Colombiana de Comercio is a Colombian business group with business units including: Corbeta, Ktronix, Alkomprar Kalley, AKT and Alkosto. The latter is among the top 5 retailers in Colombia with its hyper-warehouse format. In the technology category, it is the number 1 in the country.
Currently, they have 60 stores and a total of +500 own and outsourced vehicles, their logistics network is composed of motorcycles to tractor-trailer type vehicles.
Its operation is based on three models: first, supply in its distribution centers; second, movement of CeDis to stores and product nodes to bring large merchandise closer to its customers; and finally, the last mile process. In this way, the company leverages its entire operation to reach its customers more efficiently, making it a robust network.
UNIGIS TMS, the strategy of an expansion project
Due to the company’s projected growth and expansion, the tools that currently support its operation were no longer having the scope they needed for freight management and fleet control, which meant a high degree of demand for manual tasks.
Thus, Colcomercio was looking for an integral suite that was both robust and scalable, allowing them to access more functionalities from a single platform.
Cerca Technology as an implementation partner and UNIGIS TMS as a tool.
The company evaluated 100% of the transportation ecosystem in order to identify the current and future functionalities they would need in the operation to continue maintaining their value proposition. In this way, they began the search for references, trends and functionalities present in the transportation software market, which led them to meet the Cerca – UNIGIS duo.
The UNIGIS TMS is a modular platform for the administration and management of transportation, ranging from planning, real-time traceability of the operation, fleet management, third parties and transportation resources to the management of rates and freight. One of the functionalities that most attracted the company’s attention was the ease of carrying out an adequate management of the legal documentation of carriers and vehicles to operate in accordance with current regulations, as well as the integration of the RNDC with the Ministry of Transportation.
Other functionalities they highlighted were the suite’s comprehensiveness and the focus on last mile management, as it will allow them to increase efficiency in the face of time, cost and delivery experience challenges, and they highlighted the benefits of having a tracking module. Finally, they highlighted the support, experience and authority of Cerca Technology throughout the process.
Colcomercio identified the following advantages of the UNIGIS TMS.
First, total visibility of freight is achieved. The comprehensive vision of the tool allows control with different inputs, such as kilometers traveled, costs, fleet control in terms of documentation expiration, alerts for all legal issues, among others.
Second, the automation in the generation of manifests through the integration of the RNDC (Registro Nacional De Carga) for Colombia, which as of August requires the generation of regional manifests and greater control over shipments. Having this in the system facilitates the process, providing more transparency, fluidity and avoiding manual errors.
This is how the company’s transportation operation is visualized with the TMS.
The company’s strategy is to have the best tools in its niche, i.e., at this moment its objective is to have the best Order Management System (OMS), Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Transportation Management System (TMS) in its operation.
We know that the retail sector is one of the most competitive. The speed of growth of the digital market is great, so our client’s goal is to improve the user experience and the UNIGIS TMS is one of the keys to achieve it. In this first stage, the business group has defined to start the project by betting on the integration of Fleet modules (fleet management, rates and freight management), Transport Portal (assignment of trips to third parties) and Yard Management (management and control of docks and yards). It expects to continue with the activation of more modules according to projected growth.
“We were looking for a system that would allow us to access more functionality in the future without the need to implement or integrate other software. That is why UNIGIS TMS caught our attention, we know it will support the growth of our operation and above all, our corporate strategy. We highlight Cerca Technology’s closeness and support throughout the process of advice and implementation” Roger Arboleda- Logistics Director at Alkosto.
“We want to take on this challenge in which through UNIGIS TMS we can not only automate and generate efficiencies in the process of transport administration and freight management, but also accompany them in the digitization of their entire transport process through a complete and comprehensive solution. We look forward to working hand in hand so that Colcomercio continues to strengthen its business lines and improve the level of service to its customers” Carolina Garzon – TMS Digital Transformation Leader.
