Customer portals: Full service at the push of a button

Stefan Seufert, CTO/Vorstand EIKONA AG
Panel with green round button and running man

What do we need in our hectic, fast-paced lives? Something that quickly gives us all the information we need at a glance: our smartphone. This kind of instant all-round service is also available in logistics operations: customer portals. They improve customer service and provide information. Quickly and clearly – at any time or place.


Transparency

Ready at the push of a button

In complex, interlinked logistics chains, corporate logistics specialists find it increasingly difficult to keep an eye on all important orders and transport processes at the same time. At logistics companies, service departments are groaning under the onslaught of requests. The solution to this issue, the smart 'bridge' between the two, are internet-based service portals for customers. They can be used to proactively answer all questions about orders and their status. Freight forwarders provide all the information that customers care about on these platforms: contracts and related documents, insurance information, rates and news. This data, supplied by various systems, can be viewed online at a central location at any time. The data is organised, filed and linked to appropriate orders. This makes it much easier for users to navigate and search.

Usability

Comfort and simplicity rule supreme

Customer portals also give logistics service providers the opportunity to tailor their offerings to customers, calculate daily prices for them and enter new orders online. They can thus provide data that customers frequently request: shipment delivery status, estimated times of arrival, or analyses of the shipment structure. To sum it up: A good customer portal should be easy to use, always available online, and combine all higher-level systems, such as ERPs, via single sign-on. It improves a freight forwarder's customer service and strengthens its relationships with customers: Its services are transparent at all times and its customers have full access to all important information from anywhere. Simply smart.

Do you already have a customer portal?


Stefan Seufert
Stefan Seufert
CTO

As a design guru, the software developer delves into logistics service providers' requirements like no other. He is passionate about exchanging information securely and efficiently and thus speeding up the physical logistics process.


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