Jobs, deliveries and dock slots scheduled and rebooked without phone tag
A done-for-you scheduling and dispatch automation is an AI agent that books delivery windows, dock appointments and crew jobs, assigns them to the right driver or team based on hours, skills, location and equipment, and keeps customers and drivers updated by text or email. When a driver runs late or calls out, it proposes a new plan for the dispatcher to approve. BufferSol builds and runs it in your existing tools, live in 3 to 6 weeks.
- Live in 3 to 6 weeks
- Works inside your current tools
- Your people approve what matters
The outcome
What changes for your business
Plans that adjust themselves
When a stop runs long or a driver is out, the agent proposes a reworked plan in minutes, so dispatchers approve changes rather than rebuild the day.
Customers informed without calls
Customers get booking confirmations, day-before reminders and live arrival updates, so fewer of them phone the dispatch desk.
Less waiting at docks and sites
Appointments are booked and confirmed ahead of time, cutting idle time for drivers and crews.
Is this you?
Companies running their own delivery fleets, field crews or busy docks, such as distributors, building suppliers, equipment rental firms and private fleets, where dispatchers plan dozens to hundreds of stops a day by phone and spreadsheet.
- Dispatchers spend much of the day on the phone confirming windows with customers and drivers.
- The plan is built in a spreadsheet or whiteboard and redone when one driver calls out.
- Customers call to ask when their delivery or technician will arrive.
- Drivers wait at docks because appointments were not booked or were double-booked.
- Each dispatcher can only manage so many drivers before things start to slip.
Today vs done for you
The current way, and the new way
What your team does by hand today, and what the automation does instead, step by step.
How it works today
- Orders and job requests come in by email, phone and the ERP, and a dispatcher collects them.
- The dispatcher calls or emails customers to agree a delivery window or visit time.
- They build routes and assignments in a spreadsheet or routing tool, by hand, around drivers' hours.
- They text each driver the plan and book dock appointments on several receiver portals.
- All day they take calls from drivers and customers and patch the plan as things change.
What it quietly costs you
- · Dispatcher hours lost to calls and rework, which limits how many drivers each person can run.
- · Paid driver and crew time spent waiting at docks or sites without an appointment.
- · Failed deliveries and missed windows that mean a second trip and an unhappy customer.
How it works done for you
- The agent reads new orders and job requests from the ERP, email and web forms, along with driver hours, skills and vehicle data.
- It offers customers available windows by text or email, books the chosen slot and confirms it in writing.
- It drafts the next day's plan with your routing tool, respecting hours of service, vehicle size, skills and customer windows, for the dispatcher to approve.
- It books dock appointments on receiver scheduling portals where it can, and flags those that need a phone call.
- During the day it watches telematics from Samsara or Motive and alerts the dispatcher when a stop will miss its window, with a suggested fix.
- It sends customers live updates and reschedule options, and updates the ERP or field service system with each change.
- Every booking, change, message and approval is logged against the order or job.
Your people
What changes for your team
Dispatcher
Today
Plans by spreadsheet, confirms every window by phone and patches the plan all day.
Done for you
Approves the drafted plan and handles the few real exceptions the agent raises.
Driver or field technician
Today
Gets calls while driving and arrives at docks without appointments.
Done for you
Receives one clear plan, with changes pushed to the app and appointments already booked.
Operations manager
Today
Learns about missed windows from customer complaints.
Done for you
Sees on-time performance, waiting time and failed stops by route and customer.
The numbers
What it's worth to you
Estimate the time and cost you get back with your own numbers. We baseline the real figures in week 1 and track these KPIs from day one.
Example inputs · change them to yours
The automated share covers window booking, reminders, routine plan drafts and status updates; complex reroutes and customer escalations stay with dispatchers.
Staff time back
100 hours a month
About 0.6 full-time people freed for higher-value work
Capacity reclaimed a month
$3,000
A year
$36,000
An estimate from your inputs only. In week 1 we measure your real baseline, so results are tracked against your own numbers.
On-time window performance
Arrivals inside the promised window, from telematics, baselined over the month before launch.
Inbound where-is-my-delivery calls
Calls and emails asking for arrival times, counted from the phone system and inbox.
Dwell and waiting time
Time on site beyond the planned stop length, from geofence data.
Failed or repeat stops
Deliveries or visits that needed a second trip, tracked weekly by reason.
