Below you can find a great example of how collaboration with our customers facilitated rapid development and quick iterations of the Sixfold product. In light of the current fast-changing situation with Covid-19 in Europe we were able to release a set of new features to our customers. You can find more details in our announcement letter below.
The current situation in Europe
Covid-19 counts keep increasing in many countries, affecting both private and economic aspects of our lives. Many companies are actively taking on the responsibility to support society's efforts and have started important initiatives to cope with this situation.
The first step for us at Sixfold was to start working exclusively from home (as of Thursday last week) – thus contributing to protect not only our employees but mainly people around us who are at risk.
At the same time, this exceptional situation has inspired us to gather our team into a virtual room and put our minds to work: how can we do our part and support you – our customers – get through this situation? How can we visualize all the crucial visibility information on our platform for you, helping you to take the right actions at the right time?
Your challenges and how Sixfold supports you
You are most likely experiencing many changes within your companies: measures to protect employees and our society on the one hand, but also an increased pressure through unexpected and volatile production and transport volumes. Maybe you are already noticing the global slowdown of the economy and have reduced your output due to a lack of personnel or raw materials. This weekend, we have heard many of these stories as customers were proactively reaching out to us. And they are not only affecting goods manufacturers but also transport companies around the world. They are facing big challenges: carrier shortages through quarantines and border queues, paired with unpredictable volatile demand – leading to critical underloads for some of the companies.
We at Sixfold realized that there is one feature that is particularly beneficial in this situation. It had been on our road map before, but in the light of the current events and the many messages we received from all of you, our team put their heads together (figuratively, not literally, as we are maintaining social distance) during the weekend to get it ready for you here and now. We want to give you as much oversight and control as possible, showing you the global real-time situation of your transports; nation- and Europe-wide.
This is your chance to evaluate the situation at a glance and get detailed insights into your critical transports; whether they are inbound and essential to keeping up your production, or whether they are outbound to your customers (who, more than ever, depend on accurate tracking information).
The new interactive Sixfold Map view
What to expect? The new “Tracking” filter helps you get a quick global view of all your ongoing transports. You will find all locations on a map, color-coded with the current transport status. You can now easily keep an eye on your critical transports, e.g. in areas in the vicinity of national borders.
Advanced filtering to keep an eye on where it matters
From global to local – it is essential to be able to quickly move away from the full picture and focus on an area of interest. Country filters make it possible to dive into areas that experience most changes due to Covid-19 measures. Instead of worrying about constantly changing situations, you can quickly analyze the situation and make an informed decision – based on facts and figures, keeping insecurity and randomness out of your organization.
Dive into an individual transport to understand what’s going on
Full transparency down to the individual transport is right at your hand – just pick a dot on the map and you will see the details of the transit journey. You will be able to grasp the circumstances in a few seconds and react accordingly. We will additionally be highlighting the periods where the vehicle was standing still during the transit – giving you the chance to anticipate unforeseen waiting times (border queues, longer unloading times due to understaffed docks & safety regulations, etc).
What's next?
The situation is unpredictable for all of us. However, our customers have been able to give us the most valuable insights during the last few days. We are grateful for your constant feedback, which made it possible for us to release our small contribution in this difficult situation. We are continuing our current initiative and are closely monitoring the daily changes on the transport market. Whether it concerns increased health and safety measures, border closures, or changes in the driving regulations (rest times and driving bans), we are ready to react to these changes as quickly as possible and to provide you with the best service possible.
We will maintain close contact with all of you and are always grateful if you reach out to us with further feedback and ideas. Over the coming weeks, we will keep analyzing the data on our platform in the context of the Covid-19 situation, and share the most meaningful trends and insights with you.