Neele-Vat makes efficiency gains in order management process

Logistics service provider Neele-Vat has found an automated solution for its order entry process that allows it to offer customers a higher level of service. "We looked at several suppliers but Simply Deliver's order converter clearly came out on top," says IT manager Edwin Valstar. The solution is now live and the first experiences are positive. "We have become faster and more flexible."

Neele-Vat is a full service logistics provider employing nine hundred people with offices throughout Europe. The company offers a broad spectrum of high-quality logistics services in the areas of road transport, ocean freight, air freight, customs and warehousing. To perfectly align all links as a multimodal chain director, the Rotterdam-based family business must have advanced ICT systems. Simply Deliver specializes in cloud solutions for multimodal transport management, real-time data exchange and supply chain visibility.

Time-consuming and error-prone
"For our transport activities, we receive many orders to process every day," says Edwin Valstar, IT manager at Neele-Vat. "Most orders come in by e-mail with an attachment containing the details. Usually this is a PDF or an Excel file, but unstructured Word documents also occur. Many of these orders have to be entered manually, which is time-consuming and also error-prone. We had been looking for some time for a party that could offer a solution for this, but we did not find a suitable party. Until we came into contact with Simply Deliver."

Proof of concept
One of the solutions Simply Deliver offers is the so-called Simply Converter, a user-friendly and pragmatic tool for automatically converting individual files into records in an order management system. This overcomes the mentioned disadvantages of manual transcribing while clients can continue to send their orders in the same way. "We also looked at solutions from other vendors, but they were a lot more complex or less reliable," says Valstar. "During the proof of concept, Simply Deliver clearly came out on top. They had already built a perfectly working template within a week, proving their ability to move quickly."

Configure your own software
A major advantage of Simply Converter over other solutions is that Neele-Vat can configure its own templates. "We have many large customers who all submit their orders to us in different ways. To automate that, you have to set up an order template for each customer once, and then it's nice not to have to rely on third parties. Simply Deliver's software is simple in design and our people have had good training in this. This also allows us to intervene ourselves if something goes wrong and we are not dependent on our IT supplier for every little thing. By the way, the people at Simply Deliver are very accessible and there are short lines to the development team. So if you need them once, you get things done quickly."

Higher quality service
The Simply Converter has now been put into operation and Neele-Vat is taking full advantage of the efficiency benefits. "This really saves us a lot of time, especially with the more complex orders that involve a lot of administrative handling. It also makes us more flexible: during peak times we can continue to process orders at full speed whereas before we were bound to the maximum capacity of people." But most importantly, Neele-Vat 's customers also benefit, he emphasizes. "With the order entry process running so smoothly, lead times are down and fewer errors are made. This means towards customers that you become more reliable in your process and offer more quality in your service."

Solution with potential
Now that the first applications have led to such positive results, Valstar plans to use Simply Deliver's software in other areas of the company as well. "Until now we have only looked at transport order entry, but within Neele-Vat we also have other order flows, such as for our warehouse activities and customs clearance. The data may be different but the essence is the same and you could also automate those flows perfectly well with the converter. The Simply Converter is a solution with great potential that we can deploy widely. We are going to have a lot of fun with this within Neele-Vat."

"The Simply Converter is a solution with potential that we can deploy widely."

Edwin Valstar, IT manager at Neele-Vat