How Cowan is Extra Effectively Connecting Truck Drivers and Dispatchers – Drivers
Cowan Methods says the brand new messaging app is sweet for each drivers and dispatchers.
Picture: Cowan Methods
Searching for a faster technique to zip messages between dispatchers and drivers, Cowan Methods turned to a brand new cloud-based messaging system that delivers real-time communications backwards and forwards between the dispatch desk and driver’s cab.
With its substantial operations, messaging is a essential lifeline for Halethorpe, Maryland-based Cowan. The corporate affords devoted truckload and intermodal service in addition to warehousing, brokerage, and driver staffing providers. It operates in some 40 states, serving a buyer base that features many Fortune 500 corporations in addition to small companies.
The fleet employs 1,900 drivers and fields over 2,000 firm tractors and 6,000 trailers. It dietary supplements its operations with owner-operators. The corporate delivers truckload freight throughout many of the nation. Driver communications is essential to working the enterprise cost-effectively AND offering on-time and error-free service, says Joe Cawley, Cowan senior vice chairman and chief know-how officer.
Cowan turned to Motorcity Methods to combine that agency’s Relay instant-messaging platform with the fleet’s new digital logging and telematics gadgets.
“The aim was to offer trendy messaging capabilities to our drivers and to sharply enhance the productiveness of our dispatchers to obtain and reply to messages.”
In contrast to instantaneous textual content and chat messaging that drivers already had entry to on their smartphones, in accordance with Motorcity, many ELD and telematic gadgets make drivers wait 5 minutes or extra to listen to again from dispatchers.
Pill Entry within the Truck Cab
Against this, the Relay platform integrates with ELD and back-office dispatch software program. Outdated messaging instruments within the dispatch techniques have been eliminated, and Cowan drivers now entry the brand new cloud-based messaging system on new pill gadgets of their cabs.
“We rolled out Relay in 2022,” says Cawley. “On the time, we have been migrating to a brand new telematics system and located that Relay was tightly coupled with our new system.” Cowan opted to deploy Relay with a personalized Eleos cell app for drivers.
“Relay is built-in with the cell app,” he explains. “Drivers discovered the messaging straightforward to make use of and the coaching was simple. The app permits drivers to message again to the Motorcity Relay cloud for supply to our dispatchers, with out leaving the Eleos app. They work throughout the app seamlessly.”
In keeping with Cawley, the productiveness enhance Relay delivered to drivers is much more pronounced on the dispatch aspect.
“Dispatchers discover it user-friendly and versatile,” he says. “Together with messaging, the Relay system can difficulty alerts to dispatchers on ‘occasions’ accomplished as a driver completes a supply sequence.
Dispatchers can select to message drivers inside a geographic group or any driver inside a geofenced space or any particular person driver.
Sending messages via in-cab ELD and telematics gadgets can take too lengthy.
Picture: Cowan Methods
“Additionally, the system makes it straightforward for a dispatcher to tackle a special terminal’s driver group after hours,” Cawley says.
Cawley provides that Relay’s message precedence will be filtered by dispatchers in order that solely precedence messages from their particular driver teams come via.
“That cuts down on the ‘background noise’ that dispatchers take care of, holding them organized and engaged with the drivers on the street.”
Watch this video from Motorcity about how Relay works:
