Case Study on Transaction Processing Services for US Logistics Company

The Client

A large provider of logistics services in the US, with over 40 years of experience and a combined fleet of over 10,000 trucks and trailers, with a national footprint across 47 states in the US, apart from Canada and Puerto Rico. The company's reputation was built on the strategic objective of anticipating customers' needs and fulfilling them on a proactive basis, ensuring superior levels of service quality.

The Background

Gaps in transaction processing activities leading to -

• Billing inaccuracies, causing Cash-on-Delivery (COD) discrepancies.
• Differences in EDI validations discovered during quality assurance checks.
• Quick turnarounds in processing Bills of Lading (BOL) to facilitate service guarantee of "next-day delivery".
• Loss of valuable time and substantial amounts of revenue due to incomplete or inaccurate information in BOLs.

The Project

The client outsourced a small part of its transaction processing activities to Outsource2india (O2I), a leading provider of outsourced business processing services dedicated to quick, accurate and quality data processing solutions, across multiple industrial segments.

Key differentiators in delivering time-bound and accurate transaction processing services include a comprehensive infrastructure built on cutting-edge technology, dedicated work space and in-built back-up systems, leading to uninterrupted, round-the-clock transaction processing services.

Trained personnel with advanced knowledge of logistics management and client-specific requirements and a stringent quality assurance policy at every stage of the process ensured the accrual of immediate and tangible benefits to the client's business.

The Outcome

The gains from outsourcing a part of the company's transaction processing activities to O2I resulted in the following successes.

Improvement of Turnaround Time - A fully-automated system which tracks specific BOL requirements and a trained team of data processors ensure that all BOLs are processed on the same day as they are received, within an average processing time of 12 hours or less.

Significant Reduction in Error Rates - When O2I took over transaction processing on behalf of the client company, BOL errors were in excess of double digits. Within 3 months of O2I handling the process, error rates were reduced to fewer than 10% of total processed transactions and at present, error rates stand at 3% or less, given the process refinements, quality control checks and system automation.

Reduced Operational Losses and Revenue Leakage - The timely and accurate processing of BOLs have resulted in the client saving substantial costs on non-delivery, wrong or delayed delivery of freight, deterioration of service levels and revenue losses due to incomplete or inaccurate documentation.

Increased Productivity - The BOL is a critical document, without which the unloading and processing of shipments for further delivery cannot be undertaken. A direct benefit of outsourcing BOL generation to O2I was the reduction of idle time for dock personnel and truck drivers, waiting for BOLs to be received and validated and for unloading manifests to be created. Truck drivers do not have to wait for hours to take delivery of their designated shipments and the company saves money on driver payments, which are based on hourly rates. Increased productivity and reduction of idle time also ensure driver retention and increased volumes of freight transactions.

Reasons for Success

O2I's continuous and consistent focus on training, process improvements and quality assurance are the three key factors contributing to the successful management of transaction processing activities.

• Team members receive intensive training on data processing activities in a 'live' and hands-on environment.
• Individual targets for processing turnarounds, transaction volumes and reduced error rates are set and team members meeting these targets are handsomely rewarded. Thus, O2I is able to retain experienced resources; regular refresher training ensures productivity and efficiencies are maintained at all times.
• A robust quality assurance process at every stage of the transaction ensures that errors are identified in time and corrected, leading to improved compliance of federal and state regulations.
• System automation for the accurate capture of critical data, such as payment terms or the correct classification of freight items, ensures relevant standards and regulations are complied with, in their entirety.

Today, the client company generates thousands of BOLs on a daily basis and O2I manages the processing of 10,000 such BOLs on behalf of the client. By outsourcing voluminous transaction processing activities to O2I, the client company has been able to refocus its time and resources on meeting strategic business objectives, such as enhanced customer service levels and the expansion of its business into new markets, in the relatively short period of one year!