Downes Transport Ltd

Downes Transport is a family owned and managed business based in Amesbury, Wiltshire. The business was established in 1995 by its owner Douglas Downes who has over 30 years’ experience in the haulage industry. In November 2007 it was launched as a Ltd company and Douglas Downes was appointed MD and his son Craig as Company Director.

Downes Transport Ltd have been a shareholder member of Pallet-Track Ltd. since 2006 and more recently in 2017 became a full of member of UPN (United Pallet Network) and also a member of the Road Haulage Association.

Due to continuing growth within the company, Downes needed to move forward and invest in new technology. Their current set up, including equipment and software was old which was having a big impact on the services they were able to offer to customers.

“At the time our current IT provider was unable to provide us with 24/7 support and their knowledge of the transport industry was vague” said Sherree Middleton of Downes Transport Ltd. “ Due to the growth of our business covering 3 pallet network providers we needed to have reliable, efficient technology which was future proof” she added.

Downes Transport have worked alongside Vigo Software as its IT provider since joining Pallet-Track in 2006 so it was an obvious step to contact Vigo and request they take on the full IT Support. “Having spoken with Vigo regarding our concerns within the business, straight away we were offered help and direction” commented Sherree Middleton.

Vigo visited Downes, designed an office layout that would work for them, listened to their requirements and concerns and put a package together from furniture to software and equipment, even helping with cabling requirements in the premises.

“Like any big decisions within a business we had a couple of challenges along the way but challenges that were easy to overcome and move forward with” said Sheeree “No matter how big or small the problem, Vigo assisted us efficiently, professionally and explained processes step by step so we could get a better understanding of their software “ she added.

Since implementing the new Vigo Depot system including the Customer Portal, calls to the office have reduced and customers are more in control of shipment requirements

Downes customers use the Vigo customer portal for all delivery and collections requirements, “they like how easy the process is for entering the information and it’s much quicker than having to email over a request which we then used to enter manually into the Vigo system.” said Sherree

“Vigo has really improved our customers’ experience, they love the new online Customer Portal, being able to fully track and check for PODs instead of calling and requesting copies, they can download them themselves in their own time. Our customers now feel in full control of the journey of their goods”. In addition Downes have seen a dramatic reduction in time for the morning planning process for routing drivers and vehicle.