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An original scenario

Riccardo Bocci — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:34:54 +0000

Here at Viamente we like to think we have developed a tool which is not only efficient, but also flexible enough to provide for the most varied usage scenarios. The following story proves how the Viamente Route Planner can be successfully adopted even by unconventional Users.

It is true that most of our Users are professional dispatchers and field service team leaders who need to route multiple vehicles on a daily basis. They need to make their fleets/teams efficient, maximizing the results of their mobile workforce while cutting costs and reducing the planning effort.

But the same need for efficiency can become critical, if only once a year, even for an unexpected User like an elementary school.

Liz Shayne, interim Head of School at The Schoolhouse Learning Centre, an independent Vermont elementary school, had a problem and was looking for a solution: “We stumbled upon the Viamente Route Planner when we were desperately looking for a simpler way to map the driving routes for a Mother’s Day Fundraiser our school does every fall — selling, assembling and delivering (door-to-door) over 500 individual “brunch bags” as gifts to loved ones, friends and colleagues”.

She needed to serve as many waypoints as possible with limited resources: a real logistics problem.

“Finding Viamente was a really lucky stumble”, she continued. “We were thrilled that we could cut many, many, many hours off of our mapping and planning (disposing of paper maps and freeing up at least 6 adults for other tasks)”. The Route Planner gave Liz not only optimal routes, but also the chance to reassign her resources to other important issues.

One of the things Liz and her team appreciated the most, was the intuitive drag & drop feature for modifying assignments manually: “It was extremely easy for us to use and flexible enough for us to make last minute changes. We were able to map efficient and reasonable routes for all 20 of our drivers and successfully made over 500 people smile.”

A Viamente Story

Riccardo Bocci — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:58:56 +0000

“When we received Kate’s letter, we were deeply touched and happy that our software had been able to help her build Routes and assignments for her non-profit project for low-income, first generation college-bound students.” says Antonio Perini, Viamente CEO.

Kate’s story is a story of successful optimization of Routes and resources, serving a particularly noble cause.

Kate Hiester, Career Pathway Program Manager at Eastside College Preparatory School (a non-profit Northern California school, run entirely on donations) needed a flexible tool for her career-orientation event. The event, aimed at familiarizing students with possible careers after they graduate, saw high school seniors shadowing for a day over 60 professionals in 27 businesses around the Bay Area. Most students did not drive, so they needed to be transported to destination in 6 school vans.

“The company sites ranged from the Presidio in SF to San Jose, and we had just enough seats to accommodate the students. I was not sure that I could get them all where they needed to be while still fitting into their hosts’ schedules” said Kate.

Then she found Viamente.

“I chose Viamente because it is intuitive” continued Kate. “It works the way I’d design it. It was easy to import all the information and have it plan the routes for me. I was able to compare multiple scenarios within the first few hours of use, helping me settle on the best approach”. Of course there were also special considerations which came up after she had started planning and modifications needed to be done. Kate said that without Viamente she would have probably lost the day adjusting all the Routes, whereas with the Drag & Drop function she was able to solve the problem and send out the corrected Routes to the Drivers within the hour.

“I do want to thank you for creating a really great product!” concluded Kate. “It has been invaluable in my planning. I can’t really imagine another way I could have planned for 44 students to get to 27 different companies in 6 vans within 90 minutes. :) Truly amazing.”

Viamente goes Down Under!

Riccardo Bocci — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:06:53 +0000

We are proud to announce that Viamente, the easiest Fleet Route Planner ever, is now ready to help Fleet Managers, Field Service Team Leaders and Drivers plan optimal Route Plans in Australia too!

The maps of Australia are finally available and Viamente’s network of satisfied Users (thousand Drivers and Managers worldwide use its online/mobile product every day) is bound to expand even more.

Thanks to Viamente’s flexible monthly subscription system and its full-featured Free Trial, Users can immediately verify the benefits of the only web-based Route Planner which allows even Smaller Fleets to take advantage of a superior Routing engine at an affordable price.

For the benefit of our Aussie Users, let’s see what are the advantages they will get when they create their Free Account.

The Viamente Route Planner intuitively displays Work Orders and Drivers on a map and suggests the Smartest Multi-stop Routes and which vehicle should serve which location. The optimal Scheduled Sequences of Stops are calculated by proprietary algorithms on the basis of the Constraints set by Users (Driving Times, Service Times, Time Windows, required Driver’s Skills and Load Capacity are the most important ones).

