Technology in the Moving Industry

With a woman at our helm, Tippet-Richardson has always been progressive and forward-thinking in our male-dominated industry. On top of that is the fact that Brenda Naylor, our President & CEO, has always embraced advances in technology. From the beginning, Brenda has recognized that moving companies must adapt and evolve in order to meet the needs of our clients and colleagues who are, of course, also evolving in this world of furiously fast technological advancements. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has only served as a heavy foot on the gas pedal of this process, in our industry as in every other. Protecting the safety of our customers, colleagues and staff has become an intensified priority and technology, for all its evils, has been our saving grace. With lockdowns and quarantines and the need for social distancing, we’ve all become familiar with apps such as MS Teams and Zoom, which allow us to reduce physical contact whilst maintaining good communication, and save us a lot of time and money that might have been spent travelling to meetings. Will we continue to use it as much after the pandemic, or will we still prefer the human contact of face-to-face meetings? Only time will tell.

One platform that we’ll definitely be continuing with is that of virtual surveys via Yembo. Aside from keeping people safe during the pandemic, the benefits of virtual surveys have been staggering. Our sales team has been able to increase their productivity, in part by saving on travel time, but also because of the smooth efficiency of the program. Customers take care of the walk-around and add details into the program, which then delivers a clear and concise picture of the needs of the client straight to our sales team. The service has also been incredibly well-received by our customers. Not only are they able to get a quote without having visitors to their home, but they’ve been able to do it at their own convenience. Customers have been leaning towards distanced communications for years, often opting for texts and emails over actual phone calls. So, the fact that virtual surveys are welcomed in this era is really no surprise. 

Another recent addition to our technological ‘tool belt’ is PricePoint, who we’ve partnered with to simplify our pricing systems. This has improved the transparency of pricing across suppliers and partners, and has cut our bidding and processing times significantly. Another keeper for the post-pandemic times! 

So, in short, whether you love it or hate it, technology is part of the moving industry and it’s here to stay. The pandemic has forced us all out of our comfort zone in regards to accepting these changes, but maybe we can make lemonade out of those lemons and find that our business is actually running more smoothly than ever now.