About The Senator Group
A UK-based manufacturer of office furniture,The Senator Group, operates across multiple warehouse sites with a complex flow of domestic and export shipments. They own their entire transport fleet and handle logistics entirely in-house — from warehouse teams to vehicle loading. With growing demand and increasingly complex scheduling requirements, the business recognized the need to upgrade from its outdated planning tools and align teams under one streamlined system.
The Challenge
Before GoRamp, the company was managing dock scheduling using a combination of internally built systems and basic tools. Their domestic team used a Microsoft Access database built by a single employee, while the export team relied on a shared Outlook calendar. This fragmented approach posed several issues:
- The Access tool had a single point of failure — only one person understood how it worked, and when they left the company, it became unsustainable.
- The Outlook calendar lacked real reporting functionality and couldn’t support operational growth.
- Having two systems created disconnected workflows, limiting visibility and slowing communication across teams and sites.
- There was no way to properly forecast, track, or measure performance in a centralized way.
The business knew it needed to move toward a modern, cloud-based solution that could bring all teams together and eliminate internal dependencies.
Why GoRamp
Dom and his team evaluated five to six possible solutions, including rebuilding their internal system, using Microsoft Dynamics 365’s appointment scheduling feature, and various third-party tools. Ultimately, they narrowed it down to two options — with GoRamp selected for several key reasons:
- User Interface: GoRamp offered an intuitive, clean layout with customizable fields that could be tailored to their internal workflows.
- Ease of Training: The simplicity of the platform meant it could be learned quickly without intensive onboarding.
- Customizability: GoRamp allowed the team to adapt the system to their fully internal process, even though they weren’t working with third-party carriers.
- Implementation Speed: With multiple parallel projects underway, the team needed a solution that could be implemented with minimal disruption.
- Support and Communication: From the early stages, the GoRamp team demonstrated a high level of responsiveness and flexibility, with regular calls and feedback loops that ensured the platform would work for their unique needs.
The Solution
GoRamp was implemented over a span of four weeks:
- Training took two weeks and involved introducing the platform to super users first (team managers and senior staff).
- The team then ran GoRamp alongside their old systems for another two weeks.
- Once users saw how intuitive GoRamp was — and became frustrated with double entry — they opted to switch fully to GoRamp and retire the legacy tools.
Both domestic and export teams moved to GoRamp at the same time. The rollout covered two warehouses and multiple internal departments, with GoRamp quickly becoming the central source of truth across all operations.
Results
The transition to GoRamp has had a wide-reaching impact on daily operations. Some key improvements include:
- Unified Scheduling: Both export and domestic teams now operate on a single system, eliminating silos and improving consistency.
- Faster Communication: Office and warehouse teams now rely on GoRamp to verify shipment statuses, reducing unnecessary phone calls and emails.
- Improved Cross-Site Coordination: Two warehouses are able to collaborate better on transshipments, improving efficiency and planning.
- Forecasting and Capacity Planning: Teams use GoRamp to plan ahead by reviewing upcoming reservations, helping them better manage capacity.
- Version of Truth: GoRamp is now the go-to reference point for all stakeholders. If it’s not in GoRamp, it doesn’t exist — a major cultural shift that has streamlined decision-making.
“Everyone's now on one system, and that system has become the version of truth. If someone has a question, they check GoRamp first.”
— Dom, UK Manufacturer
Future Outlook
While GoRamp is currently used for internal scheduling only, the team is open to exploring additional capabilities in the future. These include:
- Third-Party Carrier Access: Once Dynamics 365 implementation is complete, they’re interested in enabling external partners to use GoRamp as well.
- Yard Management: With a self-owned fleet and yard, the team sees potential in using GoRamp to track trailer locations and movements in real time.
- Enhanced Reporting: They are looking to pull more data via integrations to analyze load times by vehicle type, track status changes, and drive data-backed process improvements.
“We’ve had a really good level of support. Even when there’s nothing urgent, keeping that regular communication helps us know we can reach out anytime — and we always get a prompt response.”
— Dom, UK Manufacturer
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