All this computation is done automatically and in seconds, making the Multi-vehicle Planning and Dispatching process easy and effortless.

So what are you waiting? Hop on board and create a Free Account!

Viamente launches Self-Provisioning Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for Routing Optimization.

Riccardo Bocci — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:15:09 +0000

Small and Medium Fleets are served. Viamente, the easiest Fleet Route Planner ever, brings to the Routing Optimization industry the same disruptive innovation that has revolutionized CRM: Self-Provisioning SaaS.

Historically, small and medium businesses rarely adopted Routing Optimization tools because of excessive complexity and inaccessible prices. Thanks to the technological revolution of Location Intelligence, Viamente fills the gap with an intuitive and self learning tool designed to help small Fleets grow.

Multiple addresses in complex road networks, limited and expensive resources, demanding customers and time constraints call for a Routing Optimization solution which must be not only smart and efficient, but quick and easy to set up.

With the full-featured Free Trial and the simplified Pay-As-You-Go model launched today, Viamente meets this previously unmet demand by removing the barrier of upfront investment. Mobile Enterprises can now experience the creation of better Mobile Workforce utilization and Logistics Efficiency from the very first moment they access the Viamente Route Planner.

Field Service Team Leaders and Transport Fleet Managers gain the opportunity to implement Smart Dispatching in minutes: with just a few clicks, Work Orders are assigned automatically to Drivers and Technicians, in compliance with all logistic constraints and customers’ expectations. The optimized Route Plans can be sent directly to GPS devices and Smartphones and result in better Service Level and lower Operating Expenditures.

3 good reasons why the Viamente Route Planner perfectly fits the needs of the Parts Delivery industry: LBF’s choice.

Riccardo Bocci — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:44:02 +0000

LBF, Italian company which specialises in Logistics for the Automotive industry and transport of Parts, has chosen the Viamente Route Planner because of the flexibility of its web-based User Interface and because of other unique features.

LBF found the Viamente Route Planner after searching for a Mobile Workforce Optimization tool which could generate the best possible Routes and be compatible with some very specific needs the company had.

“When it comes to planning Routes and scheduling Deliveries, sharing accurate Expected Times of Arrivals (ETA) with our Customers is of paramount importance for us” says Diego Barrera, Head of Logistics at LBF. “We deliver parts to mechanics and repair shops and our Customers build their Service Schedule relying on the Delivery times we give them”.

LBF has found in the Viamente web-based Routing Optimization software the ideal tool not only to increase efficiency, but also to accurately predict driving times, idle times and stop times; this smart Route Optimization engine calculates ETA after considering all the Constraints and specifications linked to Drivers, Vehicles and Orders.

Success in the world of Transport and Delivery is largely dependant on the above-mentioned variables, and this feature of the Viamente Route Planner is the first reason that has driven LBF’s choice: with Viamente, customers will know when their goods will be delivered/picked up with very reasonable approximation.

The LBF case highlights another important need of the Transport industry: one of the constraints which mainly concerns transporters is surely Load Capacity. An optimal Route Plan must take into account the Load Capacity of every vehicle while balancing Workload; this takes us to the second reason why LBF has chosen Viamente: the delivered Route Plans are not the result of mere geographical consideration, but come from complex calculations which contemplate actual Driving Times, Load Capacity and Workload distribution.

An easy-to-access combination of control and flexibility of the whole planning process is the third reason which has played a key role in LBF’s decision.

The Optimized Routes are designed to maximize Fleet Efficiency. However, Fleet managers may still want to be able to modify them. With the Viamente Route Planner it’s possible to intuitively modify the Stop Sequences while keeping the possible constraint violations and the Expected Times of Arrival under control.

About LBF

Founded in 1994, LBF specializes in tires distribution. The company mainly operates in the central regions of Italy, with a particular focus on Rome and the surrounding areas. Since express transport products for the tires market perfectly match the needs of the whole industry of parts delivery, LBF also organizes warehouse, distribution and transport logistics.

Less is More: the Simplified Interface of the Viamente Route Planner Empowers Multi-vehicle Dispatching and Fleet Optimization

Riccardo Bocci — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:02:06 +0000

The Viamente Route Planner, the first and only Self-Provisioning Software as a Service (SaaS) for Fleet Routing and Optimization, is coming out with a new release today which, among several other improvements, introduces two radical upgrades aimed at providing full control over Fleet Management operations.

