Introducing Touchbase, our new Transport Management System

Every major investment Browns has made over the past few years has been driven by the same ambition: to make our business stronger, our service better and our customers more successful.

That ambition has shaped the way we've invested in our people, our fleet and our facilities. It has challenged us to continually improve the way we work and look beyond today's requirements, building a business that's ready for tomorrow.

Today, we're proud to introduce our biggest technology investment yet.

Meet Touchbase, the new Transport Management System built by us, for you.

Developed entirely by our in-house team, Touchbase brings customers, drivers, warehouse teams and operations together through one connected technology platform, supporting the movement of freight from booking through to final delivery.

Built around the way we move freight

Transport Management Systems sit at the heart of modern logistics operations. They connect the people, processes and information required to get freight where it needs to go.

But as Browns has grown, so have the requirements of our operation and our customers.

We wanted technology that could support the full breadth of our operation while giving us the freedom to shape how it develops as Browns grows.

Rather than adapting our business to fit an off-the-shelf TMS, we decided to build our own.

Touchbase has been engineered from the ground up using decades of operational experience in pallet distribution and the knowledge of the people who work with our customers and move their freight every day.

It has also been built to connect the different services we provide.

Whether we're moving a consignment through the pallet network, on our general haulage fleet, as a full load or as part of a contract logistics operation, Touchbase brings the information together within one platform.

One system. One live operational picture.

Connecting every stage of the freight journey

Touchbase isn't a single application. It's a technology platform that connects our customers, drivers, warehouse teams and operational colleagues, with dedicated applications supporting each stage of the freight journey.

From collection through to final delivery, information can flow between each part of the operation as it happens.

Touchbase can capture and share live information including collection confirmation, photographs at collection and delivery, delivery ETAs, dynamic tracking, status updates and proof of delivery.

For customers, that creates the kind of courier-level visibility we've all become accustomed to when tracking everyday deliveries, applied to the movement of commercial freight.

For our teams, it means working from the same live information throughout the operation.

The result is a more connected and informed service, with fewer gaps between what happens on the road, in the warehouse, within our operation and what our customers can see.

Built by Browns

Creating Touchbase represents a major investment in the future of Browns.

Owning our technology gives us far greater control over how it develops. Instead of waiting for a third-party system to introduce a feature or change the way something works, our development can be driven directly by operational insight and customer feedback.

When our customers' requirements change, Touchbase can change with them.

When our teams identify a better way of working, we have the ability to build it.

And when new opportunities emerge to connect systems, automate processes or share better information, we have a platform ready to support them.

"Touchbase represents far more than a new piece of technology. It's a major investment in the future of Browns and in the service we provide our customers every day.

Developing our own Transport Management System gives us the freedom to innovate faster, respond directly to customer feedback and continue improving the way we operate. This is a significant milestone for our business, and we're incredibly proud of what our team has created."

David Brown Jnr, Managing Director

Introducing the Touchbase Customer Portal

At the heart of the Touchbase experience for our customers, is the Customer Portal, bringing the capabilities of our new TMS directly into their hands.

Rather than simply replacing our previous portal, we've taken the opportunity to rethink the experience from the ground up. Booking, tracking, invoicing, reporting and account management now sit within a single environment, giving customers greater visibility, more control and quicker access to the information they need.

The result is a fully self-service environment where customers can access live pricing, book freight, track consignments, retrieve documents, run reports and manage their account from one place.

From a single login, customers can:

• Get instant prices and book freight in seconds, with live pricing across our range of transport services.
• Manage more of their logistics in one place, with pallet network, general haulage, full loads and contract logistics brought together within one connected environment.
• Know where their freight is and when it's arriving, with dynamic tracking, live status updates, two-hour delivery windows, ETAs and notifications.
• See what's happening at collection and delivery, with photographs providing a visual record at both ends of the consignment journey.
• Find important documents without having to chase for them, with instant access to invoices, proof of delivery, rates and account information.
• Give the right people the right level of access, with user and permission management across their organisation.
• Spend less time on repetitive administration, using reusable booking presets, bulk imports, scheduled bookings and API integration.
• Turn live information into greater visibility, with reporting and operational data available across their account.

For customers processing larger or more frequent volumes, Touchbase can automate routine processes through API integrations and bulk imports, reducing manual administration while maintaining live visibility across every consignment.

And the experience doesn't stop when a booking is submitted.

Touchbase connects what the customer sees with the applications being used by Browns drivers, warehouse teams and operational colleagues. As a consignment progresses, information captured throughout the operation can feed back into the same system, creating a continuous digital record from collection through to delivery.

For our customers, that means less chasing for updates, fewer disconnected systems and much greater visibility over what's happening with their freight.

Putting our data to work with AI

AI has been embedded into Touchbase from the very beginning, working behind the scenes across millions of operational data points to automate time-consuming tasks, speed up processes and help our teams get to the information they need faster.

One example is document matching. When proof of delivery, customer paperwork, driver manifests and other documents enter the system, AI-powered vision technology can read and understand them, identify the relevant consignments and automatically associate the documents with the correct jobs. What previously required someone to work through paperwork and manually match documents can now happen automatically.

We're also introducing Sidekick, our internal AI assistant built directly into Touchbase. Colleagues can ask Sidekick questions about jobs, loads and other operational information and get answers using the live data already held within the platform. It can also help with tasks such as setting reminders, giving our teams a quicker and more natural way to interact with the information they use every day.

With millions of data points flowing through Touchbase, AI gives us new ways to put that information to work. Rather than replacing the people behind our service, we're using it to take care of repetitive administration, reduce manual work and give our teams more time to focus on customers and moving freight.

What comes next

As we enter this next chapter, it's also an opportunity to reflect on the partnerships that have helped us get here.

We'd like to thank everyone at HaulTech for their support over many years. Their software has played an important role in Browns' growth, and we've valued the relationship we've built along the way.

As our technology strategy evolves, we wish the entire HaulTech team every success for the future as they continue supporting transport businesses across the industry.

Touchbase represents the next step for Browns. For the first time, we have a technology platform developed around our own operation, shaped by decades of experience and built with our customers at its heart.

It's a big change, but one that gives us greater control over how our technology develops alongside the business. And, much like Browns itself, Touchbase won't stand still. We'll continue developing it, learning from our customers and our team, and building technology that helps us deliver a better logistics experience for the years ahead.