TransVirtual delivering increased efficiencies and profits to WA fleet owners

Cloud-based enterprise-grade transport management system (TMS) TransVirtual has announced their transport network volumes have quadrupled in Western Australia in the past 24 months.

The expansive growth of this Australian tech company in a single state follows a doubling of transport network volumes nationally in the 12 months after Australia's rapid uptake of e-commerce in 2020; which saw economy-wide online sales grow by 57 per cent year-on-year.

TransVirtual attribute their extraordinary additional volume growth in WA to a number of factors.

Troy Searle founder and Chief Technology Officer at TransVirtual explains, “In addition to the growth in e-commerce nationally, the transport and delivery industry in WA has faced a labour shortage combined with rising fuel costs, resulting in tighter profit margins and the need for greater efficiencies.

“The best way to achieve these efficiencies has been to ditch clunkier, less user-friendly transport management systems or labour intensive and costly manual processes in favour of a modern TMS – and they have been choosing TransVirtual as the best system for their needs.

Founded by Searle in 2014, TransVirtual integrates with national carriers such as DHL, Mainfreight, Border Express and Aramex and streamlines the running of a profitable transport and delivery company.

The software enables companies to schedule deliveries through auto allocation and optimise each driver's daily route (saving both time and fuel), provides realtime vehicle tracking, produces instant paperless proof of delivery status via its mobile app and offers fleet maintenance and invoicing capabilities.

TransVirtual has customers across

industries including logistics, courier services, delivery companies, transport, warehousing, distribution and freight brokerages. The company's product is also suitable for companies undertaking any form of dispatch out of their premises or warehouses.

“Companies in the transport and delivery space want full control over their destiny, they want to control their processes, data flows and IT costs, with an overarching goal of enhancing their workflow and raising their profits,” says Searle.

“With TransVirtual, companies can dictate, design and configure an incredible amount of data and process flow, without getting product developers involved and the entire TransVirtual team have extensive experience in the Australian transport industry and know first-hand the challenges, pain points and inefficiencies those in the industry face on a daily basis.

Glen Hunt, Business Systems Manager at TSS Sensitive Freight concurs.

“We had a legacy software system which presented a range of operational challenges, as it was based on old technology. After initial investigations with six vendors, I produced a checklist of things we needed. It had to be a browser based deployment system that provided workflow hooks so we could quickly and easily customise it to add value. We also needed full control over how it ran. TransVirtual allows me to do this.

“I investigated three vendors in depth, including products used by our major competitors, but they lacked the flexibility and customisations I was looking for. Everyone promised they could build it after I signed up, but the list of changes was long, and I was being asked by other companies to take an extreme leap of faith in this way.

“TransVirtual met our requirements exceptionally well and the API and EDI capability out of the box was sensational. Beyond the appeal to my technical requirements, I could see a huge ability to customise it on a customer by customer basis.

“Our business isn’t a standard freight company so that was extremely helpful. You can’t have an off the shelf solution that’s

TransVirtual team

going to fit everybody, so you must have that flexibility built in from the start. I loved that we had the freedom to make the system what we needed it to be,” finishes Glen.

At Western Parcel Express, a company spokesperson said, “We needed to upgrade our TMS as our previous platform had become dated. We reviewed several products before a major customer recommended we look at TransVirtual.

“TransVirtual has accommodated our varied and sometimes complex rate structures and provided excellent time savings to our accounts and administration staff. The team at Transvirtual understand what we need and help us make it happen.”

Another client who has made the switch to TransVirtual is First Choice Couriers.

Administration Manager Alicia Pleski says, “We began using TransVirtual in 2018 and since then our needs and our customers’ needs have been constantly evolving. TransVirtual are continually the best end-to-end solution with their regular development of new features, combined with the flexibility of customisation when required. There were three main considerations that we needed to fulfil when looking for a transport management system; visibility, data management and accounting. TransVirtual meets the mark on all three.”

“TransVirtual creates the link between every customer, agent, sender, receiver, depot, driver, administrator and manager to enable them to access the information they need.., providing complete visibility through the entire network. We look forward to continuing to offer our clients is Western Australia the best system to ensure their continuing success, finishes Searle.

TransVirtual's flexible, enterprisegrade software is priced on a pay per consignment model, making it affordable for businesses of all sizes.

www.transvirtual.com T: 1800 975 305

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Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had some time off over Christmas to relax and be merry with your family and friends.

So what is the year ahead? I can’t see the driver shortage getting fixed quickly, and whilst we are protected to an extent in Western Australia with energy prices, it has been obvious that everything costs more, particularly day to day items. One part of Australia’s demographic; those with a mortgage are already feeling the pressure of the higher interest rates.

This makes me wonder if later this year we begin to see a decline in retail and onlline sales and we will just have to see what effect this has on the transport and gig economy.

In this edition we look at Transport Management Systems technology that is already working for transport operators in Western Australia with TransVirtual on Page 2 and we also look at the additional protections for Owner Drivers and Small Businesses with the Owner-Drivers Bill passes on Page 6.

On Page 8 Ray Pratt talks about an industry in deep trouble and no matter what well-meaning bureaucrats and politicians promise us, unless we reform the industry and make life easier and better for our hard working truck drivers then we will never see a change.

Hope you enjoy the ‘cool hot rods’ from the HCVC column this edition – Page 22.

As always, welcome to the new subscribers, and thank you to each and every one who supports the magazine.

Best, Karen

1................................................It is an important time to be a TWU member. 2..............................................TransVirtual delivering increased efficiencies and profits to WA fleet owners 6..............................................Additional protections as Owner-Drivers Bill passes

7 ............................................Government considers fuel standards 10...........................................Main Roads Heavy Vehicle Services (HVS) – 2022 in Review Part Two

13 ...........................................Construction begins on WA EV network 14...........................................Western Roads Federation - Transport Safety Event February 2023

16...........................................LRTAWA – The Elephant in the room 17............................................Livestock Associations respond to proposals to change Horse Transport standards 18...........................................How transport stacked up in Working Capital Report 20.........................................The impact of the fuel excise on business and what can be done to alleviate costs 21 ...........................................Managing the risks when a non-compliant heavy vehicle arrives at your premises

8..............................................A Fair Go for Owner Drivers 19...........................................Bird’s Eye View 22.........................................HCVC 24.........................................WA Transport History Endorsed by

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