Optimizing Operations: A Complete Guide to Dispatch Management in 2024

Dispatch management is the process of sending people to specific locations to complete specific tasks. The task could be a delivery, a sales visit, or a field service call — whatever it is, it’s a dispatch manager’s job to make sure that the right people and tools get where they need to be, when they need to be there. Software solutions that offer optimal route planning and real-time data can help achieve efficient dispatch management, no matter how big or small the company.

For example, at Empire Office Furniture the team often handles large, complex orders that include fitouts for multi-floor buildings. Their IT manager Greg Barnett told us “it’s rare for our delivery drivers to simply drop off furniture at a customer’s doorstep. They have to actually go into the building.” Empire’s team used Routific to work out a dispatch management system that ensures staff have all the information they need, including travel times, schematics and building plans, and customer instructions.

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It’s possible to do all this planning with a whiteboard, a large map and a spreadsheet. Many people still use Google Maps to plan delivery and service routes. But that’s a time-consuming way to run a dispatch process, and it’s hard to scale. When Empire started landing larger contracts, their planner couldn’t keep up. Relying so heavily on one person also wasn’t sustainable for the business. With Routific, the team was able to streamline their workflow, improve their lead time by five days — and finally take vacations!

In this post, we’ll highlight the key trends that are emerging in field service management, dispatch management and delivery management, and look at how dispatch management software can help.

Top trends affecting dispatch management in 2024

These stories highlight some of the key trends that are emerging in field service management, dispatch management and delivery management:

Rising customer expectations and changes in consumer behavior

Retail e-commerce sales continue to climb steadily. From just over $1 trillion in 2014, worldwide e-commerce sales are expected to top $8 trillion by 2027. That’s nearly 23% of all retail sales worldwide.

At the same time, consumers are getting more discerning. Look at consumer responses to PWC’s 2022 Global Consumer Insights Pulse Survey:

• 50% of people who responsed expect to do more shopping online.
• 41% will seek out retailers that provide efficient delivery or collection services, with on-time delivery and real-time updates being especially important.
• 36% want to buy from local retailers and small businesses.

Consumers also expect retailers and ecommerce providers to operate sustainably. A late 2022 survey found that 40-60% of consumers in the US and Europe expected online stores to offer carbon neutral deliveries, and 30-40% were willing to pay more for sustainable deliveries.

Pricing pressures and increased competition

Businesses in 2024 are facing pressure from two sides. Customers and consumers want stable prices in the face of high inflation; and a flood of new market entrants, especially in the local food delivery space, has increased competition. Overall, the size of the global last mile delivery market is expected to grow to more than 200 billion U.S. dollars in 2027, from 108.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2020.

Driver attrition and driver shortages

Delivery drivers are a critical part of the supply chain. But poor working conditions and low pay have forced a lot of drivers out of the industry, and retirements have only worsened the problem. The driver shortage and driver retention are by far the biggest problems identified in the US trucking industry.

Taken together, all these trends — customer expectations, price pressures and driver attrition — mean that tech-enabled dispatch management is more important than ever, for several reasons:

• Efficient dispatch operations lower operating costs and increase profitability. 
• Delivery operations that offer predictable, timely deliveries with accurate ETAs and real-time notifications provide a better customer experience.  
• Better route planning and route optimization help to reduce driver hours on the road and improve working conditions.

Why manual dispatch management doesn’t work in 2024

Experienced dispatch managers and delivery planners have amazing resources of skill and knowledge. Unfortunately, they’re in short supply — and as Empire Office Furniture discovered, even the most brilliant individual can’t keep up with the rapidly increasing demand for deliveries. And when it comes to the problem of how to optimize routes featuring dozens of stops, multiple vehicles, and ever-changing traffic patterns, no human can match the decision-making performance of a good routing algorithm.

Delivery and field service businesses are also at risk when they rely on manual routing processes. What happens when the person with all the knowledge needs to take a vacation, or gets sick, or gets a better offer from someone else? How does that person cope when demand doubles? Slow, inefficient processes inevitably lead to service breakdowns, late and missed deliveries and appointments, unhappy customers, and order cancellations — not to mention burned-out field technicians and drivers.

The benefits of dispatch management software

1. Lower costs

Less time on the road translates to lower fuel costs and less driver overtime. It also means less wear and tear on vehicles and lower fleet maintenance costs.

For example, when Peter Levitt merged two existing companies to create secure document destruction business IDS Autoshred, his biggest challenge was scheduling his fleet of trucks all over New Jersey. Drivers were doing their own routing and working a dangerous and unsustainable 12-14 hours per day.

Levitt started doing his route planning and dispatch management using Routific, with dramatic results. Business increased, but both total and unit costs came down. Here are the calculations he shared with us, comparing a three-month period in the years before and after he took over the business:

A 30% drop in gas costs while invoicing for 11% more in service calls is an impressive result by any standards!  

2. Less time spent planning

With a good dispatch management solution, a small team or individual can schedule dozens of service or delivery routes in minutes.   

3. More efficient routing

Route optimization means the same number of field service workers or delivery drivers can complete more stops in less time. This was the case at IDS Autoshred: Drivers spent less time on the road and got home earlier, even while making more stops each day. 

4. Increased driver satisfaction

Shorter working days, with less time on the road, make for improved working conditions and much better safety. Mobile apps can also help to streamline the delivery process and service operations, making it easier for drivers and dispatchers alike to adapt to last-minute changes. With driver empowerment identified as a key trend, anything that improves life for drivers gives a competitive advantage.

5. Better customer satisfaction

More accurate ETAs and time windows, along with automated notifications, help customers plan their days without disruption. In the case of deliveries, customers also love faster delivery time and features like photo proof of delivery.

For example, at Priority Appliances in Las Vegas, owner Jeremy Rohloff manages a team of six repair technicians which gets dozens of service calls every week. Some work orders require multiple visits, once to assess the repair and another to finish it once parts have arrived. The challenge is to prioritize the most urgent calls, while allocating the right technician to the right job. Rohloff’s team uses Routific to tag service calls with all the information its technicians need, leading to jobs that are successful first time, and more customer satisfaction.

6. More sustainable operations

Route optimization is good for the planet as well as profitability! Less gas use translates to lower CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions from burning fuel.

To sum up, in 2024 any business that’s making field service calls or deliveries should be using dispatch management software. At Routific, we think of it as being like putting on an Iron Man suit, adding all the benefits of automation and AI-powered route optimization to the dispatcher’s toolkit. It makes life easier, lowers costs, increases profitability, and lowers your carbon footprint into the bargain. What’s not to love? If you want to test the benefits for yourself, Routific is free to try for 7 days — no credit card needed!