Interview with our CEO Barry Colman – Redefining the way we capture field data

In your opinion, what is the highlight of your offering?

XY Locate redefines route planning and optimisation for fleets, allowing dynamic provisioning based on real time data . XY Locate makes the invisible visible. The XY Platform provides a new level of functionality and flexibility to anyone running a fleet or mobile workforce of any sort , as our XY Mobility App seamlessly manages customer interaction in real time . The XY platform and products have been extensively field tested in various geographies and are now rapidly expanding into Europe .

What is the story behind XY Locate’s genesis? Can you introduce us to XY Locate and the 3PL solutions you offer?

Our Planning and Mobility software heritage goes back more than 20 Years, where our initial focus was helping companies make intelligent operational and workforce decisions using location and GPS data, it quickly evolved in complexity as we developed a suite of products for various industry verticals , and this necessitated our  rebrand and relaunch as XY Locate in 2019 .

Our extensive experience in driving mobility solutions , combined with formidable cloud technologies as taken our solutions to the next level. Our  “XY Locate” solution provides real time, deep insights into key business processes and functions, driving efficiencies and cost optimisation. The XY platform is more than just a track and trace product, it’s an end-to-end visibility solution, with the ability to track, manage and monitor any asset in any environment in real time. XY doesn’t just focus on the last mile, it covers the whole journey, from planning to execution backed up with analytics.

Could you mention some of the current trends in 3PL technology, and how has XY Locate translated those technology trends into its solutions and offerings?

Our growth is driven by us offering a flexible robust solution that can be fully operational in the shortest possible time and rapidly scalable. We move quickly as  logistics environments  today are complex and fast moving.  Our planning, optimising and executing of tasks in the field has helped transform the final mile. Operations Managers need to make data-driven, smart decisions on the fly , quickly . First time delivery success rates are a must and to achieve this a solution needs provide real time analytics and reporting.

We pride ourselves on speed & accuracy , so any coordinates added to the XY System will have accuracy to the nearest 1 metre , and supported by our address cleansing functionality we can ensure  unrivalled delivery success rates!

Optimising assets is key to driving efficiencies and costs down for any organisation.  Real time dashboards and reporting tools are essential to ensure these efficiencies are met and monitored. XY Locate provide these tools, whilst being flexible enough to tailor our solution to meet our customers specific needs. Our “Planned vs Actual” reporting is a powerful management tool to look back and review success rates. System integrations is a hot topic , with management wanting a “single integrated view” of their world. Our system API’s are fully documented so we can help our customers seamlessly move data between systems, which again is a huge benefit to addressing complexities within their  logistics environment .

I see that you offer analytics, locate, control, and mobility solutions. Can you kindly take us through how does that help your clients strengthen their 3PL strategies?

No one customer is the same , as they all have different needs & expectations , and we excel in delivering to bespoke requirements , quickly . The XY Locate system  architecture allows us to finely tune & customise our system to ensure our solution is an 100% fit for our customers needs. We have an “off the shelf offering” with Enterprise Features as a standard,  but our strengths truly lie in ensuring a customer is getting all the finer details and requirements to fulfil their business needs.

Considering no two companies are the same, what are the strategies employed by XY Locate to thwart the market competition and what according to you are the distinct features/differentiating factors of XY Locate that give it a competitive edge?

XY Locate has three USP’s as a Company. These are our flexibility, knowledge and elicitation. We have been building extremely flexible and customisable mobility platforms for over 20 Years, so our knowledge and desire to understand and deliver customer requirements is vital in our approach to success. We like to listen to these requirements, understand them, implement them, tweak them, improve them and support them. With our three USP’s partnered with dedicated support, continuous improvement & development, we see ourselves as an extension to a customer’s IT Department as opposed to a supplier!

To bring out the story, share one or two case studies with us wherein your organization has helped clients overcome their challenges in the 3PL arena and attain desired outcomes?

Ecolab , a Global food safety company that specialise in water treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene in a wide variety of applications are one of our customers. The solutions they reviewed before XY didn’t give them the flexibility to adapt to changing dynamics  based on their business needs. A bespoke mobile application was key to their requirements. Our fully customised Mobile App templates gave XY the edge in this project from inception. Our solution was tailored to Ecolab’s specific needs. Their fleet is an integral part of their daily operation and XY has given them the ability to know where their vehicles are at all times , and where the driver is scheduled to be next, massively  improving customer service and satisfaction. Our  real live time tracking and geo locating functionality , incorporated with dynamic ETA’s , our sign on glass electronic POD & barcode scanning functionality has given Ecolab the ability to seamlessly support customer enquiries. Ecolab are able to use the system reporting to prove the success with solid data! The XY Locate Platform also collects driver feedback from Ecolab customers as well as sending live tracking details directly via email, all branded for Ecolab.

Would you like to highlight any other interesting insight for the story that we might have missed out in the questionnaire?

We are keen technologists at XY Locate. Our Cloud Based SaaS Platform is ever evolving, and we consider ourselves at the forefront of technology. Our industry vertical expands beyond logistics, where we are using our flexible XY Platform to deliver solutions based around IOT Devices. We are actively working on projects such as providing real time updates on waste levels within a refuse container,  to the exact location of seaweed beds for ocean farming!