An Important Update from Lyall Cresswell, TEG CEO and Founder of Haulage Exchange

As you may know, here at the Haulage Exchange we don’t believe in standing still.

The Exchange is the UK’s biggest freight marketplace. It routinely grants delivery drivers access to more than 10,000 loads per day. But rather than rest on our laurels, we’re always on the lookout for new ways to help our industry advance.

Earlier this month, our CEO, Lyall Cresswell, announced several new developments that are about to do just that. The developments really are going to change the logistics industry for the better. So, rather than keep them hush hush, you can read Lyall’s update in full below.

Dear Members,

I’m writing this to let you know about the imminent release of the most important developments that we have made to the Transport Exchange Group (TEG) platform over the past few years. Those of you who have been valued members of TEG (and our sub-brands Courier Exchange and Haulage Exchange) for many years will know that we do not believe in standing still and have a long-term vision to continuously improve user experience and reduce friction wherever possible in the process of dealings between our member businesses.

Over the past three years, despite the unprecedented backdrop of Covid, Brexit, Ukraine and the fluctuating and challenging economy, we have continued to make significant investments in the platform. This year will see us invest £4 million. This is testament to our long-term commitment to our members to develop the TEG platform and improve the user experience so that both are best in class.

Here are some of the highlights that we will be delivering over the next few months:

Trust and Security – taking this to a new level

You will soon be invited to enrol your business in our brand new transport compliance and digital identity platform ‘Trustd.net’. Three years in the making, this has been designed to handle onboarding, maintenance and monitoring of key business data used in the Exchange platform. Our aim is to elevate compliance standards and fair dealing both in TEG and also within the industry that we serve to a whole new level. Fully integrated with the TEG platform, Trustd will become the single source of truth for your business profile, whether you are an owner driver, fleet operator or non-asset based transport business.

Platform security is always at the heart of everything we do and with this in mind we will shortly be launching User Authentication and Multi Factor Authentication. You’re probably already familiar with these from the other secure online platforms that you use. This will further protect your platform login, as well as safeguarding other key account activity, such as when you change your profile or perform certain actions within the system. The ‘unique email’ implementation that you and other users in your account underwent earlier this year was the first stage in this process.

The Back Office – improving efficiency and reducing friction

As we all know, the process of paying and getting paid can be problematic and time-consuming in our industry. To alleviate this stress, we have completely re-built the Finance function for both Payables and Receivables. The invoice approval and payment process can now be 100% digital, ensuring unrivalled transparency, compliance, and cost-effectiveness for all parties. We have built new functionality into this area including batch invoicing, dispute handling and improved ‘private’ invoicing. Further, Payables and Receivables can also be fully integrated with your accounting software – see below.

Accounting Integrations – reduce your data handling

We have built comprehensive new integrations with the most popular accounting software packages, including Xero, Sage and Quickbooks, so you will now be able to export data seamlessly from TEG into these connected platforms which is valuable to meet your Making Tax Digital (MTD) obligations and most importantly to save you time.

Using TEG on the Road – our next generation mobile app

We launched the first version of our driver app back in 2004. Working with the TEG platform from the road has always been an essential part of our user experience and we are now in the process of building a completely new mobile app for both Drivers and Fleets. We will be inviting some of our members to ‘test drive’ the new app later this year and look forward to launching it in Q1 2023.

Data Transfer – the future is Integrated!

We live in an inter-dependent and connected world – the future of our industry depends on creating integrations so that data can be transferred in a secure and frictionless manner to and from the TEG platform to third party systems, including TMS and telematics. To this end, we have updated our API documentation and now have an in-house API specialist to demonstrate the benefits of integration and help to guide you through the implementation process.

Embedded Analytics

We’re launching ‘Analytics’ – a brand new section of the platform. For the first time you can see detailed reports on Supplier Insights as well as understanding how the freight transport market is performing.

But enough about the technology enhancements. How about other key aspects of the TEG member experience?

Our New Customer Support Centre

We know how important it is that we handle your questions and support tickets as quickly and accurately as possible. We have therefore recently opened a new dedicated Customer Support Centre in Chippenham, Wiltshire. I am delighted with the positive feedback that we have received so far and, whilst we appreciate that it can be hard to get it right every time, we are continually striving to provide the excellent level of support that you expect and deserve.

Our Team Continues to Grow

As well as our new Customer Services centre, we have been on a recruitment drive to hire experienced and energetic colleagues across all areas of our business. The Account Management and Product Development teams have seen their numbers grow in particular.

So as you can see we have been very, very busy!

We will be writing to you via email over the summer to keep you up to date with further information about how and when these important new developments will be available to your business.

In the meantime, enjoy the summer and please keep your feedback and suggestions coming – we value everything that you send us.

Yours faithfully,