Client Success Story

A transport triumph:
Transformational growth through automation

Streamlining and increasing orders through a center of excellence

A major U.S. transport services company had a problem. Their growth was stymied by a fractured legacy bidding system that created bottlenecks that ultimately cost business. Worse, it significantly degraded the customer experience. They needed a fix — fast.

In the transport business, delivery speed is part and parcel of the trade, but the shipper’s bidding system was a complex series of one-off solutions without centralized governance, making them prone to slowdowns and breakdowns. In addition to the operational challenges, multiple teams in different locations shared a justifiable concern that upgrading or centralizing their systems might disrupt day-to-day operations, leading to losses.

“I thought I had a technology problem, but it turns out I have a process problem.”

— Client executive sponsor

Other digital service companies approached the client with traditional platform-oriented solutions that leveraged their technological know-how, but HGS Digital understood the company’s needs on an entirely different level.

“We’ve had to build our own optimization methodology specifically to support our own BPO business,” says Rik Silva, HGS Digital’s assistant vice president of digital transformation. “So a lot of those lessons learned along the way could be applied to help them solve the same types of problems. It became clear that these aren’t necessarily technology solutions, but instead process and business outcome problems.”

The client’s executive sponsor concurred: “I thought I had a technology problem, but it turns out I have a process problem.”

“It’s transformational — not transactional.”

Working closely with the client’s in-house team, our HGS Digital team collaborated on a solution that leveraged both the scale and perspective in this space as a Gartner Leader in the BPO sector. Annually, our call centers handle four and a half billion call minutes a year. Likewise, we process 50 million client transactions a year.

“One of our strengths is our in-depth understanding of the domain and the processes involved in that domain. We look at everything from a process perspective, not from a technology perspective,” says Silva. “The collaboration has been excellent. It’s transformational — not transactional.”

Automation = Growth and new revenue

Together, the client and HGS Digital partnered on a centralized solution that defined scopes and standardized tools across the board. That automation solution allowed the disparate existing channels the client already used to continue to be the interface for the quotes and other day-to-day activities. Moreover, it’s led to dramatic increases in efficiency and earnings — including $1 million in savings from increased efficiencies.

Together, we defined success for 2022 and hit or exceeded those goals—already. In an era when up to 50% of robotic process automation (RPA) programs fail in the first year because they aren’t able to execute on the business goals, HGS Digital was able to meet and deliver beyond goals.

Because the best part? HGS Digital’s solution was able to actually generate new revenue for the client. “The EDI component of this was an integration solution that basically generated net new revenue for the organization and helped them solve a problem to which they didn’t have an answer,” says Silva, who adds, “With a lesser amount of investment, they’re getting a huge benefit.”