How Verst Logistics powered agility and scale utilizing Cleo Integration Cloud

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Verst Logistics replaced its restrictive legacy integration systems with Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC) to support rapid business growth and eliminate technical bottlenecks. By transitioning to a blended service model, Verst Logistics achieved a 94% reduction in its error rate and gained the ability to support any-to-any integration protocols. This modernization allowed the 3PL leader to consolidate multiple business lines—including warehousing, transportation, and contract packaging—into a single, high-visibility ecosystem.

KEY PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES

• Massive Error Reduction: Successfully lowered the transaction error rate from 4% down to just 0.24%, dramatically reducing manual intervention and protecting customer SLAs.

• Protocol Versatility: Eliminated "pigeonholed" technology constraints by enabling support for a wide array of connections, protocols, and document types that legacy vendors could not handle.

• Unified 3PL Orchestration: Centralized data flows between disparate tier-one systems (McLeod, HighJump, and Dynamics), creating a "single pane of glass" for logistics operations. 

• Agile Partner Onboarding: Leveraged Cleo’s "any-to-any" framework to meet strict customer mandates and onboarding deadlines that previously took weeks to fulfill.

• Operational Transparency: Empowered non-technical business users with real-time visibility into the lifecycle of every order, reducing the volume of internal IT support tickets.

INTRODUCTION

Founded in 1966, Verst Logistics is a Kentucky-based third-party logistics (3PL) provider. The family-owned company specializes in omnichannel fulfillment, shrink-sleeve labeling, dedicated transportation, and shipping brokerage with warehouses nationwide. With 26 locations across the country and growing, Verst Logistics has been an Inbound Logistics “Top 100” third-party logistics (3PL) provider for the past 12 years.

BUSINESS NEEDS

Before the pandemic, demand for fulfillment and eCommerce was exploding. Customers wanted to be notified as soon as their orders shipped and wanted orders to be delivered as quickly as possible.

Since the pandemic, demand for fulfillment and eCommerce are continuing to rise, but there are disruptions in the supply chain that are causing a medley of issues. These include disruptions from international manufacturers in China and other countries, as well as products sitting on boats in ports that customers cannot access.

Verst’s customers needed help working through these supply chain disruptions, as they wanted to fulfill orders no matter the circumstance. Helping outsmart these disruptions would ensure Verst’s customers remained in good standing with their own customers. This resulted in an unheard-of shift where manufacturers and retailers decided that business continuity was more important than cost.

IT CHALLENGES

Before Verst came to Cleo, the 3PL’s operations were dependent on an assortment of legacy systems. These legacy systems however could not keep up with the growth Verst was experiencing, preventing the company from optimizing its processes.

At the same time, Verst’s current and potential customers began to increasingly ask for different (more modern) connectivity methods and file type support, such as XML, EDI, X12, API, etc. The legacy systems Verst had in place likewise could not support these requirements, meaning the 3PL could not easily accommodate these requests and had to potentially forfeit business opportunities.

Furthermore, in a time where speed is everything, the legacy systems were utilizing batch (as opposed to realtime) processing. Batch processing was slowing Verst’s response time to customers and was resulting in missed SLAs. This is because if Verst missed the transaction cutoff time, the company had to wait until the next cycle to process the batch of transactions, which could be an entire day – or more – later.

This cycle resulted in delayed communication and SLA violations, resulting in damaged customer relationships and penalty fees. Additionally, these errors and missed SLAs required a Verst employee to go in and resolve the issues, leaving less time for the team to work on other pressing assignments.

All these issues cut into Verst’s bottom line, demonstrably impacting revenue and profitability, prompting the 3PL to search for alternative solutions.

SOLUTION

Verst came to Cleo in 2020 through a previous business relationship. When VP of IT, Macy Bergoon, joined the Verst team a few years ago, he quickly realized his company needed to modernize beyond the numerous legacy systems it had in place.

Bergoon was familiar with Cleo from previous projects but he and his team wanted to assess all available options in the market.

After a thorough examination of the strengths and weaknesses of myriad integration category contenders, Verst decided to move forward with Cleo, and the two businesses began working on a year-long migration project—swapping out legacy systems for a modern EDI ecosystem integration platform.

When asked why Verst selected Cleo to solve its EDI needs, Bergoon said, "I worked with Cleo in the past and I felt that Cleo is a strategic partner and maybe some of our legacy partners weren't in that category. When I need something from Cleo, I can make a phone call. It doesn't matter if it's a sales or technical person, Cleo will help me with whatever my problem is.”

Bergoon further added, “Cleo is continuously innovating Cleo Integration Cloud to support real-world EDI and API-based integration use cases with its unique singleplatform solution, and as the B2B integration leader I’m confident Cleo will continue to meet and exceed the needs of the market.”

Harnessing Cleo’s flagship product, Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC), Verst was able to tackle numerous EDI and integration challenges including: 

• Faster set up of new connections with current and new customers since CIC supports a vast assortment of leading EDI document types, protocols, and standards

• Using API-based integrations to respond immediately to trading partners, ship products to customers faster, and replace batch processing

• Reducing service level agreement (SLA) error rate from 4% to 0.24% — a 94% reduction resulting in fewer fees and more positive customer relationships

• Spending less time resolving EDI and SLA errors, freeing employees to focus on other meaningful tasks

• Utilizing Cleo’s flexible blended services model to meet customer demands when short on internal resources

LOOKING FORWARD

With countless integration projects in the pipeline for the years ahead, Cleo will remain a strategic partner—helping the 3PL scale operations as customer requests pour in and new businesses require onboarding.

Two areas the company plans to focus on next are integration and automation. Verst recently completed an AP automation project that utilized CIC to integrate its financial systems and internal business systems. This included systems such as transportation software, a packaging solution, TMS, ERP, and WMS, with Cleo being the “glue” connecting all the platforms.

Projects like these will allow for tighter integrations between Verst’s systems and tighter relationships with its customers as the company continues to grow.