Speaker: Brian A., Owner, Allor Outdoor Services
Why did you choose OptimoRoute?
Brian A.: Hello, my name is Brian, owner of Allor Outdoor Services. We are a lawn and snow maintenance provider in the Detroit, Michigan area. We've been using OptimoRoute I think for about four or five years now. Originally we just came across the program, decided we'd try it out and it's worked quite well for us. The big thing for us is being able to schedule our crews and give them real time updates for changes throughout the day for their routes and their jobs.
How did you manage route planning before?
Brian A.: Prior to using the OptimoRoute, we were still living in the old ages of a pen and paper and there'd be some text messages obviously and a list of addresses printed out, addresses for our drivers. They would, then we would trust them I guess to then put the addresses in their phones in proper order to be able to go service the houses. Prior to us starting to use OptimoRoute we were only taking care of maybe, I don't know, 100 or 200 houses on a weekly basis or private addresses. We're up around 600 or 700 now. Without OptimoRoute, we'd be pretty lost - obviously trying to do that with a pen and paper is just not feasible. So it's really allowed us to kind of grow. The biggest thing for us is being able to see where our crews are at and allowing us to change as needed the routes in real time.
How has OptimoRoute helped you?
Brian A.: And with regards to how OptimoRoute has helped our business - I think the obvious: routing, being able to schedule our crews has been the biggest, benefit. We used to sit there and pinpoint address by address, everywhere our crews need to go. Now being able to copy and paste all the addresses into the program and hit the button and have the system route everywhere. And then obviously the ease of our crews being able to, our drivers being able to get out there and just push a button on their phones and be able to map themselves from one place to the next. As we all know, labor is at a premium right now and good labor is even harder to find. So kind of taking a lot of the guesswork out of where our crews are being scheduled and where they're going has really helped. It's taking the guesswork from our drivers out of their hands and put it kind of in an app for them to use. It's really made things a lot easier as far as updating on a daily or minutely basis if something changes and being able to add notes for our drivers to see for specific nuances that each individual address might need. Again, we're a lawn and snow maintenance provider. So, you know, if there is a gate code or, you know, a note that we need to be made aware of - we're able to communicate with our crews without having to put it in text message or call them. It's all right there in the app for them to see.
How important are speed and flexibility for your business?
Brian A.: Speed and flexibility are very important with the way we operate. We are a snow removal provider in the winter time. We've got 20 trucks out on the road and being able to make changes and updates to them in real time is absolutely critical for us. One driver falls behind on their route - we're able to take some jobs off their route, add them to the other guy and it works seamlessly without having to make a bunch of updates and calls and text messages to our crews. Being able to have the flexibility of just instantly changing where they're going and notes specific to the jobs is critical for us.
