Logistics Company Becomes a Next-Gen Digital Carrier with a Market-Transforming TMS

The Client

Our client is an international transport company based in Bulgaria and operating across Europe. They gained market momentum in the late nineties through direct truck deliveries to the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany and expanded its operations in 2007 when Bulgaria joined the EU. Today, the company has a partner network in Western Europe and the Balkans which helps it deliver fast and secure transport services. It provides logistics and multimodal solutions with a fleet of 200+ heavy goods vehicles (HGV) covering international and domestic destinations. Over the last 25 years, the client earned a reputation as a trusted European hauler thanks to their attention to detail in delivering pickup and drop-off safely and transparently.

The Challenge

If there is one thing professionals in the transportation and logistics field know all too well it is that the industry is among the toughest to digitalize. This is primarily because of its dynamic nature characterized by fast, complex, and intricately intertwined processes. From the moment a transport request is received and then executed to its reporting and invoicing, it generates a high volume of data that is vitally important to every department.

Our client, a medium-sized international transport company based in Bulgaria, used what many players rely on: a patchwork of loosely related systems and excel tables that create information silos and a plethora of error-prone situations, potentially wasting time and resources. The lack of connected flow went hand in hand with manual labor and constant attempts to prevent data loss. This vicious cycle of creating information fragmentation to fill the gaps in the existing systems didn’t allow for enough transparency and traceability. Given the client’s business model, these systems and add-ons were insufficient to support growth.

Capitalizing on their experience and based on an internal culture to constantly improve their services, the company began exploring technology solutions to remedy system gaps. Yet, for an extended time they couldn’t settle on a TMS because most of them, and especially the ones available on the local market, aren’t flexible and comprehensive enough. Their main goal was to have a holistic 360 view of their business in an intelligent centralized solution that would make collaboration across departments effortless and introduce complete visibility over all processes. In addition, the client wanted a system customizable in a way that would allow them to keep their specific workflows the same, only optimized.

Some of the challenges the client was facing included:

• A patchwork of outdated and rigid custom-made systems and off-the-shelf products with little to no integration
• Error-prone manual process in time-critical forwarding and dispatching 
• Time-consuming closing of transport and monthly billing, reconciliation of transportation documents, and cost allocation 
• Relying on spreadsheets to minimize system gaps which put critical data at risk of being lost 
• Becoming carbon neutral by 2030 by maintaining high efficiency in volatile economic conditions
• Difficulty sustaining double-digit yearly growth

The Solution

The main limitations of most TMSs come from the fact that they weren’t designed to adapt to the changing needs of the industry since they were introduced around 20 years ago. For example, the reality of transport in 2023 is very different from the one 7 or 8 years ago when companies worked with long-term contracts, and there was a certain level of predictability in their workloads. Today, decisions have to be made more quickly and efficiently. The majority of these solutions have already outlived the life cycle of an effective software product. They lack cohesive internal communication, and databases are not easily accessible from different system points.

Also, there is little to no concern for mobile-friendly UX, and integration with vital third-party systems, such as GPS tracking, is difficult. To navigate their business challenges and the ones posed by the ineffective TMSs dominating the market, our client needed a partner with impeccable industry know-how and consultancy capabilities that would find the best solution and help them through the implementation process. Our task was first to understand the intricacies of the client’s business model and the issues they were facing, then select the optimal software product, make an actionable customization plan, and execute it.

Scalefocus took on two roles in the project: consultancy and product ownership. For the technology aspect, we partnered with OBS2Go, a provider of а scalable and highly customizable ERP platform, to create LogOS — an end-to-end logistics management solution. Our experts were responsible for ensuring that LogOS could address all problem areas our client faced by offering a modern, intuitive, single source of truth system for all processes. We did weekly workshops where Scalefocus, OBS2Go and the client discussed implementation and integration strategy, made progress updates, and outlined next steps.

It was important that when implementing all changes, we maintained a balance between best practices and useability based on internal processes. LogOS incorporates CRM, TMS, HR, Finance and Accounting modules and contains different customization tools. This helped us develop and fine-tune it to cover our client’s unique set of processes and their connections with external systems. Our product owner, a logistics expert with over 20 years of experience, ensured all customizations were meticulously matched with the client’s needs and translated into concrete functionalities.

In addition to its inclusive UX, LogOS’s superior flexibility regarding feature customization makes it distinct from other Transport Management Systems. The information flow is presented in an accessible and modern way. Invoices are created directly, and cost structures are visible, while also eliminating manual work. Transferring process management into LogOS began with transport request management, disposition, fleet, driver working hours, and invoicing.

The system provides complete visibility over a vehicle’s entire transport life cycle, including loading and unloading times, ferry boarding and unboarding, trailer changes, empty kilometers, etc. LogOS doesn’t leave any communication gaps as one transport request contains all essential information: initiator, cost, load type, route, refueling stops, additional expenses.

LogOS System Modules

• S/CRM
• Transport Management
• Fleet Management
• Warehouse / Depot Management
• HR
• Finance, Controlling & Accounting
• BI/Analytics
• Enterprise Collaboration
• Document Management
• Process Automation

The Results

It’s important to note that no innovation project is ever possible without the complete readiness of the business to cooperate and set aside the necessary resources. Our client became a real change agent for the transport industry in Bulgaria by embarking on a full-blown digital transformation journey with an innovative solution that is bound to change the logistics business in the region. Any modernization of systems and processes requires organizational and cultural shifts which must go hand in hand with mature change management and our client understood that well. They facilitated our work and dedicated time and expertise to help us find the best possible implementation path.

As a result, LogOS, the Transport Management System we created together with OBS2Go, now provides access to interactive pickup and delivery information, live schedule updates and complete information transparency — it’s a centralized source of truth for the entire transportation cycle. Despite the complexity and interconnectedness of processes, it enables each employee to concentrate on their responsibilities efficiently without wasting time on non-typical tasks.

Some of the benefits our client experienced as a result of adopting LogOS:

• Enhanced visibility of deliveries throughout the entire order fulfillment process

• Seamless collaboration across all departments allowing flexible decision making
• No missed opportunities due to complete processing of transport requests
• Thorough traceability of vehicles within the fleet, including transit issues, status updates, etc.

• Reduction of administration costs and reduction of transport inefficiency by locating available vehicles in real time for new transport requests 
• Accessibility and excellent user experience from any device—smartphones, tablets, and desktop
• Fewer mistakes due to elimination of manual processes
• Real-time feedback on business performance for the management team

• Simplified back-office operations due to automation (incl. reporting, invoicing, driver compensations)