The “Sharing Economy” is one of the biggest buzz words that seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongues since 2014, which is when Uber solidified its place in the market as the first multi-billion dollar sharing economy company. The sharing economy refereces the peer-to-peer sharing of access to goods and services and has payed the way for businesses like AirBnB, Lyft, and Cargomatic. Some people even argue that Amazon and eBay were the first instances of the sharing economy in being that they allowed an online access to external goods. It has also paved the way for PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service) companies like Exotrac.
Exotrac functions as both a PaaS and a SaaS in being that, depending on which application your company works with, you are loaned out equipment, a custom application, and a service plan for your Yard Management Software to function. When PaaS is tied to a SaaS environment, applications like YardTrac can be created and customized at record speeds, updates and patches can be implemented within hours verses weeks, and your software and hardware can function in the yard and beyond. So what does this mean for Yard Managers? It means three things: your yard becomes more efficient as the software grows with your company, you can cut down on demurrage and detention costs, and the start up costs are recooped within the first thirty days.
Low Start Up Costs
Let us pretend that your yard has just signed a contract with Exotrac for a 90 Day free trial of YardTrac Lite and you also decide to have Exotrac lease out equipment and a service plan to your yard. How long do you think it would take to finally have your custom application, equipment, and service plan enabled? Typically, it takes us three to four weeks, verses traditional YMS platforms that take up to three months to implement and cost thousands of dollars. This is because we own all of the equipment and do not have to wait around for new equipment to be shipped, and we do everything in house. Meaning, once your equipment (phones, ruggedized cases, chargers, tablets, laptops, printers, and scanners) arrives, everything has your application preloaded onto it and each device is ready to funcation as soon as it is unpacked. We also experience fast turn arounds because our YardTrac Lite software uses the same base for every app we make so we’re not starting from scratch everytime a new client works with us. That client is then given the latest version of YardTrac which is then customized to fit your company’s needs in a precise manner.
SaaS Increases Yard Efficiency
In being that an SaaS application uses the same base code and has the ability to learn from other users, updates are made in a constant flow to ensure that your application is maximizing yard effieciency. You will experience an increase in yard effieciency in the areas of delivery scheduling, spotter management, shuttle and carrier management, and increase the overall transparency of your yard. Your spotters, shuttle drivers, and carriers are all on the clock, every move is recorded and reported back to you at the end of the day. This will allow Yard Managers to see the weak links in their yard and figure out ways to strengthen them, thus reducing spotter, carrier, and shuttle idle time and increasing the numer of moves done wtithin the yard. There will also no longer be any missing assets since they are on the clock and on the map 24/7.
Cut Down on Yard Costs
By using a yard management software system Yard Managers will notice costs in the areas of dentention and demurrage costs, operaional costs, management anlysis, yard checks, and trailer spotting. This is because your yard will maximize its efficency and be able to eliminate other methods of analysis since everything is wrapped into the yard management system. It will also free up your drivers and managers to work in other areas of your yard in order to increase your yard’s output.
If you are still having trouble deciding if Exotrac is the right YMS system for you, download our latest case study by clicking here. Want to book a demo with us? Call us at 212.989.0171, or click the link below to send us your information at info@exotrac.com.
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