“We wanted better functionality and value for money so we turned to Qargo.”
During these turbulent times, being able to manage costs effectively is vital especially within the transport sector. Founder of Evolution Connection, Ricky Fernando, knows this all too well, having set up his company over 10 years ago with only two drivers.
Ricky has now grown it into one of the UK’s leading fleet companies with a roster of 50 drivers. However, as his organisation grew, he wanted to manage it more efficiently, instead of relying on Excel to do the heavy lifting. “It’s why three years ago, we signed up to a Transport Management System that offered the functionality we needed at the time for a fixed annual fee,” recalls Ricky.
Total recall
However, when details of the provider’s all-new licensing-per-user model landed in his inbox, Ricky was unhappy as he felt the solution no longer represented value for money. Thankfully, he remembered receiving a marketing email from Qargo some time before, which detailed its promising new TMS platform.
There was a problem though: “We were used to our existing solution and were comfortable with it,” recalls Ricky. “You knew where things were, how to use it – plus change can be disruptive.”
But after his existing provider delivered its pricing bombshell, Ricky contacted Qargo, asking what it could do for Evolution Connection. “Adriaan and Sam at Qargo were really good, explaining that they could tailor the solution to my exact needs,” recalls Ricky.
He decided to give Qargo a trial, hedging his bets by running both the old system and Qargo’s offering side by side for three months. At the end of that period, Ricky would make the final judgment on which delivered the best results for his company.
“I told Qargo: ‘If you look after us, we’ll stick with you.”
“During that three months, I would take feedback from my operations team about how Qargo could be more tailored to our operations and drivers,” recalls Ricky. “I would then liaise with Adriaan, and the Qargo team would turn round any development work quickly.”
For instance, Evolution Connection carries out up to 40 deliveries a day – a serious logistics challenge – so Qargo created a layout that let the company simply drag and drop jobs from order emails into the system. “We can now add 100 jobs to the system in 10 minutes,” says Ricky. “The whole process is a doddle compared to our old platform.”
Making the leap
Because of Qargo’s service coupled with its solution’s tailored functionality, Ricky declared the platform the winner after the three months were up before moving Evolution Connection over to the system permanently. He hasn’t looked back since.
Ricky explains: “From invoicing down to the PDF structuring – and even a link to Sage that we’d wanted for so long – it has been an easy and stress-free experience. Qargo’s system has really benefited the company.”
Solution for all
The solution has been a huge help to drivers, too. “While the previous company wanted to charge for the driver app, Qargo offered it as part of its inclusive package,” says Ricky, “and the drivers like it and use it all the time.”
Ricky can track drivers easily as their position is shown on the system map while the drivers enjoy the app’s accessibility as they don’t have to log in every time they use it. Importantly, they can request new features as well: “Our drivers have asked that their box and trailer numbers are shown within the app itself,” explains Ricky, “which Qargo is now working on, and we know it will deliver.”
Customer first
Ultimately, it’s Qargo’s unwavering commitment to Ricky and Evolution Connection that has won him over. “There is always someone to speak to – especially on weekends,” Ricky explains. “With our old provider, we would send an email and then be expected to just… wait – but we can’t wait!”
With Qargo, it’s different, says Ricky. He recalls working one weekend and the system froze: “I sent an email to Qargo and they picked up instantly, resolving the issue in under five minutes,” says Ricky. “It was brilliant – and it’s that kind of immediate service that is so important in a fast-moving, time-critical industry like transport.”
Down the road
Next year, Ricky plans to branch out into freight forwarding. “Typically, you would use a specialist solution to manage just that aspect of the business as it is very complex,” says Ricky. “However, I know the team at Qargo will be able to adapt their offering to help with all aspects of our expansion.”
Because of this flexibility, Ricky is confident that Qargo can meet his needs fully, at speed and cost effectively – no matter how Evolution Connection evolves in the future. And for Ricky, that makes Qargo’s offering priceless.
“We will be with Qargo for the long haul – because we now have a solution and a customer service team we can count on.”
