Canadian Association of Movers L'Association canadienne des déménageurs

e is for Easier

Back to the future with Web-based move management Christine Hanlon When Don Kachur and his brother started a moving company in their garage 25 years ago, customer service was everything. "No matter who a customer talked to, my brother or me, we both knew everything that was going on," recalls Kachur. "Service was fantastic." Now with 40 to 50 office employees, the president of Highland Moving points out that staying on top of every move is not as easy. "But if everybody takes all the information they gather and they put it on an electronic file shared at every desktop," he notes, "then you’re back to where everybody knows what’s going on." In sharing information electronically, the third-generation marketplace of e-commerce is not concerned with making sales, but with improving the communication and interaction between buyer and seller. No matter with what employee or branch clients connect, the person who picks up the phone will have access to up-to-date information about the status of the move on his computer screen. The use of electronic files posted on the Internet creates a collaborative marketplace for everyone involved in a relocation or transfer. All service providers record their interactions with the transferee on a single shared electronic file, where each touch-point is documented and date stamped. The origin agent, destination agent, van line, corporate account and transferee all have 7/24 access to a single electronic file where information is centralized. Field level security is ensured through use of access codes allowing each party to see only the information they need to see. "Security was one of the most critical challenges in development," recalls Kachur whose company developed ReloVision move-management software. Corporate clients have been very interested in the use of move-management software because of the visibility it affords. Human resource administrators dealing with large volumes of moves appreciate the direct online access to the complete relocation process from initial notification right through to final claim settlement. "They like to be in the loop," summarizes Kachur. "If there are problems, they like to know about them. They can always go online to the ReloVision site and access the specific move to see exactly what the situation is." Not only can human resources managers initiate the move on the electronic file, they can retrieve up-to-date information in real time, whether they need reports on claims settlements or summaries of dollars spent by area or division. Although corporate accounts are more likely to notice the benefits, the advantages of move management software extend to every aspect of the moving company by making its operation more efficient and cost-effective. The software includes a full calendaring system for relocation coordinators, which serves as a desktop control panel for all relocations. When a delivery date is entered, the system will install a follow-up prompt on the calendar for a destination phone call two days after delivery. If the load date is changed, then the load date field will automatically send out e-mails or faxes to the booking company, van line, dispatch office and corporate account, as requested. Or, the system will prompt the operator to act on any undelivered loads nearing the end of their 60-day SIT term. "It’s triggered communication," explains Kachur. "The task either gets done automatically or prompts the relocation manager to do it. The moving company can take its best practices and hardwire them right into the software." The dispatch department can review daily and weekly graphs of load weights to assist in forecasting volumes. "It really helps moving companies plan their staffing as well as a hundred other things," notes Kachur. "It’s a complete internal administration system." This business-process automation included in the move-management software also results in better accuracy, faster processing and lower administrative costs. For every move, where the name and address of the transferee were once entered up to 50 times — 20 times by the booker or origin agent alone — the process now need only be done once. From the origin agent to the packing crew, all involved have access to this information on the electronic file. Letters, job orders, pack slips, and change orders can all be produced with the touch of a key, saving clerical time and expense. Kachur points out that about 60% of a moving company’s expenses go towards moving furniture, with the other 40% going to marketing and administration. "If you’re a moving company there’s not a lot you can do about your direct costs," he continues. "But there’s a huge amount you can do with e-commerce to reduce your administrative expenses. Here at Highland, we’re looking at a 10% savings in clerical and communication costs alone." He adds that the time to settle a claim has been reduced by 18 days. Transferees can now fill out a claim on-line and send it to the mover with a mouse-click. In fact, now that the software has become Web-based, all participants can access the file simply by using a Web-browser. Instead of depending on software updates and installing new versions, users can go to a site that is constantly evolving and improving without their intervention. By providing worldwide access, the system also has the scale to be a supply-chain management solution. A moving company in Hong Kong can access a file history of every interaction with a customer in Calgary, every letter sent by the origin agent, every fax and e-mail. Once again, the emphasis is on facilitating a transaction based on an existing relationship between buyer and seller. On the other hand, Kachur is skeptical about using information technology to match buyers and sellers on-line. "To operate one of these dot com marketplaces you have to provide a significant benefit to everyone involved in the transaction," he says. "In the moving industry, there is very little benefit in it for the movers." He adds that the bricks-and-mortar companies — such as the van lines and movers — have not been terribly anxious to allow a new company or "middleman" to come in between them and their customer. As president of the Web-based broker, movedirect.net, Larry Kruger has another point of view: "Rather than looking at us as a middleman, moving companies should see us as a straight electronic sales force." He points out that companies spend an average of 20% on sales commission and marketing, including yellow page ads, car allowances, van-line fees and brand recognition. It is rare for a company to pay less than 7% commission to their sales agent. Movedirect.net now charges between 4% and 7% to the winning quote for a move posted on-line (4% if consumers do the estimate themselves and 7% if the estimate is done by a professional estimator). There is no longer any cost to quote on a move. "We thought that the $25 we were asking wasn’t a barrier, but it was," admits Kruger, "so we dropped it." The company has also set up independent move coordinators in major cities across the country to perform the move assessments. Kruger acknowledges that response from movers has been slow. "It comes down to mindset," he explains. "A lot of people look at it us as a non-asset company taking a piece of the business but if you were to get a call from a customer asking for a quote, wouldn’t you answer the phone? We all know the client is shopping but we try to sell our services. If the consumer sends an e-mail to our operation, does it not make sense to do the same?" While several movers have signed up, only a few have incorporated on-line quoting into their daily operations. Kruger believes that, by not taking the 10 minutes necessary to place a quote, moving companies are wasting an inexpensive prospecting tool and losing potential business. "There are a growing number of people who want to do business this way," says Kruger pointing to the Internet-savvy baby boomers and their children. "The transaction model is based both on brokering and convenience. Moving companies have to continue everything they’ve been doing but it would be very short-sighted not to add this arrow to the quiver." In recent months, movedirect.net has formed many strategic alliances with real-estate sites such as NewHomesAnd Condos.com and remax.com as well as an upcoming Shaw cable Web-guide. Kruger believes that the very nature of the moving industry is to provide access to different movers because the consumer wants choice. As a third party broker, movedirect.net provides unbiased recommendations. "Statistics are showing that speculation of the Internet hurting broker operation is actually proving false," adds Kruger. "Savvy businesses are seeing the benefits of an electronic prospecting tool funneling business to them." Kachur has observed that south of the border, the dot com brokers are being acquired by coalitions of bricks and mortar companies (COBAMs). "They’re saying that the industry should control its own marketplaces, its own transactions with the customer," says Kachur. "They’re forming these coalitions to prevent the independent dot coms from doing it for them. Whether any of these move brokers will be successful remains to be seen." As the president of ReloVision, Kachur would rather focus on developing business-to-business software to improve collaboration and customer service. In fact, he has just started marketing his product in the U.S. under the name, MovesOnline.com. "If people think dot coms are over, they’d better think again," says Kachur. "It’s just that they’re changing. Every industry is moving in this direction. Right now, there are not very many supply chain management dot coms for service businesses, but soon there will be."

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Posted March 20, 2002