When you are a company involved with one of the oldest lines of business in the world, changing with the times could create a challenge. That is, of course, 
unless you take the time to embrace the opportunity, create a strategy, and embark on a journey of transformation…and that is just what DHL Freight decided to do.
DHL Freight, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL, helps companies move their goods from point A to point B, reliably and on time. The success in the model is the decentralized approach that ensures revenues and costs are closely matched and managed. But through time, as the international division of labor, globalization, and digitization changed the world, the industry concurrently changed, posing new challenges.
Even though the business of logistics has been around for ages and the basic principle remains, the recent focus on using technology to change the process has nudged companies to make a move and begin changing people and processes to sustain success. These issues are not new to any road freight company, and it is clear that substantial improvements and harmonization cannot be achieved without transforming the entire company.
To take this next step, DHL Freight knew that as the company embraced a transformation, there would need to be an element of change management to ensure the transformation was accepted. So, in cooperation with the BTA and using the digital capability framework, the board of DHL Freight developed a strategy that establishes aspirations and guidelines for this company transformation. The strategy relies on new technologies that will work to improve efficiency in products and global processes.
Following this logic, DHL Freight developed a clearly structured program to prepare the company for the transformation.
The program includes the following steps:
- There must be a clear vision, a common purpose and a shared value proposition.
- The next pillar is a single, uniform product portfolio.
- It is necessary to have harmonized, standardized processes and standards across the company to be able to deliver consistent product quality and customer experience.
- A single, state-of-the-art IT platform is required.
- All this has to be provided by an aligned organization with clearly distributed roles and responsibilities.
Through this framework and because the road freight business is typically managed without a central location and decision-making is dispersed, DHL has worked to systematically aligned itself to meet the growing requirements of global customers and a global economy.
Following these guidelines and leveraging the digital capability framework to support the vision setting of the transformation, DHL Freight has embarked on their digital transformation journey focusing on customer orientation, innovation, and efficiency. Read more about their transformation in 360° – The Business Transformation Journal.
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