Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/741843
COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2016 57 INNOVATORS UPS, INC. Atlanta package status from origin to sorting and distribution centers to local delivery. By further leveraging the com- pany's information technology infrastructure, UPS executives knew it could build upon this service. Real-time tracking In an effort to improve the customer experience and in many ways rede- fine customer expectations for pack- age tracking, UPS's IT department delivered on its mission with the introduction of the UPS Near Real- Time Service Performance Reporting Tool (NRT) in 2014. "NRT is designed to find new ways to improve our network perfor- mance, overall customer service and, ultimately, customer satisfaction," says Juan Perez, UPS chief informa- tion officer. "NRT represents the next big step in UPS's big data and analytics journey." UPS's NRT solution uses predic- tive analytics to provide operations personnel with an interactive view of package movement and service performance throughout the com- pany's global small package network by interpreting up to 8,700 data transactions per second (more than 750 million per day), including pick- ups, sorting, transfers and deliveries moved by train, truck or plane. NRT also continually monitors weather or other conditions that would require alternative solutions to maintain an on-time network. UPS takes package tracking to the next level BY JEFF CRISSEY "W here's my stuff?" With 18.3 million packages and documents delivered every day, that's a question customer service representatives at UPS (CCJ Top 250, No. 1) answer thousands of times every hour. To provide customers with better visibility and more control over deliv- eries, in 2011 the pickup-and-delivery giant launched its UPS My Choice service, available in two levels. The free subscription provides delivery alerts, approximate delivery times, online package signing and other pay-as-you-go options. A premium subscription adds the ability for customers to change the address or day of deliveries, even when packages are en route. On the retailer side, UPS offers a menu of e-commerce solutions to fa- cilitate both domestic and international transactions, including web order marketplace fulfillment, simplified returns, multi-language web storefronts, customs clearance and fully landed price information, among other options. The UPS My Choice service also offers retailers the ability to customize delivery notifications to help them build customer loyalty and increase sales. "With these custom notices, our e-commerce retailers are able to send a tailored discount offer, product referral or thank-you message to their online consumers as part of UPS My Choice delivery alerts," says Teresa Finley, UPS chief marketing officer. Today, UPS My Choice has more than 22 million subscribers using per- sonal computers or mobile devices via the UPS Mobile app, which has more than 8 million downloads on iOS and Android platforms. Until recently, the package tracking had been limited to updating customers on UPS analytics tool provides better network visibility and near real-time GPS package tracking.