From Spreadsheets to Real-Time Control Tower: A Logistics Transformation
Industry
Logistics & Supply Chain
Services Used
Data, Analytics & Business Intelligence, Product Development (SaaS & Applications), Cloud, Infrastructure & Enterprise IT
Key Outcome
−3.5 hrs/day
Operational Reporting Time
The Challenge
A mid-sized logistics operator managing 2,000+ daily shipments across three countries was running their operations from a combination of spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups, and a 12-year-old TMS that had not received a meaningful update in four years. Visibility into real-time shipment status was effectively zero.
Operations managers spent 3-4 hours daily aggregating status updates from drivers, warehouse teams, and third-party carriers into a single spreadsheet that was out-of-date by the time it was shared. Customer service teams had no access to live data, leading to reactive problem-solving instead of proactive communication. The business was growing but its operational capacity was not keeping pace.
Our Approach
We ran a 10-day discovery process to map every data source, integration point, and manual process in the operation. We identified six systems that held relevant data (TMS, WMS, carrier APIs, GPS tracking, customs clearing, and customer communication) and designed a unified data pipeline that would serve as the foundation for the control tower.
The control tower was built as a React-based web application backed by a real-time data API that aggregated and normalised data from all six systems every 30 seconds. We built it in three phases over 14 weeks — core visibility first, alerting and exception management second, and customer-facing tracking portal third.
We deployed on AWS with a PostgreSQL data warehouse and implemented a 90-day data retention policy with archiving to S3. Training was conducted in-person over two days with the full operations and customer service teams.
Results
“We went from not knowing where our shipments were to having a real-time view of every single one within 14 weeks. The team built it properly the first time — no shortcuts, no quick fixes. The system handles more volume now than we could have managed manually with twice the headcount.”
Head of Operations
Confidential Client
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