The Full Story
In the logistics industry, it’s no secret that the relationship between a buyer and their supplier can be riddled with issues like miscommunication and a lack of information. Customers are burdened by few options for communicating with suppliers, and suppliers have few tools for visibility. A lack of visibility creates problems and disrupts the entire supply-chain for customer shipments. In turn, the relationship between the two suffers due to a lack of trust. Through improved communication and technology, customers can facilitate a better relationship between their procurement and transportation teams and their suppliers.
Because of poor technology and a lack of data, organizations are forced to waste time reacting to rather than anticipating problems ranging from delayed delivery times to payment issues. With sophisticated technology, buyers can become proactive because of the visibility and data they can access. Implementing technology that is easy for suppliers to utilize improves supplier engagement, and buyers are better able to meet their business goals. Buyers and suppliers become more aligned in strategy and vision when working together.
In the case of Hammacher Schlemmer, leadership made the decision to implement new technology that gave their teams and suppliers a better way to engage with one another. They knew that providing a platform that provides transparency between their business and vendors would yield the opportunity for each party to operate more strategically. Hammacher could be confident in their suppliers because of the data and information they could access regarding the vendor.
Through utilizing Kingsgate Compass, Hammacher improved their relationships with vendors through offering them a one-stop platform with access to a vast number of carriers and providing them with P.O. visibility. Hammacher stated, “Having vendors booking by the P.O. has been helpful to us and provides better visibility [and is] easy to search for shipments.” In turn, Hammacher’s customer service call volume was reduced because the platform helped solve problems that usually would have needed to be handled by several calls and emails. Because of Compass’ shipping notifications and flags, Hammacher was able to better manage warehouse space and ensure they weren’t paying for deliveries earlier than planned.
Kingsgate Compass is a shipping portal that is tailored to each individual customer’s shipping needs. It provides insights to our customers through bringing visibility to shipments across the supply chain, providing robust analytics for their transportation team and creating purchase order visibility to vendors and shipping partners down to the SKU level. The P.O. Module within Compass is a proprietary tool that captures visibility earlier into the supply chain by capturing purchase order information months before an actual shipment is to take place.
Compass helps customers like Hammacher go from transactional to transformational relationships with suppliers through increased engagement. Customers are better able to choose the right supplier for them through what is known as a “vendor scorecard.” Hammacher indicated, “We really like this idea of a vendor scorecard and the percent on time… seeing that firsthand at our fingertips is easy to utilize.”
Hammacher mentioned that Kingsgate facilitated a seamless transition for them in activating the Compass platform. They specified that the level of service they received from Kingsgate was outstanding in helping their vendors get integrated into the platform, and that getting vendors set up on Compass is a straightforward process.
Compass eliminated tedious phone calls and emails because communication can be facilitated through Compass’ chat and note features – where buyers, carriers and suppliers can ask questions or indicate any issues that may occur within a specific P.O.
Utilizing technology like Compass helps increase trust, transparency and efficiency between buyers and suppliers. Compass helps customers make smarter, better-informed decisions through relying on the data and analytics the platform provides. Compass’ P.O. module has created a new layer of visibility that has brought both procurement and transportation teams into one system to drastically improve communication and visibility.
Regarding Compass, Hammacher said the platform “allows vendors to self-book versus having to book with carriers themselves allowing them to handle all shipments in a singular platform.”
