It's been said that the best solutions come from self-perceived problems. Gordon Delivery was founded on just such a problem, and now it wants to challenge a sluggish industry with the help of data, artificial intelligence and machine learning. And the result? Safer deliveries, a better customer experience and with less environmental impact as a direct effect. Gordon Delivery's CTO Andreas Viklund tells us more.
Andreas Viklund and Ali Ghoce started working together over 10 years ago. When Ali later started Gordon Delivery with the vision of developing a world-class tech platform, he knew Andreas would be the right person. Together, they defined the building blocks for how the last-mile companies of the future would be digitised and automated.
Today, together they are revolutionising the last-mile industry. Andreas tells us a little about the origins of Gordon Delivery:
- The idea came from when Ali was working with e-commerce in pharmacies. He quickly realised that e-commerce logistics left a lot to be desired. Transport wasn't very service-oriented, and that's where the seed was sown to create something new. Something that could give the end customer a better experience. In the past, couriers and transport have not been very customer-focused. We want to change that.
- We always want to be 100 % transparent, both to our clients and their end customers. This means that we always have to stay on our toes to deliver the best possible end product and service.
Reduce manual steps
Gordon Delivery is currently working to streamline and digitise the delivery flow for its customers. They want to reduce the manual steps and use data to deliver the best possible product, Andreas explains how.
- If you look at Europe, for example, there are several countries that are very far behind in development. In many countries, drivers receive a physical list on paper with the orders to be delivered. With us, all processes are digital. Firstly, we help with customer communication, both for the stores we work with and for their end customers. Those receiving the delivery should be able to follow the driver in real time. We always want to be 100 % transparent, both with our customers and their end customers. This means that we always have to be on our toes to deliver the best possible end product and service.
He continues:
- It is very much about streamlining routes so that deliveries arrive on time, which is also important from an environmental point of view. No deliveries should have to be transported further than necessary. This is a win both economically and for the climate.
Data is king
In order to streamline its routes and optimise all processes, Gordon Delivery uses all the data it collects:
- We are collecting a huge amount of data. For example, by collecting behavioural data from drivers, the system will learn how to create better conditions for our Gordoneers and thus optimise and automate the processes.
We not only develop the platform for ourselves, but also sell it as a cloud-based SaaS solution to customers around the world.
The strength of being both a tech and delivery company is that we can quickly identify needs based on our own delivery operations and thus develop world-class systems.
What does 2021 look like and what happens next?
- In 2021, we want to help more European operators to digitise their home deliveries. Among other things, we are working with StrongPoint, which is present in many markets, and is a reseller of Gordon's Last Mile Platform. We also want to expand our tech team and are thus looking for new, talented developers. Both testers and frontend and backend developers.
