Contxto – Many of us realize that constant iteration and feature testing is essential for startups to be successful. Keeping this in mind, it’s no surprise why the Chilean business delivery platform SimpliRoute is on top of its game by constantly implementing new elements.
In an interview with Contxto, SimpliRoute’s Marketing Director Alonso Olate Figueroa discussed some of the upcoming perks customers can soon expect. He also spoke with me about satisfying clients’ needs and releasing new updates every two weeks to improve its delivery service.
For businesses needing to deliver goods in a timely manner, SimpliRoute is the go-to option. With clients such as Walmart, Unilever, Televisa and Ripley, the company is not far away from winning over Latin America.
Barcode and QR readers
As its customer base continues to grow and more packages need to be delivered, the margin for human error also increases. When a company has too many packages to deliver, the possibility of a mixup becomes highly probable.
To avoid mistakes during delivery, SimpliRoute came up with new barcode and QR code features. For added reassurance, these allow drivers to verify that they’re delivering the correct goods to the correct person.
“What we did was give the tool through our application to the driver so that they could do that validation directly over the app with an intelligent barcode reader,” said Olate.
The great thing about this feature is that it’s easy to use. From the beginning, SimpliRoute wanted the codes to make life easier rather than more difficult for those making deliveries. As of today, barcode readers are available among every partner.
If customers want to start using it, they just need to contact support and tell them to add it to their service subscription. The best thing is, there’s no additional cost.
Following the community announcement, more companies have signed up for the update, such as Unilever.
Live package monitoring
Another new feature that’s coming up for SimpliRoute’s clients is live package monitoring. End customers will soon have the liberty of knowing the location of their delivery. All of this will be achievable through a link to check delivery status.
According to Olate, SimpliRoute wants “to replicate the experience of Ubereats or Rappi. Any client that works with us, can generate tracking codes.” Although this feature is still in the beta stages, you can expect the official release in a few months.
Optimization of operations
From my observation, SimpliRoute’s customer satisfaction seems to have no limit. For example, the startup is now working on improving its algorithms to create a better customer experience.
“We definitely have a lot of data, such as GPS data on delivery behavior, like whether or not drivers meet the schedule they are scheduled for,” said Olate. “Our next step is making good use of this information for other customers.”
Along those lines, SimpliRoute seems capable of learning from its operations and now ready to take the next step. In fact, there’s a neuroscience team working specifically on making this process of algo-optimization a reality.
“The team is developing machine learning algorithms to predict and learn different things like street speed and update traffic times within different cities,” added Olate. “This will make our algorithms smarter since they will learn from themselves constantly.”
SimpliRoute focuses on innovation
Currently, SimpliRoute’s marketing team is working on making the platform a 100 percent online service. As a whole, its vision is to sell the software as easily as getting a Netflix subscription.
“Being able to ask for a demo is a plus, just enter your credit card information and hire immediately,” commented Olate.
“But in Latin America, we still have the culture that when companies hire software, they want to have direct contact with the salesperson and a more formal process.”
Nevertheless, SimpliRoute is looking to challenge this.
In the near future
Currently, SimpliRoute is on its Series A funding round. The company expects to be done with this by the beginning of next year. Over time, this will allow the startup to continue pursuing its expansion plans. As of today, the startup has offices in Chile, Mexico, as well as Peru.
However, new offices in Colombia and Argentina are other possibilities. Additionally, previous investments will go towards SimpliRoute’s goal of expanding to the United States.
-CZ
