Openfield and Roger Warnes Transport get IT right

Openfield Group Limited, the British farmer-owned co-operative, has successfully worked together with Roger Warnes Transport to integrate two IT systems which benefit both businesses and Openfield’s farmer customers.

As a result of this integration Roger Warnes Transport can use their own IT systems and driver tracking App to provide Openfield with live and accurate data for their own farmer App and online portal, Insight. Openfield then uses this key information to update both their loading schedules and Track My Truck tool.

Roger Warnes’ Operations Director, Ian Barclay said, “The benefits of this integration couldn’t be better. All this is powered by TDi Software and the data transfer just happens which has removed many duplications and eliminated data transfer errors. Our drivers and offices don’t see what’s happening as everything is integrated. We no longer receive emails with typos or handwritten faxes which risk human error. It removes transport reference number inaccuracies and saves time and costs. It also avoids using memory capacity on our driver phones and office systems, as there’s less software being used.”

Michael Goodyear, Openfield’s Head of IT said, “We have our own haulage tracking App for both our own fleet and a number of third-party hauliers; however, Roger Warnes Transport were looking to use their own App to process our work and create efficiencies. We combined our resources to automatically load our fixings into their systems and create data exchanges which deliver the same Track My Truck benefits to any Openfield Farmer where grain collections are being carried out in this way. The real time data exchange includes all weighbridge information and images removing delays and costs created through old fashioned paper documents. Another benefit for us is that we’re able to process their invoices more quickly, due to everything being automated.”

Openfield is proud of the depth of information available for farmers to interact with on their App and innovative “skill” for the smart speaker Alexa. They are now working on some fantastic enhancements to these, including Price Alerts and a Fertiliser Selector tool which will be added very soon. The team are also working to identify more third-party hauliers who could benefit from similar system integration opportunities.