Guest post by Aarjav Trivedi, CEO of RideCell
At RideCell, we make life easier for dispatchers, drivers and customers of public transportation companies. Our software automates the manual work so that service providers are free to spend their time on “human tasks”. Ironically, while focusing on removing headaches for our customers through automation, we found that an internal lack of technology was causing some headaches of our own, specifically with our invoicing system (or lack thereof). Luckily, we discovered Tradeshift, and our invoicing headaches are now a thing of the past.
Nothing irritates a customer more than calling a service provider for information only to be put on hold or shuffled to an unhelpful auto attendant. RideCell removes the friction and bottlenecks that cause these delays. Our customers are taxi companies, bus companies, universities, delivery companies—any organization that manages a fleet of vehicles.
Here’s how it works. A customer requests a pick-up either via telephone, our web site, iPhone app or Android app. The request immediately shows up on the dispatcher’s RideCell dashboard. The dispatcher can either manually assign a vehicle to the job, or, if they are using our GPS and Auto-route module, the system will automatically assign the best vehicle for the job based its route, location and capacity. RideCell then notifies the customer that a vehicle is on the way, and the customer can track the vehicle’s progress right up to arrival. Customers can always opt to speak to live person, but, because RideCell is so easy to use, we’ve found that 80% prefer to use the automated system.
RideCell keeps track of metrics such as what time the call came in, how much time it took to assign a vehicle, when the customer was picked up and when they were dropped off. It will compile these data into reports to help service providers analyze the efficiency of their fleets. We even offer a diagnostic module that will monitor each vehicle for mechanical problems, so maintenance issues are no longer a surprise.
While our product is very high tech, our internal invoicing system was decidedly low tech. As a young startup, it’s important for us to run a tight ship. We’re not large enough yet to have our own accounting department, so we have an outside accountant that we use on a contract basis. For invoicing, we were just using a Word template and emailing the form to our customers. This led to confusion for everyone.
We had no way to consistently monitor the status of invoices—which ones had been paid and which ones were delinquent. With many different employees sending out invoices, if a customer called with a billing question, it invariably led to confusion, as we couldn’t be sure which individual had sent the invoice in the first place. We tried cc’ing everyone on invoicing messages, but that just got more confusing and inefficient. Since our accountant uses her own native accounting application, there was no way for us to incorporate an off-the-shelf system like FreshBooks for invoicing and have it work with her software. Then one day, I happened to read about a company called Tradeshift in a tech publication.
Tradeshift is a free, web-based invoicing application, and it’s extremely easy to use. You simply import your customers and suppliers into the system, and you’re ready to go. When you invoice someone, they receive an email and can either choose to join your Tradeshift network or continue to receive invoices in pdf format.
We get notified when each invoice is received, and if customers have questions or comments regarding their invoices, they can list them right in the Tradeshift system. That way, the right person answers the right questions quickly and efficiently. We share access to our account with our accountant, and she can immediately see which invoices have been sent, approved, paid, etc.
RideCell is not a one-size-fits-all company. We pride ourselves on designing unique solutions to fit our customers’ specific needs. With that in mind, we’re constantly innovating, adding new features and improving what we already have—it’s what we do best. By helping us replace a time-consuming and inefficient internal process, Tradeshift has given us more time to spend on what is really important to our business.
More info:
RideCell web site: http://www.ridecell.com/
RideCell blog: http://blog.ridecell.com/
RideCell profile on CrunchBase: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/ridecell
RideCell profile on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ridecell
Tradeshift web site: http://tradeshift.com/
Tradeshift blog: http://tradeshift.com/blog/
Tradeshift profile on CrunchBase: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/tradeshift
Tradeshift profile on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tradeshift
