Complex logistics isn’t the problem. Asking your customers to navigate it alone is. The right kind of collaboration could change everything.

I'll be honest. I've been trying to find collaborators within the larger logistics companies for years. FedEx, UPS, DHL are the ones we all see and interact with almost every day. They are amazing businesses with incredible capabilities, and certainly, they confront daily a broader range of challenges than most companies deal with in a decade.

Many of the experiences these big companies provide assume customers have the subject matter expertise and domain knowledge of experienced employees. That said, there's one challenge they all seem to keep punting on - providing their customers with a clear, simple, and consistent lens into their services, capabilities, pricing, and operations. Their ecosystems are often moving targets of functionality, usability, and half-thought-through workflows. There's an opportunity to deliver consistent, customer-centric product services and tools that would fundamentally change for the better how their businesses interact with end users.

Just one of many examples...

I recently had an issue with one of these businesses that highlights this problem. Somehow I was signed up for a business-level service and started receiving invoices every two weeks. Honestly, I have no idea how this happened. I've had a "free" account for many years and have tried to use it to track packages and occasionally pay invoices for customs fees, taxes, etc. I'll admit, maybe three out of five interactions with these systems have me looking for a phone number and reaching out to their call center for help. In most cases, I can get quick answers from a CSR but I'm sure this is expensive and inefficient for them.

When I found the login for this accidental account, I was still unable to determine what it was for and why it cost money. It didn't list out services or functionality. It didn't highlight starting points for common or helpful services. I tried to interact with their chatbot but was surprised that it could only answer questions like "having trouble logging in?". or "having issues making a payment?". There was nothing about "this account helps you...", "your fees pay for..." or (most importantly) "Cancel my account". It took me another ten minutes to locate a phone number. 

Calling a CSR, it still took a few minutes for them to understand what the account was for. Turns out it was a paid account that would enable me to have packages picked up at my home, which I would never need. They then explained that the account could only be cancelled through a special department and that I would need to wait on hold to talk to the right person. They were not able to do this themselves.

I waited on hold for fifteen minutes. Finally, another CSR picked up the call and asked me a series of questions that made it clear that they had no idea who I was or why I was calling. After explaining the whole situation again, they were able to cancel the account. I had also asked for a refund for the invoices I'd paid (I hadn't wanted them to be sent to collections). The CSR told me that this was a different department and that I would need to reply to an email that I would receive after our call was finished.

I received that email and repeated the same information that I had repeated twice before in my phone conversations. The next morning I receive another email saying that I would need to provide the account number and the invoice number that I wanted refunded (there were actually seven or eight invoices). Of course, logging back in I was able to find the account number but now I can no longer access the invoices. 

Still, I have no idea how this paid service was added to my free account, and now I am not sure if I'll be able to get a refund. It's a little scary that this sort of thing can happen. All I want to do is track the occasional package, and even that is a challenge in their current ecosystem (for too many reasons to name).

Sounding an alarm

This sort of experience should be a call to action for these companies 

It's a safe bet that I'm not the only individual or small business feeling frustrated and having my time wasted. Not to mention the high cost that goes along with resolving these issues via call center and other channels. Customer dissatisfaction rolls down hill like a snowball. Sooner than later, a disruptive force will find a way to use this energy to capture revenue and customer loyalty.

These companies need to see that their customers are not experts in their businesses and need customer-centric tools and experiences that enable them to function with grace and confidence within very complex ecosystems. This can be an evolution over years, but it will need to start with a revolution from within.

I've petitioned all of these companies offering help and collaboration many times and gotten the same answer: "we have internal design teams that solve these problems." They do. I know people who are on those teams. I'm sure they have full plates and are up to their necks coping with the politics and friction inherent to Enterprise. 

What they're missing

What is needed are small, agile, experienced third parties that can collaborate across organizations. 

Such a team could create new channels of communication that are lighter, unencumbered by existing corporate infrastructure and tribal traditions. This would lead to the creation of a Tiger Team made up of the change-makers from each organization, the idea people looking for a platform, the internal innovators who are on the hunt for collaborators, and a new context where change and innovation can take root and flourish. 

A design and strategy partner like Futuredraft is purpose-built to start this sort of effort and bring it to a successful fruition. We've done it many times in other industries. For a minimal budget, we would facilitate, collaborate, sketch, strategize, amplify, research, and design a future vision and a North Star that would lead to real transformation.

It would take more than a three-month project timeline. The cultural and social transformation that would be needed would take months and years and would require a steady hand, an open mind, and incredible listening skills.

It could start with just one workshop. Thus would begin the process of finding the right allies and crafting the message and narrative that would guide the process through the turbulent seas ahead.

I look forward someday to having the opportunity to provide this sort of institutional, organizational, and product innovation to one of the big logistics companies. I can bet that the others will be rushing to catch up once the impact we create starts to be felt in the marketplace. The way I see it, either one of them starts this process and creates precedent, or a disruptor will come and put them all on notice.