How our AWS-powered solution transformed NFI’s tracking, reducing costs and reducing operational overhead through visibility automation

NFI turned to zeb for a modern solution that could be built on AWS, taking advantage of its scalability, cost-efficiency, and integration capabilities.

The Challenge

NFI’s manual tracking system relied on four separate providers, with a team of 15-20 users manually tracking and updating carrier loads. This method was inefficient and prone to errors, often leaving loads untracked due to carrier unresponsiveness. These inefficiencies strained business relationships and eroded customer satisfaction.

So, the client needed a modern, automated tracking solution that could offer real-time tracking and integrate directly into their custom Transportation Management System (TMS).

Key Challenges:

• Manual tracking across four vendors, causing delays and inefficiencies.
• Untracked loads due to inconsistent carrier responsiveness.
• Heavy reliance on a large team for tracking, increasing operational costs.
• Lack of real-time tracking and data synchronization.
• Negative impact on performance metrics and customer satisfaction.

Primary objectives

• Automate Load Tracking: Streamline and automate NFI’s manual carrier tracking processes by integrating the ETM(External Tracking Module) with their Transportation Management System (TMS) and four key tracking providers.
• Enhance Operational Efficiency: Reduce manual intervention in the tracking process, improve vendor response times, and ensure all loads are tracked in real-time.
• Cost Optimization and Scalability: Leverage AWS infrastructure to lower operational costs, scale tracking operations, and enable extended integration of the ETM(External Tracking Module) for potential acquisitions.
• Improve Security and Data Access: Implement secure, role-based access controls to ensure data privacy and customized access for different user personas.

Architecture and Service used

zeb built a robust ETM using AWS services to deliver scalability, security, and performance.

Key services included:

• Amazon Route53 for domain management and traffic routing.
• AWS Cognito for secure user authentication.
• Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL for storing tracking and carrier data.
• Amazon CloudFront for low-latency content distribution.
• Amazon API Gateway to manage API traffic between the ETM and TMS.
• AWS Secrets Manager & KMS for securing sensitive data and credentials.
• Amazon ECS & EKS for hosting microservices.
• Amazon VPC for network isolation.
• AWS X-Ray for system performance monitoring.
• AWS SES for automated notifications to carriers and customers.

Timeline

zeb’s agile delivery ensured the project was completed in just 16 weeks, from planning to deployment, without disrupting NFI’s daily operations.

KPIs and Outcomes

Operational KPIs:

• Uptime: Achieved 99.99% uptime post-implementation of the External Tracking Module (ETM) through AWS. This ensured that NFI’s tracking operations were highly reliable, reducing system downtime and increasing efficiency.
• Performance: Time per transaction was reduced by 5 minutes, improving overall productivity and tracking accuracy across the logistics chain.

Security KPIs:

• Incident Reduction: Implemented role-based access controls and AWS security services, reducing security incidents and vulnerabilities.
• Data Protection: Achieved 100% compliance with data protection standards through AWS Secrets Manager and KMS, ensuring sensitive carrier data was protected.

Financial KPIs:

• Cost Savings: NFI is on the path to realizing up to $250K in operational cost savings by automating tracking processes and reducing operational overhead with roadmap for increased ROI through volume.
• Return on Investment (ROI): Delivered a 5X ROI on their AWS investment, highlighting the scalability and financial efficiency of the solution.

Qualitative KPIs:

• Seamless Vendor Integration: Streamlined tracking across a 30K+ carrier network, improving service delivery and load tracking reliability.
• User-Friendly Onboarding: The intuitive interface and TMS integration enabled smooth onboarding for the tracking team, reducing the need for extensive training.
• Improved Data Visibility and Security: Role-based access control ensured that data was managed securely, and different tracking roles had access to customized views based on their requirements. This minimized errors and increased operational efficiency.

Scalability and Automation:

• Team Efficiency: Reduced the amount of time the team had to dedicate to tracking, with automation managing most tracking tasks, leading to significant labor cost reductions.
• White-Labelling: The white-label capabilities of the ETM opened new revenue streams, allowing NFI to offer the solution to other logistics firms, enhancing business growth.

The successful deployment of Zeb’s AWS-powered External Tracking Module (ETM) revolutionized NFI’s logistics operations, transforming a manual, labor-intensive process into a fully automated, real-time tracking system. By integrating with multiple tracking providers and leveraging the scalability of AWS, NFI improved operational efficiency, reduced staffing costs, and achieved a remarkable 5X ROI. This project is a testament to the power of innovative cloud solutions in driving logistics excellence.