Spring 2008

DHL says it plans to re-launch its HomeSmart home delivery software application later this year, expanding it into a wide-ranging customer relationship management system.

HomeSmart dates back to Exel days. It was created in 2003, and its original purpose was to manage to in-store food orders taken by Marks & Spencer. However, by the following year it was already being offered to outside customers - even to companies that were not Exel fulfilment clients at the time.

Under DHL ownership the product has now come in for refreshment and updating, and it has some ambitious targets. For instance, DHL says it should enable users to offer guaranteed delivery dates and times to customers; to manage warehouse operations, and ensure accurate picking of individual customer orders; and to provide real-time visibility of deliveries, using satellite tracking and in-cab technologies.

DHL adds that the new version will enable users 'to manage and organise all web-based and call centre-originated purchases as efficiently as those sales generated in-store'.