Handling over half a million deliveries per week, TNT Express Australia is a leader in the provision of mail, express and logistics services, with a strong business philosophy of customer service. As most calls received by each TNT Customer Service Centre relate to tracking consignments, TNT required a reliable system that could quickly identify who signed for a parcel and at what time.
A longstanding strategic relationship has given us an excellent understanding of TNT's business. With this knowledge, we are able to go beyond being simply a service provider, to proactively research and offer new ideas and solutions to improve TNT's business.
One of the first services that we provided to TNT involved the scanning of finance consignment notes, before electronically attaching them to their corresponding invoices. The immediate benefits of this service prompted TNT to consider applying the same principles to Proof of Delivery (POD) dockets, since the POD proves beyond doubt that goods have been delivered, thereby resolving customer queries.
To enable TNT to better respond to consignment enquiries, HPA (now Salmat) developed a customised document storage, retrieval and viewing solution. In this process, we scan TNT's POD dockets before uploading that data into a digital image library.
Any POD dockets received at Salmat by 11pm are available on-line by 8am the next morning, enabling TNT customer service staff to access electronic images of PODs from the convenience of their desktops. To assist with customer queries, TNT staff also have the option to fax or email an exact image of each POD docket to their customers within 24 hours of parcel delivery.
Customers who have registered on the TNT web site also enjoy the additional benefit of being able to retrieve this information directly themselves through the Internet. This reduces demand on TNT's call centres, making them more productive.
"The imaging services provided by HPA (now Salmat) are critical to our company. As a large proportion of calls received by our Customer Service Centres relate to tracking consignments, the ability for HPA (now Salmat) to provide exact images of Proof of Delivery dockets allows our staff to see exactly who signed for a delivery. This has significantly reduced our query turnaround time and improved our cash flow, as issues can be resolved without delay.
"In an industry where success is based on rapid response, this capability gives TNT a distinct competitive advantage."
Paul Vincent, Director of Customer Service, TNT.
