New World Van Lines boosts productivity

With a long history and a strong reputation, New World Van Lines stays busy, and at times had to outsource labor to conduct move surveys, which drove up costs and consumed surveyors' time. Earlier technology it tried never got used to its full extent. After implementing Yembo virtual surveys, NWVL centralized its workflow and used both onsite and virtual surveys to complete more jobs.

As an independent van line, NWVL did not have a large network to call on for surveys. Surveyors handled customers within a 100-mile radius, and when demand outstripped capacity NWVL hired local movers to survey on its behalf, paying variable rates while surveyors drove long distances. Outsourcing also raised privacy concerns about sharing transferees' personally identifiable information with third-party contractors.

A video survey tool NWVL had tried at some customers' request was used for only a small share of its surveys. The team wanted to conduct surveys without worrying about cost, timing, and privacy, to offer customers better options, and to modernize outdated processes and procedures.

Justin Walsh, Managing Director and Chief Innovation Officer, championed a culture of embracing change. After hearing about Yembo across the industry and speaking with the Executive Vice President of JK Moving, a longtime Yembo customer, he decided to explore how Yembo's AI-powered virtual surveys could fit into NWVL's operations.

Yembo let NWVL centralize its pre-move survey process, bring more surveys in-house, and rely less on outsourced labor, saving time and money. For larger jobs, surveyors still visit the home but use Yembo's onsite option to auto-generate the visual inventory. Having started before the pandemic, NWVL could lean on virtual surveys when onsite visits stopped, and it realigned customer service representatives and surveyors into a more collaborative workflow. It is now expanding into Smart Consult, with representatives equipped with webcams.