Toll's $420m bet on technology

Logistics giant Toll is in the midst of what its managing director has called the company's "largest ever investment" and the single biggest endeavour it has undertaken in technology to date.

The three-year, $420 million program spans ten different programs of work. It started with the creation of a new IT strategy and the design of a new global operating model for IT last year.

The objective of these two initiatives, according to Toll, was to "stabilise the IT foundations to simplify, standardise and improve Toll's IT landscape".

The programs would also "implement building blocks for transformation to deliver a high level of value to the customers," according to an internal Toll magazine published earlier this year.

So far, the transformation has seen Toll "refresh" its IT organisational structure, centralise core IT capabilities, and define new global IT processes as part of a move to a unified global IT team.

It is partway through outsourcing its IT operations and 280 jobs to India within a new Pune-based 'Toll technology centre' that will provide 34 IT services to the company.

Top ten

The $420 million investment will be spent on ten separate areas of work, spanning everything from security and risk to telematics and mobile apps.

Toll will consolidate its data centre footprint and networks to 'streamline and simplify' its IT landscape, and invest in a "transformation" of end user hardware and software.

A shared services function for finance will be established, in line with a new global finance operating model.

A new global warehouse management system will be developed, to be deployed initially in the US.

The company will pursue a single source of truth with its data to "enable smarter and more informed decision making".

A "common and integrated" telematics platform that "supports a diverse fleet of vehicles and enables more effective management of transport asset deployment, operation and maintenance" will be delivered.

And Toll will deploy a single scanner solution, via a mobile app, for drivers and depot staff for the pick-up and delivery of items. Risk and security services will also be "improved".

Digital drive

Toll has already ticked off one item in the list: an effort to deliver a "single, global Toll digital experience" for customers.

The company recently launched a new public website as well as a new online portal - MyToll 2.0 - for track and trace of parcels.

Enhancements to the portal mean customers can now create shipments, book pick-ups, make a rate enquiry, and print shipping labels off the customisable dashboard.

Toll said around 30,000 users will migrate to MyToll over the next year, starting with Australia and then expanding globally.

The public website was designed to be user-friendly, Toll said, with better navigation and functionality. It is also "completely secure and compatible with today's browsers and mobile devices".

Toll CIO Francoise Russo said the transformation program had so far resulted in a "reduction in duplication, the implementation of a standard set of IT offerings, and improvements in service provision".

"Additional changes will focus on defining a pipeline of value adding technology investments, implementing global technology solutions and improving Toll's customer offering," she said.