This page compares a category, not a vendor. Route optimization software, from stand-alone route planners to the routing modules inside field service platforms, solves a real problem well. It just solves a different problem from the one CrewLink is built for. Knowing which one you have saves you from buying the wrong tool and deciding software does not work.
What route optimization does
A route optimizer takes a set of stops already assigned to a vehicle for a given day and finds a good order to visit them. Many tools also balance stops across several vehicles, respect time windows and re-run when something changes. It is a mature, well-understood problem, and good tools do it quickly. Our route optimization glossary entry covers the basics.
The key word is already. A route optimizer works on jobs that have been booked, usually with times that have been promised to customers. It finds the best order within those promises.
What booking-time feasibility does
CrewLink works one step earlier. When a job is being booked, CrewLink checks feasibility before a slot is offered. Travel is computed live from where the truck will actually be at that hour, meaning the previous job on that crew's day, not the shop. If the drive does not fit, the slot is not offered. Drive time sits on the board next to the job, so travel is visible as its own block instead of hidden inside the appointment. That is travel time scheduling.
The difference is timing. A route optimizer asks "what is the best order for today's jobs?" A booking-time check asks "can a crew get there by then?" before the job becomes one of today's jobs.
The day an optimizer cannot fix
Here is an illustrative example. Three appointments are booked on a Tuesday morning by three separate calls, hours apart:
Give that day to a route optimizer and it can only work around fixed times. The 10:00 is at 10:00 because a customer was promised 10:00. The optimizer can shave minutes. It cannot undo a booking that put an 80-minute round trip in the middle of a downtown morning. That decision was made at booking, by a system that checked whether the 10:00 block was empty. This is the core argument of route optimization vs feasible scheduling.
They work better together
This is not an argument against route optimization. On a day that was assembled coherently, an optimizer has more to work with and does a better job. The two techniques are complementary. They just need to run in the right order: feasibility at booking, then optimization on the day that results.
How to tell which one you need
Use data you already have:
- Pull a week of completed jobs with arrival and departure times.
- For each truck-day, list the addresses in the order they were visited.
- Count the truck-days where the truck crossed its own path, driving back near an earlier stop later in the day. That is backtracking.
If backtracking is rare and drive totals are still high, the constraint is your territory or job mix. Route optimization and better service territory design are where to spend effort.
If backtracking is common, the driving was created at booking. A route optimizer will trim the edges. A booking-time feasibility check removes the cause.
To put a cost on it, take avoidable drive hours per crew per day (D), crews (C) and loaded hourly cost (R): C × D × R × 5 × 48 gives a rough yearly figure. The windshield time cost calculator runs it for you.
What CrewLink does and does not do
CrewLink does a short list of things:
- Builds live travel time into availability, so the only slots offered are ones a crew can reach.
- Checks feasibility before a slot is offered, with travel computed from the previous job.
- Schedules crews around the drive, not the calendar.
- Gives you a dispatch board.
- Is built for companies running 5 to 50 trucks.
CrewLink is not a route optimizer, and it does not do turn-by-turn navigation, GPS tracking, invoicing, payments, CRM, customer texting or a mobile app. A contractor network is on the roadmap and not live.
Side by side
| CrewLink | Route optimization software (category) | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Deciding which slots are offered at booking | Ordering stops already assigned to vehicles |
| When travel is checked | Before a slot is offered | After jobs are booked, when the day is routed |
| Starting point for travel | Where the truck will be: the previous job | The stops on the route as booked |
| Can change promised times | It shapes them before they are promised | Works within them |
| Invoicing & payments | No | Varies by product; check the vendor |
| Best fit | 5 to 50 trucks with frequent backtracking and rebuilt mornings | Fleets whose days are well formed but whose stop order can improve |
What to take away
- Route optimization orders jobs that are already booked. CrewLink decides which slots are offered before booking.
- An optimizer cannot move a time already promised to a customer, so it cannot repair a day that was booked badly.
- The two work together: feasibility at booking, then optimization on the resulting day.
- Count backtracking in a week of your own jobs. Common backtracking points to booking; rare backtracking points to routing and territory.
Common questions
Is CrewLink a route optimization tool?
No. CrewLink checks whether a crew can reach a job before a slot is offered, with travel from the previous job. It does not reorder a finished day's stops. If you need stop sequencing, a route optimizer is the right tool.
Do I need route optimization if I use booking-time feasibility?
You may still benefit from it. A feasibility check keeps unreachable jobs off the board; an optimizer can then find a good order for the jobs that are there. They address different moments.
Why can't route optimization fix a bad schedule?
Because it works within the times already promised to customers. If a booking placed a long drive between two nearby jobs, no ordering can remove it without moving a customer's appointment.
Which should I fix first, booking or routing?
Check your backtracking rate. If trucks often cross their own path, fix booking first. If they rarely do and driving is still high, look at routing and territory design.