OptimoRoute

So you might have guessed I'm a little impressed with this software. I have been using route4me mobile for the last 3 weeks and it was adequate, but lacked. You CANNOT upload an address it does not recognize and as I previously mentioned "geotag". This simple ability, not to mention their generous 30 day trial (not 3) and the fair pricing led me to purchase a years subscription before I even used the software live on my route. I had a question about some routing so I emailed support on a Sunday and had a response within the hour.
If you are on the fence about routing software, belive me this is the one. Don't even try anything else, unless you like giant pains in your butt or losing your hair from frustration!

Vorteile

First and foremost what I like the best is the pricing. I know that seems like a shallow response but I have not been able to find a comparable route planner that realizes I am only one person, not a fleet, and offers me a reasonable price for their service. Other benefits are the address matching function, it is much better than the programs I have been using. Better yet, if the program does not recognize an address in my upload lists it will proc a geotag I can move to where I want the address located. I work in a rural area and this is probably the most amazing ability I have found. Want it to be better?? It saves the name of the location in your active address book and will pull it up the next time eliminating future corrections. The fact that the computational process is all done on their servers means I can run the webservice on a very basic machine I feel safe leaving in my vehicle for this service. The mobile phone app is so simple, yet elegant in its design it boggles my mind. No heavy features to get in the way just simple functionality. The GPS tracking in real time is also quite accurate. The fact I can just push a route to my mobile from the Web service is outstanding. There are a host of other commonalities that this shares with other services like "in delivery" and "complete" functions.

Nachteile

OK, so I cannot ramble on about the service and not have something a little clunky about it so here it is... updating "live" delivery lists is a bit un-possible, I say un-possible because it is not impossible but the work around is a little bit of a PITA. The inability to have more than one "depot" at a time is a personally unique challenge seeing as I do an in and out run, but I just do my afternoon in reverse.... hardly the end of the world. That's the worst I have to say about it =)

The benefits from the program has been significant to help us grow a new program within our organization. We are able to deliver to food sacks to homebound seniors because of you fabulous route optimization process.

Vorteile

The mapping of the route is very helpful and the most impactful. I love that it takes the guess work out. When a route needs to be adjusted it is with ease. The ability to divide the route between drivers based on time, percentage and miles is a huge plus.

Nachteile

I wish that it would interact with our Pantry Program and GPS systems. That would be a dream and would ease redundancy. I would love to see a place to add photos, customer sign off of delivery and time card feature would be amazing!

Distribution of corporate presents can be very challenging especially during Christmas/post-earthquake/COVID 19 times. In the year of 2020, we as a company have done it 2 times, so in order for me to best explain the efficiency of Optimoroute, I will just compare 2 exactly same processes with and without the use of Optimoroute.
MARCH 2020 VS DECEMBER 2020
OPTIMOROUTE NO YES
NUMBER OF PRESENTS 300 300
TEAM MEMBERS 7 1
NUMBER OF DRIVERS 3 3
DELIVERING DAYS 7 3

As you can see from the comparison above, not only have we saved the costs for drivers by decreasing the number of days needed for delivery, but also, having only one member of our team involved in the whole process, we have freed 7 working days of our 6 employees so that their time can be used in a more efficient manner.

Optimoroute saved our money and time by simplifying and efficiently managing process that used to be time and energy consuming.

Vorteile

For the use of Optimoroute software no special technical knowledge is needed, other than the simplest knowledge of excel. The best thing is, after you import all the data, choose number of drivers and optimize the route, you are able to print routes for each driver, but even better, you can import the routes into their Google maps so the only thing left for them to do is drive!

Nachteile

I didn't find any downsides of OptimoRoute software.

Pretty good.

Vorteile

I like that I'm able to move addresses Geo-Location to accommodate for alleys or driveways that are on a different street (aka, service spot is different than actual address spot). I like the functionality of the software, uploading routs etc. It's pretty simple to use!

Nachteile

The maps are outdated, and I almost ALWAYS have to fix the route. It marks roads that are not roads, are blocked off, or it will label a creek or wash (Arizona) as a road.

Overall a good product to conduct simple multi drop optimisation. Limited reporting available and limited ability for anything strategic. As our business had no optimisation capability it has proven to be very valuable especially in these times when costs and efficiency are paramount.

Vorteile

The software is very easy to implement and use. The mobile tracking element simple and effective and we had no problems with any drivers using it. The optimisation process is very fast which allows the user to create several possible what-if scenarios.

Nachteile

The location database is difficult to manage as it appeasr to add an entry everytime there is a slight change which leads to multiple entries for each location in the gazetteer. If you accidently copy or delete orders there is no "undo" button which can be disasterous when working to a tight schedule. We are unable to plan strategically as in our case I would need to create a large one-off schedule that would require me to add the number of drivers and add cost. As I only need to add drivers as a one-off this make it not cost effective to pay for a months worth of extra drivers. Operationally this biggest problem is hours worked does not include implant and explant that would apply to any driver. I cannot therefore use the system report to calculate hours as I am unable to add time for vehicle check, refuel debrief etc.