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Wall Township, NJ – Key Software Systems, creators of Xcelerator, has watched the growth of Interconnect swell in 2015 with a 257% upsurge in usage.  The explosive growth is changing same-day delivery across the country and highlights the industry’s sharing mentality that has been steadily growing over the past few years. Interconnect brings Xcelerator customers together in a seamless, real-time dispatch-to-dispatch environment to manage on-demand, scheduled, e-commerce, white glove and distribution deliveries.Initially launched in 2009, Interconnect has been encouraging partnerships between Xcelerator customers to help expand their geographic footprint and supplement their revenue without added costs. “When we started Interconnect, customers were winning bids for regional and nationwide same-day and next-day deliveries in new territories and they had two options to service the shipper; either establish a physical presence in the new service area which meant finding new drivers and office space in an unfamiliar territory or they would look for Agents that already service that area, using an EDI to connect systems. Interconnect eliminated the need to add physical resources saving companies thousands of dollars and simplified the Agent onboarding process with a 10 minute set-up to connect with another Xcelerator user without the use of an EDI. Now, two partners can begin to trade order data in minutes while keeping the Shipper up to date with real-time updates regarding their shipments, including time stamps, status codes, scan history and signatures to name a few,” states company President Charlie Pisciotta.

In 2014 Interconnect orders totaled 98,500 for an average of 269 orders per day going between partners.  Significant growth came in 2015 where Interconnect reached about 1,000 orders per day, totaling 352,000 for the year. Based on the first quarter of 2016, Interconnect is on pace to grow 84% over last year’s numbers, moving upwards of 600,000 orders through Interconnect partners.

Columbus Delivery Service out of New York City was one of the early adopters of Interconnect. As a leader in last mile distribution, Columbus Delivery began leveraging the technology to rapidly expand their footprint. General Manager of Columbus Delivery, Adam Autera states, “Technology like this makes our partner companies effectively our own. Our CSR can dispatch work to a partner in Pennsylvania and the jobs will be delivered and POD’d by the partner without any further attention from us. We received the real-time updates and still remained the one point of contact for our customer. We went from being a local New York City company to having a rock-solid infrastructure throughout the Tri-State area, to being a regional player in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic practically overnight.”

The nature of Interconnect also enables Xcelerator customers to create their own nationwide network of carriers, built on one platform, ensuring the highest level of data integrity, accountability and efficiency throughout the relationship.  Leading the way in nationwide distribution through Interconnect is Rightaway Delivery out of Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Rightaway President, Ben Kaplan divulges, “Rightaway Delivery has evolved from a brick and mortar regional carrier servicing Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, to a national logistics provider.  With help from Xcelerator, the Interconnect feature and the people I meet at industry conferences like the ECA and CLDA, we successfully executed several distribution projects that consisted of 10,000+ deliveries each, spread out across the country. It’s a Win-Win-Win situation, the customer wins, the agent wins and we win!”

Charlie closes, “Looking from where it started, we couldn’t be more excited with the growth our customers are experiencing with Interconnect. It’s putting a spotlight on the fact that competitive companies can share, exchange ideas and grow.  Attending trade shows like the ECA, CLDA and state associations reinforce the trend we’re seeing, driving excitement levels to new heights and leading everyone to a path of success.”

Xcelerator & MobileTek are enterprise-class software solutions designed by Key Software Systems, for today’s courier, messenger, logistics, distribution and warehousing industries.  For more information, screen shots and detailed descriptions, visit www.KeySoftwareSystems.com or call 732-409-6068 to speak with a representative.  Follow us on Twitter for up to the minute technology information @KeySoftwareSys.

Columbus Delivery and Logistics is a family-owned company established in 1955. As a leader in Last Mile Distribution, Columbus services their Regional footprint with 60 plus years of excellence and hands on experience.  For more information about Columbus Delivery and Logistics you can visit www.ColumbusNY.com or call 212.989.1200 to speak with a representative.

Rightaway Delivery was founded in 1999 and offers flexible delivery and distribution services nationwide.  Designed to provide fast, cost-effective services to their customers, Rightaway Delivery provides a personal touch to help you through any logistical challenges you may encounter.  For more information about Rightaway Delivery you can visit www.RightawayDelivery.com or call 734.926.4720.

Same day delivery revenue is expected to reach $620 million, which is six times more than what it was in 2014; according to the principle research analyst at eMarketer, the leading research firm for digital marketers. While the service was prevalent even in 2014, Amazon changed its scope entirely when it made the service free in May 2015. As of May 2015, Amazon delivers on the same day for free for Prime members in 14 metropolitan areas, reported Los Angeles Times. The membership itself will continue to be affordable at an annual charge of $99. Additionally, Amazon has also started to deliver Fresh products in large cities and in doing so, has owned the entire value chain, including “last mile delivery.”

A TREND THAT IS CATCHING ON

Only days after Amazon announced free same day delivery, Google launched Shopping Express in Los Angeles and New York, which provides same day delivery via select retailers. Add to the list eBay, which acquired the UK start-up Shutl, which came into prominence for making use of local couriers to deliver goods in a 1-2 hours window, and you have eBbay Now, delivering on the same day using Shutl’s infrastructure and IT.

While the service is still in its nascent stage, it is bound to grow and become the norm, since it is already setting the bar for customer expectations. Technological advancements too have multiple tiers now – supply chain management through delivery software has become the norm, with the customer’s demands to know the status of their order having nuanced considerably. However, technology is not limited to just information now. With the sci-fi come-to-life delivery by drones option materializing, as in the case of Amazon Prime Air, the sky is the limit for truly disruptive logistics.

OTHER AREAS FUELED BY DISRUPTIVE LOGISTICS

• Omnichannel Fulfillment: “Omni-channel Fulfillment is the key driver of growth in the warehouse management market,” reported Forbes in June 2014. A year later, with same day delivery becoming the rage, it is becoming part and parcel of the experience. In a world where customers want to buy online and pick-up at a store; try on at the store and have the desired variation delivered to their door; or place an order online and expect to not just be apprised of whether it is in stock but also what stage of delivery it is at and exactly when it will reach them or for that matter, buy online and return at the store if dissatisfied, multiple channels of fulfillment have to work seamlessly to achieve customer satisfaction via high speed and in cost-effective methods.
• Data Integration with Customer Interface: Traditionally, data collected through delivery software or dispatch management software as it is also known as, was available for the purpose of logistics management and was either entirely invisible to the customer, or only visible to the extent of online tracking services. However, the fact that customers might now want end to end control of the delivery process will also have to be factored into disruptive logistical plans. For example, a customer may seek same day delivery and still have the ability to change the destination real time. This will require the logistics providers and e-commerce platforms to be fully integrated and have a customer interface with constant real time updates. Delivery software will not just be deployed to ensure value chain visibility for the supplier, but also for full disclosure to the customer