. Loadsmart’s optimization team had identified IA as a key tool to add to their robust technology toolkit, but since the company tightly scrutinized any new technology purchases, the team had to first sell the benefits of IA to their internal audience. Additionally, the optimization team was new on the scene. They needed to identify resources and then build and scale their team.

Solution

Loadsmart engaged with Reveal Group, which deployed SS&C | Blue Prism® Cloud to help increase efficiency across Loadsmart’s business. Reveal Group demonstrated IA’s power via a proof of concept (POC) that automated a data validation process within Loadsmart’s transportation management systems. After the successful POC, the optimization team jumped in with both feet, actively promoting their new program. They included a variety of stakeholders in their decision-making process, managed expectations and set realistic goals.

The optimization team worked closely with Reveal Group to establish a Center of Excellence (CoE) and ensure proper program governance using Reveal Group’s Blueprint for Scale and the SS&C | Blue Prism® Robotic Operating Model (ROM™2) success framework and maturity model. Loadsmart knows it’s important to have a robust pipeline of well-vetted automation candidates to avoid unnecessary downtime between automations. They’re smart about which processes they automate and communicate regularly with stakeholders to determine when one automation might be replicated throughout other departments with similar tasks. They use their KPIs to set goals, but also to evaluate the performance of each automation — and then they use the data gathered to enhance the next automation. The data is also shared with leadership and bolsters support for the program. This process assessment, and the ability to pivot from one project to the next, helped them rapidly scale their program.

The data gathered helped Loadsmart focus its automation program and maximize benefits. They determined that reducing waste and ensuring they kept their hard-earned profits was most important. In just six months, the team delivered six automation, most aimed at reducing costs and improving profitability while maintaining top-notch customer service. They automated their pre-pickup email request to carriers, allowing them to confirm availability for each one, reducing their average margin decay per load by almost 30 percent and saving $648,000 each year.