Staying ahead of competitors is always a top priority for any business in any field, and it has been the driving force behind the Tandet Group’s digital transformation.
The Oakville, Ont.-based diversified investment company that specializes in the trucking sector through 11 separate companies was inspired to change after seeing how successful digital transformation could be in other industries. The firm is nominated for ITWC’s Digital Transformation Awards, being held June 14 in Toronto. We’ll be reporting on the nominations we receive ahead of the event.
“Heavy trucking is an industry still very paper driven – log books, manifests, customs documents, hazmat information, etc. – with established business models and processes,” Corey Cox, vice president of information systems at Tandet, says while nominating the company for the SME enterprise or sector transformation award. “The opportunity for competitive advantage through digitization was strong. Tandet leadership saw their choice as simple – drive digital change themselves or continue with standard practice and be forced off the road by competitors coming up behind.”
The company’s digital strategy started with three targeted objectives: eliminate paper, improve communication, and integrate the drivers’ in-cab experience with its dispatch offices. After several rounds of consultations and seminars, integral workflows and new technologies were identified and implemented. Tech platforms such as the Microsoft Office suite and Skype for Business were adopted to streamline communication, collaboration, networking, and document storage.
Starting with the C-suite and key management allowed Tandet to showcase the effectiveness of the new transformative technologies and cultivate awareness within the company. Employees were also encouraged to explore the social aspects of the platforms, which resulted in new relationships, “sometimes between people thousands of kilometres apart that had never met before,” Cox says.
A team of drivers were also chosen to be “champions of change” for Tandet’s in-cab digital transformation, and these drivers became the “go-to experts for other drivers as the technologies were deployed across the fleets.”
From these changes, Tandet has experienced a 112 per cent revenue growth in the last two years, while telephone-related costs have declined by 75 per cent and person hours required for invoicing have been reduced by 50 per cent. Late billing improved by approximately five days, and so has truck maintenance and repairs, thanks to real-time updates from drivers and dispatchers.
Employees can now check on the working status of any other employee in the company, and customers only need one phone number to contact anyone.
Additionally, with an increase in social networking, Tandet saw a 290 per cent increase in donations to its 2016 Plaid for Dad Prostate Cancer Canada fundraising efforts.
