Graphicsland, Inc., is always thinking of new ways to better serve their customers. To do just that, they have developed “Graphicsland Proactive Tracking”. This software solution will enable Graphicsland customer service reps to actively monitor all outbound FedEx shipments to their customers. In addition to tracking shipments, this application also detects potential transit problems such as bad weather, missed planes, or mechanical failures.
Each package stops at certain distribution centers along the way to its delivery. This Proactive Tracking application monitors each arrival and departure of every package at these distribution centers, and if a package hasn’t reached one of these specified locations on time, the system will alert Graphicsland personnel. While FedEx and UPS provide tracking tools, late deliveries are usually only reported at the end of the day. Using this new proactive approach, Graphicsland is notified at the earliest time possible that a package may be delayed, allowing time for the customer to be contacted and notified.
On-time delivery is important to many companies, and Graphicsland is no exception. Graphicsland prints scientific research posters through their MakeSigns.com web site. Sometimes, many months of research is summarized in these posters in order for the researcher to present his/her work. The timely delivery of these posters is critical, as researchers travel to national conferences to display their research. If you find out at the end of the day that the poster won’t arrive, it’s sometimes too late to produce another poster. With Proactive Tracking Graphicsland has been able to work “miracles” by reprinting a poster and shipping it for morning delivery at a different location, such as the conference center or a hotel. In these cases, Graphicsland will usually re-print and re-ship a new poster at absolutely no cost to the customer – even if Graphicsland will not be reimbursed by FedEx for the delay, such as in the case of inclement weather. According to Jerry Feil, Graphicsland’s President, “It’s a significant cost to reprint and reship an order for a MakeSigns.com customer, but we consider it an investment in goodwill. Customers can’t get over the “wow” factor of what we do for them. They’ll tell everyone at the conference about their positive experience with MakeSigns.com.”
Graphicsland also understands that delays aren’t the only issue that shipments can run into. Sometimes incorrect addresses can be the culprit. Graphicsland understands, and their customer service reps manually verify each address for every order against a database containing all addresses in the US. Whether it is an incorrect zip code or a missing number in an address, they are usually able to catch it before the package even ships. If it gets past their database, Graphicsland Proactive Tracking will provide a report on all shipments that had an incorrect address. This allows Graphicsland customer service reps to appropriately adjust the address so future orders will be shipped to the correct location.
The Proactive Tracking application was developed exclusively for use by Graphicsland’s customer support for their MakeSigns.com, MakeStickers.com, and MakePins.com customer. The application is not available for sale to other entities at this time.