One of my favorite phones was the Motorola Startac – the first flip-phone introduced in 1996. The first iPhone was introduced 10 years later (June, 2007), and the first Android smartphone was sold in September, 2008. I loved my Startac (beam me up, Scotty). But now that I own and use both Apple and Android smart phones, I would never go back. However, some elderly relatives and drivers are still wed to their flip-phones. Why? They seem easy-to-use.
Most tow management software (TMS) offerings – especially Ranger – are “easy-to-use.” But is that criteria enough for choosing a solution that becomes the foundation for the future of your business? Is it better to have ease-of-use for dispatchers or to improve the revenue growth and profitability of your business? The good news: you don’t have to choose – with Ranger you get both: easy-to-use AND increased productivity/effectiveness for increased profitability (more calls per driver each month)–Simpler AND Smarter. Don’t settle for a “flip-phone TMS” – Ranger provides a “smart phone TMS” solution that you can grow into and never grow out of.
A few examples to illustrate the distinctions:
Job Entry
- Easy: Receive Digital Dispatches from Motor Clubs or enter customer information, incident address, and a call is ready to be dispatched.
- Effective (Smarter): … After account defaults auto-populate call information:
- Leverage Google Place look-up to further streamline location inputs.
- Use “Find Me” to locate “lost” customers using their smart phone.
- Pinpoint motorist location on the Ranger map and send these geo-coordinates to the driver on their Ranger mobile app for accurate navigation = shorter ETAs.
- Enter LP – Ranger returns VIN look-up detail, including year, make, and model.
Self-Service Job Entry by Customers
- Easy: Provide a web-based tool for frequent business users to enter requests.
- Effective (Smarter):
- Use Ranger’s toll-free phone number for local residents to use in an emergency.
- Stranded motorists enter call information and pictures that are forwarded to your dispatch for fast, reliable response to their request.
Pricing
- Easy: Manually enter a price from the rate sheet.
- Effective (Smarter): Ranger’s Pricing Factory
- Use pre-configured, account-specific pricing along with the appropriate Extras (and pricing) for consistency and pre-configure “price points” for cash calls.
- Modify pricing “on-the-fly“ as needed for weather conditions and/or driver availability.
- Handle complex recoveries requiring the alignment of services from multiple trucks with one or more invoices
- Manage remote HD repair with all the parts in the back of the truck as “Extras.”
- Automatically generate split invoices for motor club calls (isolating the amount to be paid by the customer).
- Control pricing visibility to the driver (disclose or not), and the driver’s role (modify charges or not).
- Prepare Quotes that can be emailed to a customer in advance.
- Since pricing is fully integrated with the Ranger mobile app, dispatchers don’t need to figure it out and send messages to the driver. The driver doesn’t need to figure it out. The Ranger TMS and mobile app do the heavy lifting.
Call Assignment to a Driver
- Easy: Select an Available driver that is nearby from the Dispatch Board
- Effective (Smarter): Ranger’s SmartDispatchTM
- Use the link from the Dispatch Board to reset the map for job assignment.
- SmartDispatchTM enables visual, drag & drop dispatch. Dispatchers can see ALL open jobs, and ALL available trucks, on ONE screen to make better deployment decisions — shortening ETAs and lowering fuel costs.
Messaging Drivers
- Easy: Forward call information to the driver’s mobile app (Android or Apple).
- Effective (Smarter): Ranger’s CommLinkTM mobile app
- Auto-confirm the driver has viewed the call assignment without phoning.
- Monitor whether the driver’s mobile device is connected (in coverage) AND whether the driver has granted needed permissions for communications (essential for Apple).
Messaging Motorists
- Easy: Send text confirmation message to customer.
- Effective (Smarter):
- Automatically trigger messages to the motorist (Enroute, approaching Arrived) along with a picture of the driver – to alleviate customer safety concerns.
- Send a satisfaction survey at the end of each call to gather immediate feedback on the customer experience and to address any unexpected issues.
- Optionally send an “Uber link” to the motorist to track progress of the truck.
Track Driver Location and Status
- Easy: Use a third-party GPS product to track location; mobile app tracks status.
- Effective (Smarter): Ranger’s fully-integrated MapTrackTM
- Use Ranger’s tracking / mapping solution with 15 different truck icons (truck type) and on-map indicator for PTO “On” and duration.
- View Dashboards to check truck speed & idling; get alerts for possible fraud & theft.
Collect Payments On-Scene
- Easy: Collect cash, and use a third-party app (e.g., Square) for credit cards.
