March 25th, 2020 | Company news

Our response to the current crisis

During these uncertain times we’ve been working hard to find new ways to support our customers.

Last week the Realtime Despatch team switched to working from home. Customers should notice no difference, as we’re still using the same telephone numbers, have access to the same systems and are providing support on the exactly the same basis as before.

This situation is obviously evolving quickly and may require a quick response. We’re very used to commissioning new warehouse environments against tight deadlines. Our team is focused on helping e-tailers, distributors and 3PLs to meet the challenges that this pandemic presents, but also to take advantage of opportunities that the crisis offers.

None of us know exactly what will be required of us in the next few months. However, we have identified a few things that we hope will help our customers’ business and hopefully contribute to the wider efforts that we’ll all have to make.

Here’s how we’re looking to help:

Work that contributes directly to the relief effort will be done at cost or pro bono. Any billable work we do that relates directly to alleviating the crisis will be done at cost, and if our customers put their warehouse services at the disposal of any relief initiative on a pro bono basis, we will try to get involved in the same way.

Changes to courier selection logic required by couriers in response to the crisis will be made pro bono. For example, some carriers are already releasing details of specific countries and regions that they are no longer able to deliver to. We are not charging for the modifications that help our customers respond to this.

Reducing the working week for warehouse teams will be reflected in our licence fees. If a reduction in order volumes means our customers need to drop below a five day working week for a while, we’ll reflect this in our licence fees.

Keep in touch

We’re encouraging our customers to stay in touch, if it’s clear that they need to make changes quickly we’ll move fast to make it happen. We’re focusing on doing what we can to mitigate the fallout for customers who are struggling, but also on helping them to take advantage of any opportunities that arise from the current situation.