CEO of DispatchTrack: Growing Sales, Cutting Costs Through Smart Last-Mile Deliveries

Interview | Satish Natarajan, Founder and CEO of DispatchTrack 

How does DispatchTrack’s solution help companies to improve last-mile operations?

A: In today’s world, technology is everywhere. The logistics industry has operated the same way for 10-20 years but the number of deliveries has increased dramatically. People do not want to wait for days to get their products. Both demand and speed demand have gone up, forcing companies to reduce times and increase efficiencies.

For example, a restaurant orders a box of tomatoes at 10 p.m. and expects to receive it by 8 a.m. DispatchTrack makes this happen through intelligence, planning, computations and smart algorithms. The problem DispatchTrack solves is not regional, it happens across the entire world. People want faster deliveries and we help companies across industries to provide that.

Q: How does DispatchTrack’s software leverage machine learning to optimize routes?

A: Machine learning and algorithm learning is crucial when dealing with large numbers of variables. AI and machine learning enable our platform to learn from the million deliveries we do every day. We learn from 5 million daily data points to improve tomorrow’s service.

Micro learning is crucial to understanding the road and the customer. The platform also takes into account how experienced drivers are. DispatchTrack’s ability to learn and scale up deliveries are better than anybody else in the market.

Q: How does the driver mobile app connect to dispatchers and what are the benefits of tracking driver performance?

A: Drivers are not only in charge of taking deliveries from point A to point B. They become the company’s representative. If you buy a product online, the only person you will be interacting with is the one who delivers the product. DispatchTrack’s mobile app is not for drivers to feel uncomfortably monitored but to be their assistant, their copilot.

The mobile application helps drivers to provide the most efficient service. There can always be setbacks, so the app helps drivers to react and inform the business about the problem without the need for a phone call. A business is valued not by how it acts when things are going well but by how it reacts when things go wrong. The application also serves as an efficient tool to document deliveries, take pictures and receive signatures.

Q: How do the efficiencies introduced by DispatchTrack translate into time and money saved for companies?

A: Companies grow in two ways. First, by increasing sales and second, by cutting operational costs. DispatchTrack does both. Happy customers come back and recommend stores to friends and family. Through our software, companies can provide great customer service and fulfill delivery promises.

Reducing operational costs is essential for all companies. DispatchTrack’s solution is smart, figuring out patterns and making the entire last-mile delivery operation more efficient. The software runs thousands of combinations to determine the most efficient routes and stops, enabling savings of between 5 and 10 percent, which is huge considering fuel prices, labor shortages and other challenges. Our solution directly impacts and increases the companies’ profit margin.

Q: How does DispatchTrack deliver ROI value to clients?

A: Several solutions out there take years to generate ROI. DispatchTrack’s software results in an ROI within the first month without the need for a large initial investment. Companies do not need to buy computers or specialized hardware. Simple smartphones get the job done. The whole solution is in the cloud so the initial investment is small. Companies generate savings from month one and pay monthly. The solution ends up paying for itself from the beginning.

Q: How can DispatchTrack’s SaaS cloud-based system scale from routing a few trucks to routing thousands?

A: As a 12-year-old company, DispatchTrack is an experienced organization with a team full of capable, well-trained and experienced engineers. Our infrastructure can handle traffic. Through the solution’s horizontal scaling, companies can manage either a few trucks or thousands of units and the software will run perfectly. Some of our customers have four trucks, others 6,000 trucks. The same software works for both types of clients and we can offer advanced configurations for the larger customers, while offering simpler configurations to smaller businesses.

Q: How is DispatchTrack innovating to improve its solution?

A: We are continuously innovating, releasing software updates every two or three weeks. Our fully scalable solution is the gift that keeps on giving. DispatchTrack is also constantly learning from clients’ feedback.

Q: How has the acquisition of BeeTrack helped DispatchTrack expand its global footprint?

A: DispatchTrack’s vision is global. We have the unique opportunity to provide some real meaning to the world. In BeeTrack, we found a great company, with good leadership and an amazing team. When acquiring a company, it is necessary to create synergy. We did that with BeeTrack. Working with BeeTrack has helped us expand our operations in Latin America, bringing our solution to new industries and expanding our product offering from two to four product lines.

Q: How can your solution adapt to industry-specific challenges?

A: At DispatchTrack, we have a macro and a micro vision. The first enables us to identify the common logistics constraints that most industries share. The micro vision allows us to learn from every client and their industry. As we learn about every sector, we are able to tweak the software to continue improving processes. With our over 2,500 customers, we cover about 20 verticals. Delivering products for the oil and gas industry is very different from delivering for the healthcare sector. We learn and adapt our solutions to our clients’ needs.

DispatchTrack continuously learns both at the micro and macro levels, aiming to ensure that the platform takes into account all kinds of nuances. The more we build, the more we improve and the more powerful the software becomes. The company is always investing and leveraging its partnerships to continue improving last-mile deliveries around the world.

Q: What are DispatchTrack’s main plans and strategies for the near term?

A: There are many more opportunities that DispatchTrack wants to bring to the market. We are building new tools that will help companies to strategically plan their operations from scratch. DispatchTrack is not abandoning its solution but we want to become partners to our clients rather than only service providers. We will continue to work with clients to offer the best software, while we build a much more comprehensive solution.