Drivers per dispatcher
Active drivers or crews managed per dispatcher per shift, before and after launch.
39.3% of deliveries
over 135 million hours
Works with the tools you already use
- Samsara
- Motive
- Descartes
- OptimoRoute
- Opendock
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service
- NetSuite
- Twilio
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Calendar
Guardrails built in
- The daily plan and any mid-day reroute need dispatcher approval before drivers receive them.
- Hours-of-service limits and driver qualifications are hard rules the agent cannot override.
- Customer messages use approved templates and quiet hours you set.
- Every booking, change and message is logged with who approved it.
- Driver location data is used only for dispatch and is kept under your retention policy.
Why it hurts today
What teams say about this work
Common complaints from operators, reviewers and industry research.
Carriers say status calls arrive while drivers are on the road, and at fleet scale manual check calls eat a large part of each dispatcher's shift and cap how many trucks one person can cover.
MIT research at one mid-sized carrier found that dispatcher team size affects how much of drivers' available driving time is actually used, with some team sizes well below average.
Drivers wait at facilities while paperwork and signatures are handled, and hourly detention charges build up during the wait.
How it works
From kickoff to live in 3 to 6 weeks
We do the build, the integrations and the rollout. Your team gives us access, reviews the pilot and approves go-live.
- 1
Week 1
Discovery and access
We map the workflow with your team, agree the outcomes and KPIs, measure today's baseline and get secure access to your tools.
- 2
Weeks 2–3
Build and connect
We build the agents and connect your systems, with your rules, approval steps, permissions and logging.
- 3
Weeks 3–5
Test and pilot
We test on your real history, then run a pilot on live work while your team reviews what the agent does.
- 4
Weeks 4–6
Go live and hand over
We roll out in stages, train your team, hand over dashboards and runbooks, and keep improving it with you.
Included with every automation
Executive Ask: ask your business anything
One plain-English assistant connected to the systems you run: CRM, helpdesk, ERP and accounting, HR, inbox and documents. Leaders get sourced answers in seconds and can trigger actions with approval. It respects everyone's existing permissions and logs every answer.
See Executive AskAsk it, for example
- Which customers had late deliveries this week, and what caused them?
- How many hours did our drivers spend waiting at docks last month, and at which sites?
- If two drivers are out tomorrow, which orders are at risk?
How long does implementation take?
Usually 3 to 6 weeks. We connect your order source, telematics and routing or field service tools, and capture your scheduling rules, such as windows, vehicle limits, skills and hours. The agent then drafts plans beside your dispatchers for a short period. When they agree with its plans, it begins booking and messaging within your approval rules.
What will it cost us?
It depends on fleet size, stop volume, the tools we connect and how many customer messaging channels you want. We do not publish a price on this page. Cost is quoted after a short scoping call where we review a typical day of orders and your current dispatch process, with a fixed scope before any build starts.
Do we need a new routing system?
Usually not. If you already use a routing tool such as Descartes or OptimoRoute, or a field service system, the agent works through it. If you plan in spreadsheets today, we can add a routing engine as part of the build. The agent handles the booking, messaging and replanning around it.
Will drivers need a new app?
Not necessarily. The agent can send plans and changes through the telematics app drivers already use, such as Samsara or Motive, or by plain text message. Drivers can reply in plain words, such as running late or customer closed, and the agent turns that into a status update.
Can it book dock appointments with our customers' receivers?
Where a receiver uses an online scheduling portal or accepts email requests, the agent can request and confirm slots and record them on the order. Where a receiver only takes phone calls, it flags the stop for a dispatcher with the details ready, so nothing is missed.
Pairs well with
Shipment Status Updates
Customers get load updates before they ask, without check calls
See the outcomeMissed-Call Capture & Job Booking
Every call answered and booked, even when your techs are under a sink
See the outcomeOrder Status ("Where Is My Order?") Automation
Answer every "where is my order?" message with live carrier data
See the outcomeSources
- I’m Getting Too Many Broker Calls | Hey Bubba!, Bubba.ai
- Truck Dispatch Statistics: Every Study (MIT, ATRI, OIG), Ainora (summary of MIT CTL research)
- How Paperless Logistics Eliminates POD Delays and Accelerates Invoice Processing, Vector
Get Scheduling & Dispatch done for you
Tell us about your volumes and tools. A senior engineer replies within one business day with scope, timeline and cost.
Live in 3 to 6 weeks · Priced after a short call · Company emails only