Overseeing transportation and logistics for a busy, growing company can be complex. Managing drivers, vehicles and orders or jobs is a big task, whatever sector you operate in.
In order to help you manage your logistics operations more efficiently and effectively, you may be starting to investigate putting a robust transport management system in place – and the next logical step in that journey is to have a demonstration of some of the software options available to you.
But, if you’ve never used a transport management system before, a demonstration can be daunting.
What is a software demo?
In brief, a software demo is just a demonstration of a piece of software.
It can take place face-to-face, but we often do our demonstrations online. In a software demo, someone who knows the software and the industry inside out will walk you through how the software is used and break down the benefits of having a proper system in place.
A live demonstration differs from a software video (we do have those as well) in that it can also be used to answer any specific questions you may have. A good software demo should show you how the software would be used in relation to your specific business needs.
Why all the questions?
We know that you’ll have plenty of questions that you’ll want to ask when you have your demo. We’ll also have lots of our own. As discussed above, a good software provider will want to understand how your business runs, how your current logistics operation works, what pain points are you having, what challenges do you face, etc, etc.
By having a list of questions ready, you can get all the answers you need. You can also be sure to get the same information from each software supplier, so you get an understanding of how each application compares.
There are plenty of questions that you could be asking of your transport management software supplier, but here are seven to get you started in understanding your own requirements:
How will the software work for my sector/ industry/ processes?
Many different businesses require transport management software. Some aspects of your business, sector or processes that you may want to consider include:
- Do you make your own deliveries and collections, or make them on behalf of other companies?
- Are you delivering or collecting goods, or making service or maintenance calls?
- How far in advance you typically plan routes?
- How many vehicles and drivers you have?
- Do certain deliveries or routes require specialist equipment or processes (for example, does a technician need to be available for installation? Do some deliveries require specialist vehicles like refrigerated vans, or trucks large enough to carry construction equipment?
- Do you deliver to businesses, or direct to consumers?
All these parts of the process need to be taken into account when choosing transport management software provider, so setting out your sector and processes, and asking about them on your demo, is invaluable.
Do you have any examples of businesses using the software in the way we plan to?
Whether the software provider has a detailed case study of a company using their transport management system in the exact way you plan to, or they list customers who use it in a similar way with a few differences, or even if they don’t currently have anyone on board with your exact use-case, but they can demonstrate understanding of your needs, and suggest ways to adapt the software to fit, the answer to this question should help you to gauge whether this transport management software is the right one for you.
Will it scale with my business?
If you’re planning to grow and expand your business by taking on more vehicles and drivers, or you need the software to be flexible enough or seasonal demand that requires subcontractors, you need to understand exactly how your transport management software can scale to meet the growth and change demands of your business.
What systems does it integrate with?
More specifically, does it integrate with:
- The software you’re already using in your business
- Software that you’re not currently using, but which could help to further streamline your processes
- Software that could replace the systems you’re already using in your business.
Stream Go, for example, integrates with Brightpearl, which, in turn, has integrations with platforms like eBay, Magento, and WooCommerce. Stream Go also integrates with Veeqo, Sage 50 and Sage 200.
What is the difference between this and ___ other solution?
You want to know this because our software provider should be able to tell you exactly why you should choose their solution over the competition. By letting the provider know which competitors you’re actually looking at, they’ll be able to get a better understanding of what your exact needs are, and where they can plug any gaps in the competitor’s offering.
What is the price for me, and what is included in that cost?
Find out the actual cost, based on your specific requirements and your number of vehicles. Does that cost include onboarding and support? Is it on a monthly rolling contract or upfront for a full year? Do you have to invest in on premise servers (and the associated headache of IT management of those servers)? Work out how many users are included in the cost too – is it per user? Per vehicle? Per order?
What are the next steps?
If you think this software might be ‘the one’, you’ll want to know how you can move forward. By finding out the next steps, you’re preparing yourself for a smooth onboarding if you do decide to go ahead.