Tools and technology · For people running an operation · 8 min
Changing dispatch system without stopping the operation
The real question is not what the new system costs, but what breaks in the days you move from one to the other.
People weighing up a new dispatch system look at the features and the price. Then they do not change, and the reason is hardly ever the price: it is the fear, a reasonable one, of what happens during the changeover. The phone rings just the same, the drivers work just the same, and nobody can afford a week of confusion.
The three things that have to keep working
- The phone number. If it changes, you have thrown away years of signage and saved contacts.
- The drivers. They have to be able to work even on the day the new system is not clear to them yet.
- The account customers. They do not notice you have changed anything, and they should not.
How you actually move
- 01Move the data first: driver records, vehicles, account customers, agreed prices.
- 02Run the two systems alongside each other for a few days, with the old one as the safety net.
- 03Move a small group of drivers first, the ones who help rather than complain.
- 04Move the rest only once the small group has worked a week without ringing you.
- 05Switch the old one off, and not before.
Do not do the changeover in a busy week. A trade show weekend or the run-up to Christmas is when a small problem becomes a disaster, and when nobody has time to learn anything.
The questions to put to the supplier
- Can I take my data away whenever I want, and in what format?
- Who answers me if something breaks on a Saturday night?
- How long does it take to train a driver who is not confident with a phone?
- If I stop tomorrow, what is left with me and what is left with you?
The last is the most important and almost nobody asks it. A dispatch system that holds your customer records hostage is not a supplier, it is a shareholder you did not choose.