Everyone seems to recognize that COVID years are like dog years. The challenges and uncertainties of the last several years have exposed a number of concerns about the functionality and continued appropriateness of one of the most critical tools used in the school transportation department: the routing software. As a result, many managers are wondering whether it is time to consider something else.
Here at EZRouting, we know breaking up can be hard to do, and while there may be fifty ways to leave your lover, in this article we are going to discuss five reasons to leave your vendor as well as five ways in which EZRouting can help with this transition.
EZRouting makes finding a new routing provider easy! To see how, watch the webinar below with Sam and Bob Stone, account executives for EZRouting, and Tim Ammon, transportation consultant and co-founder of Decision Support Group.
Our customer service team hears from districts around the country wondering about how to address concerns about the capabilities and capacity of their current vendors. We have distilled the comments down to the following five critical reasons why districts consider changing routing software platforms. What is most interesting is that it is almost never about features and is nearly always about the failure to recognize or support the specific needs of the individual district. Our top five are:
1. The vendor never delivered on the promised service.
Districts purchase routing software with the expectation that it will be the enterprise tool for managing transportation. Oftentimes, though, the sale is based on features and functionality that are at best helpful, but not necessary. The failure of vendors to execute seamlessly on core functionality diminishes the value of the purchase and confidence in the product.
2. The software proves to be difficult, more time-consuming, more resource-intensive, and more confusing to use or implement than was explained during the sales process.
There are times when we either inherit software that is foreign to us, or purchase something only to realize using it is difficult. The user interface matters a lot. There will be no return on investment on software which is too difficult to implement because it will not get used.
3. Mystery invoices and being charged for equipment you already paid for.
Technology changes, and sometimes this makes changes necessary in our fleet. For example, your GPS may need to be upgraded due to a change at the carrier level. Are you being asked to pay for this? Did you plan for it? Is your billing transparent? Does your vendor charge for licenses?
4. Customer care isn’t what it used to be.
If you notice a drop in customer care with a vendor you’ve worked well with in the past, it may be an indication of other issues at the company. If your issues aren’t being resolved in a timely manner, it’s perfectly reasonable to find out how your colleagues at other districts are doing with their vendors.
5. The vendor has failed to adapt to your needs, or your needs have outrun the vendor’s capabilities.
The only thing changing more quickly than technology is the requirements for our operations. COVID has taught us that flexibility is the new order of the day. If your vendor isn’t changing with the times by offering expanding services, it’s reasonable to look elsewhere.
Our customers have also told us that there are some critical defining characteristics of EZRouting that lead them to switch. Interestingly, most of these things are focused on shortening the window between the decision to purchase and the ability to effectively use the product. We are often told, “We bought the software to use it, not to spend time figuring out how to make it work!”
The five things that we hear most frequently that make EZRouting one of the easiest products on the market to use include:
1. You make it easy for me to replicate my system in EZRouting, part 1: If you already have your routes established and want to keep them the same, no problem.
In fact, any data which you currently have can be imported into our software. This includes students, stops, routes, vehicles, boundaries, and staff. With EZRouting, we can import routes directly into our system, and our transition team will help with the process!
2. You make it easy for me to replicate my system in EZRouting, part 2: Sometimes the routes you run are not necessarily the routes you have drawn, especially during COVID.
If you have a tablet or GPS, we can skip the import of the routes you are not running and just bring in what it is you are doing. There isn’t a lot of reason to match planned versus actual if we know the plan isn’t working. We let you focus on actually using the software to actually manage your routes.
3. Change is inevitable and in EZRouting we make modeling that change easy.
Use our Sandbox Mode to manage the myriad changes associated with COVID or to just see if there might be a better way. In our sandbox mode, we have an auto-generate routes function that will give you options based on the parameters you set. From there, it’s as simple as click-and-drag to change the directions of the route. Along with this, we can change pick-up locations to curbside pick-ups.
The sandbox gives you the freedom to use your imagination. If you’ve considered making changes to your routes but have been reluctant to try it out, the sandbox is a safe place to try anything you want. Think of it as your laboratory for transportation.
4. Manage your time in evaluating options rather than wasting it in setting up scenarios.
EZRouting offers a vast array of automation. We can edit massive amounts of information at the same time. There is a huge difference in data and data you can act on. We have many existing fields which can be edited and an unlimited number of fields that can be added. In addition, we also offer custom fields.
Because of this, your ability to filter is limited only by your imagination. We even added a naughty or nice filter for our Christmas webinar. Suppose you want to see all your students who are not routed, and attend a certain school, and in a particular grade. For example, all third graders, who aren’t routed and also attend Martins Mill ISD. Three clicks of the mouse and you’re there. A few more clicks and they are all assigned to a bus.
5. Keep your software in the cloud and your feet on the ground.
EZRouting is cloud-based and built for remote and distributed environments. We know transportation departments do not get lots of IT support, so we have made it simple to access, use, secure, and manage your routing technology.
Our licensing structure means you don’t have to figure out whether it is “worth it” to add someone else to the product because we offer unlimited licensing. You also control access levels for anyone and everyone in the system. We know it is your data and it should be your decision who accesses it, as well as when, where, and how they do so.
With EZRouting, you are both in charge and in control of your system.
In addition to the ease of transitioning, EZRouting makes operating easy with our true calendar-based routing. When considering new software, it’s natural to think about the immediate future, but there are also future operations to consider.
In talking with clients, one of the things we hear most often is “the routing system should be easy to use.” It is.
If you can book a hotel room online, then you can put together a transportation plan with EZRouting. In a matter of days, one of our account executives was able to teach another one how to route. In under a week, every student was assigned to a route. This was accomplished through a variety of methods, including batch edits, auto-generating routes, and working with other features in the system to ensure all students were assigned to a route.
At EZRouting, we understand the reasons you may want to seek a new provider, and our goal is to make that transition as painless as possible. Learn more or request a demo.