Through constant dialogue with its community of users, from Field Services Team Leaders to Transport Fleet Managers, Viamente has designed and launched a brand new User Interface for an even leaner management of the Route Optimization process.

The first remarkable improvement is the Timeline visualization which allows a more intuitive and complete understanding of a Fleet’s overall Workload and organization. Complex information has been made simple to access and with one single comprehensive glance it’s possible to be on top of vehicles’ Routes, Load Capacity and drivers’ Workload distribution. The Timeline also shows graphically the Service Times for each stop and the layout makes modifications easy and quick.

The second major new aspect is in fact a new way to modify Route Plans. The Viamente Route Planning software delivers optimal stop sequences, but sometimes it may be necessary to adjust them to some customer’s particular needs. An easier Drag & Drop function has been introduced and it is now possible to Drag & Drop Orders from one Driver to another or within the same Driver’s schedule.

Moreover, it is possible to verify immediately the impact of these modifications on the Fleet’s Workload through a comparison with the Route Plan originally suggested. At the same time, possible violations of constraints concerning Drivers (e.g. Load Capacity) or Orders (e.g Time Windows) are highlighted and brought to attention.

“We aim at making our customers’ life easy and at boosting their profits” says Antonio Perini, CEO at Viamente. He then continues: “For us, giving optimal solutions and offering a great decision-support system is not enough: we want to move towards a real Computer-Aided Planning tool which permits users to keep all variables under control. In order to provide spot-on solutions to our customers, we ask them directly which features we should implement. That’s why together with the new User Interface we’re launching a Knowledge Base portal designed to grant easy access to information about the Route Planner and to stimulate exchange among users. The first useful tips have already started arriving through our Community Questions and have been brought to the attention of our Product Management team.”

Efficient Field Services with Viamente: Custom Communications’ Choice for Dish Network Installations

Riccardo Bocci — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:08:21 +0000

Southeast United States premier provider of comprehensive technologies – from TV decoders to home theatre and automation – adopts the Viamente Route Planner, the SaaS solution for Routing Optimization.

It has just been announced that Custom Communications, the largest subcontractor of Dish Network in the Southeast United States, has decided to adopt Viamente’s Route Planning system. The choice made by Custom Communications is another important confirmation of how perfectly this Vehicle Routing Optimization Software matches the needs of Field Services business.

“With 150 technicians serving approximately 800 customers per day we needed a robust route planner to handle our routing needs”, said Darrell Sanderlin, VP of Sales at Custom Communications. No wonder that the answer to Mr Sanderlin’s need was found in the Viamente Route Planner, as the web-based software and its underlying API allow an automated optimization of all dispatching operations. In a matter of seconds the proprietary algorithms calculate which vehicle should service which locations, considering all the constraints and specific customer requirements and aiming at the optimal management of all the resources (fuel, vehicles, driving time, etc.). In other words, full-featured Multi-Vehicle Routing for small and medium fleets which want a really improved operational efficiency.

“The Viamente system allows us to save time and money with additional features other routing solutions could not provide” continued Mr Sanderlin. The simplicity in all the dispatching operations is matched by other specific and unique features, such as the management of Time Windows and different Service Times; moreover, the Viamente software can automatically assign specific orders to specific drivers/vehicles with the required specialty or skill for that particular job.

The return on investment is easy to calculate: there is no up-front investment, just a monthly fee which can be interrupted at any moment; savings start being visible from the very first deployment and keep coming with every following dispatching operation. “The waypoint tagging system in the Viamente API allowed us to maximize our ROI”, Mr Sanderlin noted. Sergio Nalin, CTO at Viamente, pointed out: “Custom Communications has chosen to use the Viamente API and seamlessly integrate our Route Planner directly with their existing IT system and procedures. By API integration it is possible to customize the operations, develop additional features and implement a tailored User Interface. In terms of data handling, once our system is integrated with the customer’s database, this means seamless import/export operations as well as near-zero maintenance efforts”.

About Custom Communication Inc.

Custom Communications is the Southeast United States largest subcontractor for Dish Network. DISH Network is the leader in family entertainment, TV technologies and high definition TV programming and currently serves approximately 14 million customers nationwide.

