Customer-Centric Mentality Fuels Supply Chain Innovation at Coyote Logistics

“Our mission remains to provide the best service experience possible as we work to create solutions for our customers’ problems.”

Coyote Logistics was founded on the belief that it could provide carriers and shippers with a better experience by being hyper-focused on using technology to solve critical business challenges. As consumer expectations and behaviors have evolved over the past decade, technology remains the core tenant of the Coyote mission statement. As stewards of both carriers and shippers, there is relentless focus on automation and scalability of Coyote’s core proprietary BAZOOKA^® platform to deliver efficiency and visibility to everyone involved in the supply chain. What has emerged as an even bigger benefit of Coyote’s unique centralized network model is the data and insight to be able to better plan for and navigate market trends and shifts in what sometimes can be a volatile and unpredictable business.

At Coyote, the commitment to solving customer challenges fuels innovation. Being truly customer-centric means using customers’ needs to drive technology roadmaps and implementing their direct feedback on a day-to-day basis. The most important principle that has come from their feedback is that for innovation to be truly impactful, it must deliver the experience that caters to that individual; it is not one-size-fits-all. For that reason, Coyote provides a variety of channels and tools for carriers and shippers to interact based on what works for them—whether it be online, on an app, via API or EDI, on the phone, via email, or in person. Many new entrants in the transportation technology space have had increased press surrounding app-based technology. Coyote released its first version of a load-matching and shipment-tracking mobile app in 2011 as one tool in its now substantial digital arsenal. One app alone will not solve the customer’s problems, and Coyote’s mission remains to streamline the supply chain process for all stakeholders across all touchpoints.

One of the biggest issues Coyote’s customers face today is visibility into their own supply chains. They need to know with more accuracy when their shipments will arrive in order to make better operating decisions and to service their own customers better. As a result, Coyote is investing substantially in developing Exception Management tools and Predictive Service Disruption algorithms to make this process easier for shippers—this gives them visibility into potential service issues long before they occur in order to pivot their strategies and remain agile. Similarly, Coyote knows from working with carrier dispatchers that more accurately predicting when their trucks will complete deliveries can help them to fill their empty trailers faster and get drivers back home without costly empty miles. Coyote’s goal is to provide seamless, end-to-end shipment execution and visibility for both shippers and carriers in order to drive efficiency in the market.

A big challenge of managing a supply chain is managing costs. Coyote has developed machine-learning based tools to better forecast transactional truck cost. Being the largest centralized truckload brokerage in North America, Coyote has a deep transaction history that is paired with a constant flow of new information gathered through the +10,000 loads it brokers every day. This combination of datasets helps the company identify key market trends dynamically so that it can more accurately provide digital quotes to shippers instantly. This allows shippers to move their product faster and accelerates their freight flow beyond anything they may have done in the past. Coyote is focused on identifying and removing the friction from the entire supply chain operation.

Long-term success isn’t the result of press coverage or juicing a valuation; it’s about listening to customers and creating solutions with and for them to earn their trust and loyalty. While new technologies have proliferated, so too have empty promises. Today, it’s more important than ever to make sure Coyote is actively listening to its customers to create true solutions for the challenges they face every day. Luckily, that’s the way Coyote has been operating since the day it was founded.

Cameron Ramsdell: A Dynamic Leader

Cameron Ramsdell is the Senior Vice President of IT Solutions, Coyote Logistics.

“What sets us apart is obsessing over our customers’ problems and meeting them on whatever digital or analog channel they want today or in ten years. We’re creating a truly omni-channel experience.”