While many Australian transport and logistics companies using the Freight2020 transport management system have already adopted the Freight2020 Online Customer Portal for efficient customer self-service with real-time booking requests, track-and-trace, PODs, and accounts-related information, not all have had their portals fully customised and integrated with their company’s website.

Portal interfaces almost infinitely customisable

Demo example of customised Freight2020 Online Customer Portal login screen with Freight2020 branding as generic placeholder (by Ginormous)

The Freight2020 Online Customer Portal interface can be skinned and configured to suit the corporate image and layout requirements of any Freight2020 user organisation, explained Melanie Williamson, CEO of the Ginormous B2B Marketing agency. Ginormous has completed numerous portal customisations and can work directly with the Melbourne-based CMS development team on advanced layout modifications which are increasingly required by Freight2020 user organisations as online access to freight and warehousing services becomes more common.

“Although the Freight2020 Online Customer Portal is hosted separately to the company’s main website, facilitating live access into a cloud-based self-service system, there is no need for the transport company’s customers to experience any major change in branding or environment between the company’s main website and online customer portal for Freight2020,” Mel said.

Compared to the overall cost of full website development, recently quoted in MyBusiness magazine as typically between $5,000 and $40,000, it can cost very little to have the Freight2020 Online Customer Portal customised with a company’s own branding with the same kind of online look-and-feel that their customers are used to experiencing.

Customisation can cost very little

Actual Freight2020 Online Customer Portal inner-page/menu customised to match website of Mid West Transport Services (by Ginormous)

“We can customise the main Freight2020 Online Customer Portal login page from as little as about $600, and include customisation of the inner screens and menu layouts from about $1,000 as a starting point, depending on the complexity needed to meet the company’s requirements.”

“When we’ve been asked to customise a Freight2020 Online Customer Portal it has quite often led to full website redevelopment. However, this is definitely not a pre-requesite as far as our team is concerned. We’re always happy to customise Freight2020 system screens to match with an existing website design, which the company’s regular website designer can then simply integrate by adding a menu link. We can also assist with interpreting technical requirements for any web developers undertaking this kind of work for the first time. As Freight2020 front-end specialists just through our years of association with the system, we’re here to help anyone if needed,” said Mel.

The options for customised branding, colour schemes, and backgrounds are almost limitless with the Freight2020 Online Customer Portal. As with most web-accessible databases, including the popular WordPress platform for content-based websites, the Freight2020 Online Customer Portal without a cosmetic ‘skin’ will display the company’s logo by pre-set default but otherwise appears extremely plain and generic.

Impetus for long-postponed website update

Mid-page screenshot of simple but very effective new website for MWT with branded customer login page integration on main menu (by Ginormous)

“Some transport companies are finding that the deployment of an online customer portal gives impetus to a long-postponed website update. This could be due to changes in the business since the existing website was produced, the existing website not being responsive on mobile devices, or the business needing to step-up and become more competitive in a marketing sense.”

“We’ve been working with companies in the Australian transport and logistics sector for more than five years, so we understand the nature of the industry and how businesses depend on growth, no matter what size they are. We also understand how each business can differentiate its service offerings and values to help win and retain more customers, no matter how crowded the market.”

To enquire about deployment of the Freight2020 Online Customer Portal, or to arrange an initial discussion about the customisation of your portal, contact Peter Romana at CMS Transport Systems on 03 9018 7080 (direct) or email info@transportsystems.com.au.

Freight2020 Online Customer Portal login page for Coastal Midwest Transport (by their own designer)

Customised Freight2020 Online Customer Portal login page for Morrows Freightlines (by Ginormous as per specific design brief)

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Always setting the pace of technology development for the management of road freight transport businesses, Freight2020 became one of the first transport management systems in the world to offer real-time driver interactivity with live freight bookings via a free mobile app with the release of Freight2020 Driver Mobility for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch in 2014.

Since then, Freight2020 Driver Mobility has been adopted by a large number of Australian trucking companies, starting with one of Victoria’s freight leaders, Asixa, the company which produced a corporate video on its instrumental role in the development and road-testing of the app, and the benefits of being able to do away with paper consignment notes and slow notification systems.

Free download from Google Play

CMS Transport Systems, the long-established Australian technology company behind the Freight2020 transport management system, recently released an Android version of Freight2020 Driver Mobility and this new app is now available as a free download from the Google Play store.

The features of Freight2020 Driver Mobility for Android are just as powerful and user-friendly as Freight2020 Driver Mobility for iOS app including driver shift logging and vehicle safety and condition checks, driver booking allocations, live interaction with pick-ups and deliveries, sign-on-glass proof of delivery, customised instant automatic email notifications and updating of online track-and-trace information, full integration with the Freight2020 transport management system, and much more.

You don’t need to be a current Freight2020 user to explore the power of Freight2020 Driver Mobility for free, as CMS offers an unlimited demo with trial data download and instructions for evaluation purposes. Simply complete a Freight2020 Driver Mobility test-drive request for instructions on how to download and unlock the trial data, or book a free personalised demonstration.

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A standard feature of Freight2020 since the official announcement of its release in December 2013, Item-Level Tracking is being used successfully by a growing number of transport businesses with diverse operational requirements.

Rob Mullins, managing director of CMS Transport Systems, explained how customer needs were met by the development of Item-Level Tracking.

