Regional LTL carrier improves service and profits by managing key operating indicators and adopting flexible technologies.

The 26 terminals operated by Benton Express may be physically spread out among six Southeastern states, but that’s not how Mark Headrick sees them. As director of information technology for the Atlanta-based regional less-than-truckload carrier, Headrick thinks in terms of the facilities’ ability to communicate and act as a unified enterprise.

“From a technology standpoint, we don’t have different cities and states, but different floors in the same building,” Headrick says.

For example, Benton Express recently completed installation of a voice-over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone system at all its terminals. The system gives Benton Express significant communication benefits, including the ability of terminals to contact each other and headquarters by punching just five buttons – as if they were in the same building.

VoIP connectivity among facilities saves time and communication costs, but the real benefit for Benton Express is improved customer service. One of Headrick’s major projects today is integrating VoIP into the customer support center in the Atlanta headquarters. Once fully implemented, a centralized customer care operation will be able to work with each terminal – again, as though they were in the same building.

In the past, a customer might call the terminal for a special rate quote or other information that only could be supplied by headquarters. That often meant giving the customer another number to call. And once the customer obtained the necessary information, he might have to call the terminal back to tender the load. That’s three phone calls. With VoIP technology, these could be seamless transfers – and the agent at the terminal could stay on the line with the customer the whole time.

“If you make it so easy for customers, they will come back again and again,” Headrick says. That’s important for any trucking company, and especially one that commits as its slogan to the promise: “We Do It Right The First Time.”