WhatsApp Business Platform Consultant Required for UK Logistics Company

WhatsApp Business Platform Consultant Required for UK Logistics Company Shared Team Inbox | Subcontractor Database | Targeted Quote Requests | Workflow Automation Paid Discovery and Feasibility Project About Us For a same-day courier and dedicated transport company operating 24/7. We communicate extensively with: Owner-drivers. Courier and transport companies. Subcontracted drivers. Transport operators. Customers. Internal operations staff. WhatsApp is one of our main operational communication tools and is used throughout the day, during evenings, at weekends and out of hours. We currently have five employees using WhatsApp across company work mobiles, desktop computers and laptops. Our existing process works, but it has become increasingly time-consuming as our subcontractor network and number of WhatsApp conversations have grown. We are looking for an experienced consultant with strong knowledge of: WhatsApp Business Platform and Cloud API. WhatsApp Business App and API Coexistence. Multi-user WhatsApp team inboxes. WATI, Respond.io, Twilio or similar authorised platforms. Microsoft 365. Courier, logistics, transport or dispatch operations. The initial engagement is for a paid Discovery and Feasibility Project only. We are not asking applicants to begin building a large bespoke system immediately. Our Current Process When we begin working with a new owner-driver or transport company, we normally create a dedicated WhatsApp group. The group may include: The owner-driver. Transport company operators. External drivers. Several members of our operations team. An employee must manually: Create the group. Add all external participants. Add the relevant internal employees. Assign administrator permissions. Rename the group using our internal naming convention. Anonymised examples include: Contractor Name/ABC GROUP – MWB – UB5 – OD Contractor Name/ABC GROUP – 3.8m – GU52 – Euro – Airline – OD Contractor Name/ABC GROUP – Luton BTL – Airline – App Contractor Name/ABC GROUP – 7.5T Box TL – KT16 – Events Contractor Name/ABC GROUP – 18T – Artic – Euro – Events These names contain operational information such as: Vehicle type and dimensions. Postcode or operating area. Owner-driver status. Airline or airport capability. European capability. Events or high-value work capability. Tail-lift capability. Driver-app status. Our WhatsApp group names have effectively become an informal subcontractor database. Main Problems 1. Shared Company Communication We would ideally like one primary company WhatsApp number managed by multiple authorised employees. Each employee must have their own named user account. We do not want one shared username and password. Required functionality includes: Desktop, laptop and mobile access. Named employee accounts. Visibility of which employee sent each message. Shared conversation history. Internal notes. Conversation assignment. Shift handover. User roles and permissions. Unread or unassigned queues. Search by contact, company, job number or reference. Audit history. Immediate removal of employee access. Applicants must explain whether employee attribution would be: Recorded internally only. Visible externally to the recipient. Added to the message through an employee signature. 2. Excessive Reliance on WhatsApp Groups The biggest administration problem occurs when a new employee joins the company. They may need to be manually added to hundreds of existing subcontractor groups, with administrator permissions updated individually. We need advice on whether: Existing group usage can be reduced. Most owner-driver conversations can become one-to-one conversations with a shared company number. All authorised employees can manage those conversations through a shared inbox. Genuine groups can remain available where several external operators or drivers need to communicate together. Existing groups can continue to be accessed or migrated. A likely preferred arrangement for an owner-driver would be: Company WhatsApp number ↔ Owner-driver All authorised operations employees would then see and manage the conversation internally. 3. No Structured Subcontractor Database Our operators currently rely on WhatsApp searches, group names and memory to identify suitable subcontractors. For example: MWB van near Heathrow. Airline-experienced owner-driver. LWB van within 30 miles of a postcode. European-capable Sprinter driver. Luton tail-lift vehicle. Event-experienced 7.5-tonne vehicle. We need a searchable subcontractor database containing: Company and contact details. Mobile and WhatsApp numbers. Contact role. Owner-driver status. Vehicle type and dimensions. Payload where relevant. Postcode or operating area. Airline capability. European capability. Events capability. Tail-lift capability. Driver-app and tracking capability. Active or inactive status. Approved or blocked status. WhatsApp consent and opt-out status. The system should support: Multiple drivers and vehicles against one company. Searches using several criteria. Radius searches from a postcode. Saved searches. Preferred supplier lists. Custom tags. More advanced compliance, document-management and reporting features should be considered separately during later phases. 