Hirschbach Solutions Choosing Champions
Hirschbach Solutions identifies key Champions to increase the adoption of MasterMind® TMS, an enterprise transportation management system developed by Mastery Logistics Systems.
Successfully implementing and adopting an enterprise SaaS-based Transportation Management System (TMS) is no small feat. In the logistics industry, a TMS is often deeply ingrained in an organization’s workflows, supporting critical business integrations. While organizations recognize the importance of introducing innovative SaaS solutions to enhance efficiency and competitiveness, several critical change management elements can be overlooked, resulting in unsuccessful adoptions. To support the successful implementation and adoption of MasterMind® TMS, Hirschbach Solutions identified Champions to act as advocates for the new system, address user concerns, and serve as a point of contact for internal colleagues.
Hirschbach Solutions implements MasterMind® TMS
To uphold its high standards of providing exceptional transportation solutions, Hirschbach Solutions entered a partnership with Mastery Logistics Systems (Mastery) to implement MasterMind® TMS, a modern SaaS-based transportation management system built to connect systems, people, and data. Hirschbach Solutions aims to provide their users with a constantly evolving system that releases intuitive workflows, ultimately reducing manual inefficiencies.
Implementing a TMS in 90 days
In August 2023, Hirschbach Solutions began executing their freight through MasterMind TMS. Before the implementation, the Mastery and Hirschbach Solutions teams met to determine the best implementation method. Based on Hirschbach Solutions’ current operations and organizational structure, a waved implementation enabled them to train a small, localized group of users before expanding to the entire organization. This approach allowed Hirschbach Solutions to focus on select functions and transition end users into the system immediately to take advantage of MasterMind TMS’ enhanced procurement capabilities.
Hirschbach Solutions and Mastery set a goal to complete their Wave 1 go-live in 90 days. The initial go-live consisted of brokerage end users who had been operating on a legacy TMS. The initial wave of users was carefully selected by the Hirschbach Solutions team through keen observation and voluntary expression. This first wave of users served as advocates, facilitating buy-in for MasterMind TMS amongst their peers. It was crucial that these individuals were open to change, quick to learn, and flexible in their approach.
Previously, Hirschbach Solutions users navigated through 3-4 applications to procure and match capacity. As users transitioned to MasterMind TMS, they experienced more streamlined workflows. MasterMind TMS’ existing integrations helped eliminate the need to navigate to other third-party applications.
With significant changes being made to Hirschbach Solutions day-to-day workflows in a short period of time, the teams put an emphasis on how to train end users in the system. Business leaders within Hirschbach Solutions met with Mastery’s Training and Product Adoption team to implement a customized training plan.
“With significant changes being made to our brokerage reps’ workflows, we quickly put an emphasis on training our Champions. Our training plan, developed in partnership with Mastery, became the cornerstone for introducing substantial changes without disrupting daily operations.”
Hirschbach Solutions Senior Vice President of Brokerage Operations, Cory Manzi
Driving product adoption through Business Leader and End User Champions
Champions are employees that organizations lean on to drive change. In software implementations, there are two types of Champions: Business Leader Champions, and End User Champions. The decision to implement a new enterprise software application does not happen overnight.
Business Leader Champions are typically involved in the entire sales cycle, and explain to internal teams why change is necessary, aligning their vision with the company’s goals on both an individual and organizational level.
End User Champions are brought into the fold towards the end of a sales cycle and the beginning of implementation, receiving more in-depth training before the entire organization. These Champions play a pivotal role in building excitement and becoming the main point of contact for any end user concerns.
“Choosing Champions within our organization was crucial for several reasons and required a keen eye for specific traits. We identified employees who have a general enthusiasm for innovation and possess the willingness to speak up when attention is required. These employees were instrumental in bridging the gap between the project teams and the end users. Their advocacy, adaptability, and patience were invaluable in ensuring a smooth and successful transition.”
Hirschbach Solutions Learning & Development Administrator, Andrew Copeland
The power of Champions in change
As Hirschbach Solutions continues to bring waves of users into MasterMind TMS, Champions will play a pivotal role as advocates for change. Hirschbach Solutions identified key individuals to serve as peer role models. These individuals were brought into the fold early, where they developed a deep understanding of how the new change initiatives align with their organization and personal goals. They began actively engaging with colleagues to share success stories, creating an appetite for change.
Hirschbach Solutions is excited for the future as they focus on moving their users and freight into MasterMind TMS, increasing their ability to deliver exceptional customer experiences through their core values.
About Hirschbach Solutions
Hirschbach’s mission is to strengthen our communities by providing safe, reliable, and innovative transportation solutions. We are guided by our belief in putting safety first, fostering fun can-do attitudes, encouraging transparent communication, cultivating respectful trust, promoting teamwork, and driving sustainable innovation.
Learn more about Hirschbach here: https://hirschbach.com/