Item-Level Tracking functionality explained

“While some companies and their customers need only to track whole consignments, this consignment-based approach does not provide sufficient detail or control in every freight situation. For example, what happens when a load is picked up as one consignment but then split into separate pallets, cartons, or individual items for delivery to customers in different locations, or consolidation into warehouse inventory? Developing the seamless management of these complexities within Freight2020 was a fine achievement for the CMS technical team, and a real breakthrough for many organisations using Freight2020 right around Australia,” Rob said.

Sample of Freight2020 custom-branded Item-Level Tracking barcode label

Custom-branded barcode labels printed in batches or on-demand

Freight2020 Item-Level Tracking can begin with the printing of a custom-branded barcode label to be applied to each trackable item or trackable unit of freight within each consignment. From this point, a separate record is created in the Freight2020 system for each barcoded item. Each of these barcoded items will remain electronically trackable even when no longer physically associated with the rest of its original consignment.

Online track-and-trace of individual pallets, cartons, or items within consignments

Scanning devices are used to track the movement of the barcoded items or freight units in transit, through to receipted customer delivery with sign-on-glass via the Freight2020 mobile app or an integrated ruggedised mobile device, or delivery into the warehouse or cold storage where scanning will add the item, carton of items, or pallet-load of items to the customer’s 3PL storage inventory.

At every scanned waypoint or event in the journey, the Freight2020 system is automatically updated so that freight customers can monitor the progress of their consignments, and individually-barcoded items within consignments, in real-time via the Freight2020 Online Customer Portal.

For completely hands-free customer service updates, Freight2020 has a system-wide Auto-Email Notifications feature which authorised users can set to automatically notify freight customers via email whenever there is a significant freight-tracking event, from initial pick-up and transit through legs of the journey to the automatic sending of final proof-of-delivery to the customer, or receipt into storage. When the all-important invoice goes out to the customer, all of the charges pertaining to freight movements and changes to stored inventory are pre-validated.

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“It would not have been sustainable in the long-term for our company to continue managing a growing national transport business through the largely manual administrative processes we’d traditionally used. We needed a transport management system that would set us up properly for the future, and we found that in Freight2020,” Peter said.

Widely recognised for their high-profile carrying of iconic frozen-food lines like Sara Lee desserts and Sargents-brand pies, PRT decided it was time to revamp their entire web presence with a matching customer login page and interface environment for Freight2020 Online.

“We think our new website is really cool,” joked Mark Smith, national operations manager for Prospect Refrigerated Transport. “Seriously though, in so many ways, particularly with our new ability to offer real-time online services to our customers, PRT has reinvented itself.”

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“Our customers no longer need to deal with the hassle of traditional carbon-copy consignment notes,” said Michael Wilden, the general manager of Coastal Midwest Transport, about the company’s smart-looking, web-based booking system powered by Freight2020 Online. “Freedom from manual completion of paperwork is of great benefit to our customers. So is the ability to monitor the progress of bookings and deliveries in real-time, without needing to make phone calls.”

“We wanted to encourage all of our customers and suppliers to register as online users and start taking advantage of our real-time services. To ensure we were getting the news out to everyone who would benefit, we sent a mail-out to all stakeholders in our network, and every inbound phone-caller received an announcement. We added the promotional message to all email signatures, and our drivers distributed flyers when doing pick-ups or deliveries. We are promoting the new online services on our website, and to add further momentum we’ve been running a competition that’s open to anyone who creates an online booking, the prize being the opportunity to go to a box at the footy,” Michael continued.

“The response to our promotional efforts has been very enthusiastic. Once customers are registered for access to our new online booking system they can make their own freight bookings, and print their own connote and freight labels from any desktop or mobile browser. Customers can track and trace their deliveries, search for historical connotes, and access proof-of-delivery details in real-time, as our entire online booking system is fully integrated within Freight2020, including our POD management system,” Michael said.

With the Freight2020 Online interface skinned to match the look and feel of Coastal Midwest Transport’s website, customers can move seamlessly between their website and online booking system.

Grant Walmsley, general manager of CMS Transport Systems, the Australian developers of Freight2020, said, “A growing number of transport operators are taking advantage of Freight2020’s ability to deliver their customers with greater convenience and efficiency via live web-based interaction and integration with Freight2020 data.”

“Freight2020 has long had the ability to deliver customer-accessible, real-time web services. This feature is a key factor for some transport operators in their choice of Freight2020 as their TMS. Other firms choose Freight2020 for immediately-needed gains in administration and operational efficiencies, with the customer-friendly Freight2020 Online features to be implemented further down the road.”

“From all feedback we’ve been receiving from user-organisations that already deliver Freight2020 Online via a self-branded portal, this is one service enhancement which can give even smaller operators a more competitive edge in any freight market, and greater parity with the service offerings of much larger operators,” Grant said.

“Coastal Midwest Transport has joined many larger, higher-profile carriers like McAleese Transport, McColl’s Transport, Asixa Logical Outcomes, John L Pierce Transport, and Greyhound Freight in offering online customer services powered by Freight2020,” said Grant. “There are so many advantages to be gained by transport operators from a Freight2020 Online booking system, including the huge savings in time and paperwork for users and customers – and the prevention of errors that are inevitably caused by manual information-handling and data-entry procedures.”

CMS Transport Systems are keen to see other Freight2020 user-organisations taking their businesses to the next level of interactive efficiency with Freight2020 Online. “It’s never too soon to implement Freight2020 with self-branded online services,” continued Grant Walmsley. “Today’s freight customers are expecting online booking and track-and-trace features as the norm in their day-to-day freight service experience, rather than the exception.”

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