4. Manual Quote Requests We regularly request prices and availability from subcontractors. At present, staff must: Search WhatsApp groups manually. Decide which suppliers may be suitable. Open multiple conversations. Copy and paste the same request repeatedly. Review replies across separate conversations. We want a process where an employee can: Enter a quote request once. Filter suitable subcontractors. Review and amend the recipient list. Avoid duplicate messages. Send the request individually to selected suppliers. Receive replies centrally. Link replies to the original request. Record prices, availability and collection times. Compare responses. Subcontractors should not normally be placed together in one group where they can see competitors’ names, contact details, replies or prices. Applicants must explain how targeted quote requests can be sent while complying with WhatsApp rules covering: Consent and opt-in. Opt-outs. Approved message templates. Business-initiated messages. Messaging limits and account quality. Spam prevention. Meta and provider charges. 5. Manual Job Instructions We regularly send detailed collection and delivery instructions containing: Collection and delivery addresses. Dates and times. References. Vehicle requirements. Freight details. Contact information. Google Maps and What3words links. Photographs and PDFs. Customs, airline and security instructions. Waiting-time procedures. POD and signature requirements. Standard operational instructions. These messages are currently created using Word templates or by copying and amending previous messages. We need a structured message-generation process containing: Verified job fields. Mandatory information. Missing-information warnings. Message preview. Controlled company wording. Templates for different job types. PDF and image attachments. Draft and approval stages. A record of who prepared, approved and sent the message. Artificial Intelligence Is Not Required Artificial intelligence is completely outside the scope of Phase 1 and the initial implementation. We do not require: AI-generated messages. AI-generated job instructions. AI subcontractor selection. AI price predictions. AI operational recommendations. AI decision-making. AI automation of outbound messages. Applicants must not include AI functionality in the initial proposal, architecture, proof of concept or pricing. All addresses, dates, times, references, prices, vehicle requirements, customs information and operational instructions must remain based on verified information entered or approved by an employee. AI may only be considered as a completely separate future phase if specifically requested after the core platform has been successfully implemented and tested. Advice Required During Phase 1 We need an independent comparison of suitable solutions, including: WhatsApp Business App. WhatsApp Business Platform and Cloud API. WhatsApp Business App/API Coexistence. WATI. Respond.io. Twilio. Other authorised WhatsApp providers. Microsoft Power Apps, Dataverse and Power Automate. CRM, hybrid or custom solutions. We do not want a bespoke platform if an existing product already satisfies most of our requirements. The consultant must explain: What is available as a standard feature. What requires configuration. What requires custom development. What cannot currently be achieved. What should not be included in the initial implementation. We prefer an honest explanation of limitations and risks over an applicant who claims that every requirement can be delivered without evidence. WhatsApp Groups This is a critical part of the project. Applicants must clearly explain: Whether the proposed solution supports genuine native WhatsApp groups. Whether it uses Meta’s official group functionality. Whether it supports our existing standard WhatsApp groups. Whether it only supports newly created API-managed groups. Whether it sends separate one-to-one messages instead. Whether it uses a proprietary multi-party conversation. What eligibility, participant and feature limits apply. What happens to existing groups, history, PDFs and images. Do not simply state that “groups are supported”. Applicants must clearly describe the proposed group experience and demonstrate it where possible. Migration and Coexistence We need advice regarding: Existing WhatsApp numbers. Existing one-to-one conversations. Existing groups. Contacts and message history. PDFs and images. Linked devices. WhatsApp for Windows. Mobile and desktop access. Coexistence between the Business App and API solutions. The Discovery Report must explain: What can and cannot be migrated. What remains visible only in the existing Business App. Whether future group messages appear in the shared inbox. Whether linked devices must be disconnected. Whether WhatsApp for Windows continues to work. Any migration proposal must include: A test plan. A backup plan. A rollback plan. No live operational number should be migrated or disconnected without an agreed rollback procedure. Microsoft Environment We currently use: Microsoft 365 Business Premium. Outlook. SharePoint. OneDrive. Microsoft Teams. Excel. A specialist transport management system. Preference will be given to solutions that work well within the Microsoft environment and support: Microsoft