Custom Communications Inc., Garner, NC, USA. http://www.NextDayDish.com

Import unlimited Addresses, Build unlimited Routes!

Antonio Perini — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:14:42 +0000

We are glad to introduce the most requested feature for the Viamente Route Planner:

Monthly and Annual Flat Fees!

Effective this week, you can subscribe to a monthly or an annual plan and just forget about the number of addresses or routes you can optimize… so you can focus on making your business efficient rather than worry about complex costs.

The new pricing model is much simpler, just select:

- The total number of Vehicles in your Fleet
- The maximum size of your Route Plans

The size of a Route Plan is the total number of Stops you intend to visit with a group of Vehicles selected from your Fleet. It does not depend on the size of that group.

You can Upgrade, Downgrade or Unsubscribe at any time.

How to switch to the new Pricing

Free Users: after accessing your account, click on Upgrade and choose the total number of Vehicles in your Fleet and the maximum size of the Route Plans you intend to build.

Premium Users: after accessing your account, click on Account and you will see the announcement and instructions on how to switch to the new pricing model. If you prefer, you can continue buying Credits Packages until September 1st 2011, when we will be discontinuing the Credits model for all users.

The Viamente Route Planner now embeds a Route Editor to fine-tune the optimized routes to your real-world scenarios.

Antonio Perini — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:43:12 +0000

Rolled out today is a new version of the Viamente Route Planner that includes a drag-and-drop Route Editor to intuitively modify the optimized Stop Sequences while keeping the possible constraint violations and the expected Times of Arrival under control.

As you know, efficient management of the Mobile Workforce is a complex analytical problem, especially when the service has to reach a high number of addresses or to comply with various logistic constraints like Time Windows or a limited Load Capacity.

Like you, thousands of Managers and Business owners in the Transport and Field Service Industries have already learnt how to best take advantage of the Viamente Route Planner to solve these complex problems: a handful of seconds and right on the Web, the most efficient Route Plans are built while Driving Times and other logistic constraints are automatically taken into consideration. The Optimized Route Plans are then displayed on Google Maps® and Routes and Schedules are shared with Drivers’ Smartphones in one click.

The Optimized Routes are designed to maximize the overall Fleet Efficiency. However, Viamente knows that you still want to be able to modify them. For instance, you may want to consider new details or to simply adjust them better to your real-world scenarios. In this case, it is important to visualize how any modification is going to impact the total Working Time and to verify if any constraints like Time Windows or Vehicle Load Capacity may happen to have been violated. Besides, since any changes are likely to impact the estimated Time of Arrival at several Locations, the entire Schedule should be revised.

Good News! Starting today, the Route Editor is part of your Viamente Route Planner account: you can freely modify your Routes with simple drag-and-drop on the Stop Sequences and the system will reflect these changes in real time by re-computing the Driving Times, the Times of Arrival and analyzing any potential Constraint Violations.

So, with the new Route Editor, you can tailor the Routes to your real needs and safely review any changes before deploying them.

Is your Business growing? Keep you Service Level under control!

Antonio Perini — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:56:49 +0000

Dear Users,
as you know the Viamente Route Planner is the ideal tool to build Route Plans that maximize the level and the efficiency of your Transport or Field Service: it helps to put your resources to best use while providing top services and complying with all the Logistics Constraints, so that your Customers are happier and you can remarkably save on Operational and Capital Expenditures.

As your Business grows, however, your optimally-utilized Fleet will start getting closer and closer to Saturation… sooner or later your Resources will turn out being insufficient to serve all the Locations of your Route Plans. If you have ever experienced a Resource Saturation, you already know that the Viamente Route Planner automatically tunes the Route Plans to make sure that the number of unserved Locations is the very minimum. Until today, this was the only principle behind Resource Saturation and you were not allowed to force the service for an important customer if this implied as a result a higher number of unserved Locations in the overall plan.

Today, we are happy to announce that during the weekend we rolled out a new Viamente Route Planner version where you can set the Importance of any Location. This way, in case of Saturation, unserved Locations will be chosen only among lower importance ones, while higher importance Locations will be served in any case.

To take advantage of this new feature, just double-click on a Location and tune its new Importance slider or update your import Excel File Format by adding an “Importance” column, as explained under the Field Description tab of our Help Center.

Happy Planning with Viamente!!
Antonio Perini