- Effective (Smarter): Integrated Credit Card processing in Ranger’s mobile app
- Pre-authorize credit cards at Arrived (or before by dispatcher), validating the card for subsequent payment at CLEAR.
- Complete the process with manual CC entry or BT chip reader (payment to Invoice).
- Use Driver Check-out process to ensure money gets to the office safe.
Review Truck Travel History
- Easy: View truck “bread-crumb trails” with replay.
- Effective (Smarter):
- Generate State Mileage reports; review activity logs (e.g., hard braking/cornering).
- Identify drivers that may be “moonlighting” with Stop Reports.
Accounting
- Easy: Generate/email Invoices; forward Invoices to Quickbooks for accounting
- Effective (Smarter): Proven accounting capabilities in Ranger
- Use Ranger for invoicing, generating/emailing Statements, aging, payments
- And/or send Invoices AND Payments to QB (optionally apply payments in QB)
Commissions
- Easy: Calculation of driver (percentage) commissions by job
- Effective (Smarter): Commissions by job and by driver (for tenure, skills)
- Differentiated by day of the week and shift
- Flexibility for flat dollar amounts per job, and exclusion of selected Extras (e.g., fuel)
Storage / Impound-Lot Management
- Easy: Track vehicles in the storage lot, calculate current pricing, flag Police Holds, and generate lien letters
Effective (Smarter): Ranger’s LotMasterTM …. integrated with Auto Data Direct
- Ongoing picture-taking, and easy physical inventory management of vehicles by placing inexpensive “QR Codes” on vehicles to create an electronic tag that can be scanned for periodic comparisons to records in Ranger
- Workflow Management to track progress against process milestones – e.g., lien letter sent, newspaper notice placed
Private-Property Enforcement – Relocation
- Easy: respond to requests for tow from Property Managers
- Effective (Smarter): Ranger’s PatrolWorksTM with Spotter app and Rules Engine
- Incorporating parent/child account structures – Corporations to Properties to Lots
- Configuring specific requirements by lot by violation (e.g., grace periods, tagging, approval requirements)
- Deploying the special app to record/update violations – for use by company spotters in a personal vehicle, a company driver in a tow truck, a third-party enforcement agency patrolling in their own vehicles, or even self-service by property managers
- Using the built-in “Rules Engine” to determine the readiness to tow a vehicle with one or more violations, including:
- Checking policies for compliance with property requirements
- Automatic sending of approval requests to the designated Property Manager on their mobile device
Scheduling for Transport and Heavy Hauling
- Easy: Set a future date in call-taking, then add call to the Dispatch Board on that date
- Effective (Smarter): Ranger’s TransportOpsTM for transporting construction equipment, moving containers, and relocating automobiles for auction
- Plan/schedule loads for the next day (or “next week”) by truck and by driver
- In late afternoon, trigger advance notices to drivers – sent automatically by Ranger to each driver on their personal smart phone (and updates as needed)
- Automatically dispatch assignments to the driver’s Ranger mobile app the next morning at login, eliminating morning congestion in dispatch
- Enable drivers to enter and track multi-task jobs on the mobile app (load, pick-up, drop-off), that are recorded with the job record and printed on the invoice
- Identify emerging issues before they become major problems (e.g., a driver that has overslept)
Services Agreement
- Easy: No contract
- Effective (Smarter): A Services Agreement that outlines the responsibility of the TMS provider, particularly continued access to the software if you choose to switch
Adding high productivity/effectiveness to “easy-to-use” is necessary but not sufficient.
The Numbers Must Be Right. Ranger is more than a spreadsheet that allows changes to any number, by anyone, whenever it suits. Ranger is easy-to-use, but with an emphasis on accounting accuracy, including process “guardrails” to prevent unintended errors, user permissions for alignment with responsibilities, and audit trails.
Reliability is Essential. Uptime is often an afterthought until the system is not working. Ranger has more experience in successfully operating a completely “cloud-based” tow management solution than anyone else – over 15 years of “lessons learned” – eliminating the “glitches” that others are still discovering. Ranger invests heavily for reliability/uptime. The solution is hosted in a secure commercial data center with redundant internet, power, and cooling. All data is backed up nightly. Ranger even has a disaster recovery solution in place for added protection.
Will an easy-to-use “flip-phone TMS” suffice? NOT for the longer-term success of your business. Choose the “smart phone TMS” — Ranger SST — advanced technology for superior performance. If you are looking to grow your top and bottom lines, give us a call and let us put Ranger Service Solutions Technology to work for you!