Entra ID. Power Automate. Power Apps or Dataverse. SharePoint or OneDrive storage. Teams notifications. Excel or CSV import and export. APIs and webhooks. Future TMS integration. Phase 1 Deliverables Discovery Report Review of our current process. Review of example groups and messages. Comparison of suitable platforms. Recommended architecture. Explanation of group options and limitations. WhatsApp compliance requirements. Migration and Coexistence options. Security and UK GDPR considerations. Data and account ownership recommendations. Key risks and rollback options. Cost Comparison Costs should be separated into: Discovery. Setup and configuration. Custom development. Data migration. Employee licences. Meta and provider charges. Hosting and Microsoft costs. Training. Monthly support. Future development. Data export and exit costs. Working Proof of Concept The proof of concept should demonstrate, where technically possible: One shared company WhatsApp number. At least two separately named employee accounts. Internal attribution of sent messages. Shared inbox functionality. Conversation assignment and handover. Mobile and desktop access. A test owner-driver conversation. Contractor tagging and filtering. A targeted quote request sent to several test recipients. Replies linked to the original request. A job instruction generated from structured information. A PDF or image attachment. Genuine group functionality or the proposed alternative. Existing-number or Coexistence behaviour. Exportable audit history. The proof of concept should be a working demonstration using test accounts wherever possible, not only a written report, screenshots or presentation. Implementation Roadmap Recommended solution. Minimum viable product. Features for later phases. Estimated implementation effort. Expected monthly costs. Training and support requirements. Key risks. Migration stages. Rollback procedure. Important Restrictions We are not interested in: Unofficial WhatsApp Web automation. Browser scraping. Browser bots. Shared QR-code workarounds. Unauthorised WhatsApp libraries. Solutions that risk suspension of our WhatsApp number. Only official, supportable and policy-compliant solutions should be proposed. All business accounts, data and system access must remain under the control of our company. Questions Applicants Must Answer Please answer each question separately. What solution architecture would you recommend and why? Which existing platform satisfies the largest proportion of our requirements? Have you implemented multi-user WhatsApp team inboxes before? Have you worked with logistics, courier, transport or dispatch businesses? Does your proposed solution support genuine native WhatsApp groups? Does it use Meta’s official group functionality, existing groups or another method? What would happen to our existing groups, numbers and message history? Would WhatsApp for Windows and existing linked devices continue to work? How would named employee attribution work internally and externally? How would you structure the subcontractor, driver and vehicle database? How would postcode-radius and capability searches work? How would targeted quote requests be sent to selected subcontractors? How would replies be linked to the original quote request? How would consent, opt-outs and approved templates be managed? How would the system integrate with Microsoft 365? Which requirements can be delivered using standard features? Which requirements require custom development? What would you deliberately not build in the initial implementation, and why? What are the expected setup and recurring monthly costs? Who would own the data, accounts, database and source code? What would your paid Discovery Phase include? What working proof of concept would you provide? Can you provide examples of similar projects you have personally delivered? Please confirm that no AI functionality will be included in Phase 1 or the initial implementation. Generic proposals that do not answer these questions will not be considered. Definition of Success The ideal solution will allow our company to: Operate from one primary company WhatsApp number. Allow multiple employees to work simultaneously. Give every employee an individual named account. Show which employee sent every message. Improve shift handovers. Reduce reliance on large numbers of WhatsApp groups. Preserve genuine multi-party groups where operationally necessary. Search subcontractors by location, vehicle and capability. Send targeted quote requests more efficiently. Receive and compare responses centrally. Standardise job instructions. Attach photographs and PDFs. Integrate with our wider operational systems. Preserve existing operations during migration. Remain fully compliant with WhatsApp policies. The objective is not simply to obtain one shared WhatsApp number. The objective is to create a more efficient subcontractor communication and management platform while retaining the simplicity and ease of use that has made WhatsApp successful within our operation. We are currently seeking a consultant for Phase 1 – Discovery and Feasibility only. Applicants who demonstrate strong knowledge and produce a suitable recommendation and proof of concept may be invited to deliver later implementation phases.