Many of our customers are already familiar with our existing customer portal myZUFALL or other collaborative systems. All of them serve one purpose: submitting, managing and tracking (shipment) orders.
At ZUFALL, we are always striving to further optimise and simplify the way we work with our customers. It was this belief that led to the idea of developing a new, even more user-friendly portal – ZUFALLconnect.
The development of ZUFALLconnect
With ZUFALLconnect, we want to create a central place where all our previous systems are united and where communication as well as the processing of orders become even more intuitive and easier for our customers. But where to start? One of the first considerations was:
Do we do it ourselves or buy an existing solution?
We have looked intensively at various solutions and providers on the market. However, we quickly realised that no external solution could fully meet our requirements.
A hybrid approach, in which we wanted to combine internal developments with external solutions, also proved to be less than ideal. Therefore, the decision was made to develop ZUFALLconnect entirely in-house.
The biggest advantage? We know our internal workflows, processes and, most importantly, our customers and their needs best. This not only enabled us to make decisions more quickly, but also to react faster to the further development of the portal.
Who is behind ZUFALLconnect? – The team
A decisive factor for the success of ZUFALLconnect is our committed team. We have brought together experts from a wide range of areas at ZUFALL to ensure that the portal meets the high demands of our customers.
‘For this project, we built a software team from scratch. This also meant that we had to recruit additional software developers. Anyone who has observed and is familiar with the situation on the job market knows that this was not easy for our recruiting experts at ZUFALL, to put it mildly,’ explains Sebastian Meyer, who is responsible for the technical implementation in the ZUFALLconnect team. ‘This challenge has more than paid off: we have put together a great team that not only has excellent technical skills but also works together perfectly.’
Our team includes, among others, our experienced product owner, and an equally experienced project manager as scrum master – both manage the project strategically and coordinate the agile development. In addition, there is a competent group of interface and software developers who take care of the technical implementation. A UX designer ensures optimal user-friendliness, while a versatile concept team from sales and customer service incorporates the needs and expectations of our customers directly into the development process.
By closely cooperating with different specialised divisions, we make sure that ZUFALLconnect is not only technically on the highest level, but is also designed to be customer-oriented and intuitive.
Involving our customers
From the very beginning, it was clear that our customers should be closely involved in the development process. Together with long-standing partners, we held workshops to reflect on their experiences with our previous portals and incorporate suggestions for improvement. During the development phase, regular consultations and tests were also carried out to ensure that we were on the right track. The result is a portal that has been designed to be used intuitively and without extensive training.
‘A huge step forward compared to our previous portals,’ says Markus Fehler, Head of Sales at Team Fulda.
Why is ZUFALLconnect not yet accessible to all customers?
In July 2024, the time had finally come: we were able to make the new portal available to a selected group of customers for the first time. These customers, who were closely involved during the development phase, are now testing ZUFALLconnect in LIVE operation. Their feedback is crucial for us to be able to continuously improve the portal and optimally adapt it to the needs of our diverse customer base.
The migration of all ZUFALL customers to the new portal will be done step by step. We deliberately decided against switching all customers to ZUFALLconnect immediately, as this would have been an immense challenge both technically and in terms of content. Instead, we are proceeding in stages to carefully expand and optimise the portal.
What does ZUFALLconnect offer today – and what features can our customers look forward to?
Currently, ZUFALLconnect combines all the essential functions of our previous systems but in one place. This includes shipment registration, the address book, dispatch processing, and the administration of customers and their team members. Over the next few months, we will be expanding the functionality to include, among other things, the recording of hazardous goods, CSV import for shipments, and shipment tracking. In the future, our customers can look forward to numerous new functions, including features for our air and sea freight products, as well as a communication and service module.
We are convinced that ZUFALLconnect will play a central role in our continued cooperation with our customers – and we are pleased to be driving this development forward together.
Product Information | Daily News |
Case Studies | And much more
Head of
Marketing & Communication
