“In God we trust. All others bring data.”
— W. Edwards Deming
Aligning people, process, and technology is a major challenge for leaders of companies and organizations of all sizes. Especially at a time when the dynamic variables involved change as often as the weather. Increasing numbers of team members work from remote locations. Decentralized operations mean a greater number of branch offices and facilities must be seamlessly integrated on unified operating systems. Advances in technology happen as soon as and before newly minted applications are fully installed and working properly. And yet the demands for operational efficiency remain as taxing as ever.
This constant state of flux places extreme demands on leaders like yourself to carefully and strategically align people and process with the technologies that make day-to-day business operations possible. In the late 1990s Bruce Schneier popularized the idea of integrating people, process and technology with a methodical and data-driven approach now known as the PPT framework. Today organizations, both large and small, utilize the PPT framework for analyzing business processes, identifying and eliminating performance issues, and continually improving the way they deliver value to customers — whether that value is derived from a product, a service, or both.
The PPT framework focuses on how the three elements of people, process, and technology interact within dynamic systems. People perform the work. Processes codify how particular functions are best achieved and eliminate variation in the system with the aim of continually improving upon efficiency and value. Technology elevates the capacity for people to accomplish more using less time and energy while automating processes enables consistency and predictability. As a result, you can achieve organizational efficiency in all functional areas by balancing people, process, and technology.
The MMS Courier team, led by founder Michael Eshelby and Operations Director Carolyn Thompson, recognizes you want and demand three things from your messenger program: speed, efficiency, and a viable means for achieving business goals and objectives. People, Process, and Technology (PPT) are the essential elements that ensure peak performance. Which is why MMS invests significant time and resources optimizing organizational efficiency and bringing these three integral components into balance.
The MMS Courier methodology begins with Process and defining mission-critical metrics, KPIs, data collection and sharing, and potential system constraints. We then identify the People and Technology required to drive the desired actions and outcomes. Because of this approach MMS helps you elevate and continuously improve on performance while maintaining an ideal operating balance; be it Scheduled Routes / Sweeps, On-Demand Courier, or Intra-Organization deliveries.
YOUR SUCCESS STARTS WITH ACCURATE ORDER ENTRY
Order entry is the vital first step in ensuring the delivery process runs smoothly and meets the expectations of all involved parties. MMS Courier enables delivery scheduling — be it regularly scheduled route sweep or an urgent on-demand situation — via the e-courier app, phone communication with its dispatch team, or through your dedicated account manager. Once initiated the process is fully automated, providing complete visibility and immediate status for you, the assigned courier, and the MMS operations team.
Ensuring every detail of every delivery is accurately entered is mission critical to the success of your program. The process is facilitated by providing auto-verified address functionality that includes piece-level and invoice reference tracking along with the ability for adding detailed notes. The following features keep people, process, and technology in balance for you:
- Seamlessly place and track orders all in one place
- Visibility and insights you need with order tracking and reporting functionality
- Built-in rate quote functionality based on service and order parameters
- Automated rating and real-time delivery status
FOCUSING ON SYSTEM CONSTRAINTS MINIMIZES EXCEPTIONS
Automating routine tasks streamlines each step of the MMS Courier seven-step process. The dispatch team is trained to carefully examine and monitor all activity, enabling them to identify and address friction points or potential service failures before they arise. Your self-service portal empowers you with the same capacity for oversight.
- Filter and find orders by tracking number, date range, reference number, service type and more
- Select desired order for full order detail and audit trail
- Search and review order status via tracking numbers, reference numbers, when item was ready, due, and/or delivery time and verification
- View any event or exception in Shipment Activity Events along with photo or signature documentation
- Alerts and notifications provide piece-level reference detail ensuring all items are delivered according to plan
- Signatures and/or photo-based PODs for each order appear alongside the scheduled and actual arrival time
OPTIMIZED COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING
Well-defined order management and scanning processes enable open and accurate communications. The MMS seven-step process identifies what needs to be communicated, by whom, and with whom. This is especially important given the data governance and business rules unique to your organization.
As a result, you create accurate and dependable data points that can be visualized in a dashboard or shared through customized reports. These tools allow you to recognize and predict performance trends and metrics and make improvements or enhancements as needed.
The proper balance of people, process and technology empowers you to:
- Deliver performance insights via customizable real-time dashboards
- Generate and share custom reports with detailed and aggregated delivery information
- Export key financial metrics into spreadsheets or accounting software
- Set automatic billing periods and customize invoices based on internal data management protocols
A carefully developed and managed blend of the right people, doing the right things, with the right tools gives you tremendous control over your courier program. Aligning people, process, and technology reduces uncertainty, saves time, and relieves you of what were once necessary but onerous tasks associated with the operational aspects of internal and external logistics. MMS Courier in partnership with e-courier has done the heavy lifting so you can focus on doing things right for the patients, customers, and clients who are counting on you to do just that.
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