Transportation system management(TMS) serves as the highlight feature of your Organization’s supply chain.
The transportation market is where the frustrations run just as high as freight prices. This is because of the constantly evolving customer demands and their changing networks. When you add a complex economic situation to the mix, the situation gets more out of hand. With many shippers still using the older trucking management system, the situation will not be easy for them.
Earlier, the companies witnessed the driving costs. But recently, that has become secondary to customer delivery and overall needs. This is mainly due to the changing customer demands and their need to compete in the e-commerce era using quality data, providing an increased visibility level. Well, for example, the shippers who are giving high-quality customer service and also using analytics to improve their operations.
Well, in a world where more than 40% is unreliable and inaccurate, managing the good quality of the trucking will help in moving the customer deliveries, and the carriers will assist the companies in overcoming the challenges like tight capacity, driver shortages, and rising freight rates. According to the American trucking association, the US will face a shortage of truck drivers of more than 150,000 truck drivers by 2026.
This is where the modern trucking management software model comes into the picture. The software framework will provide good quality data, including accurate timelines for loading, unloading, and delivering the freight. This way, the companies can make sure that the carriers turn efficiently and minimize the downtime in the yard waiting for the loading or the unloading. Thus, the carriers will respond better to your company around the next freight operation than the carrier waiting for 4 hours and wasting the truck driver’s log time.
The customers are also looking to improve the process and understand the location that is bad or good for loading and unloading. They are also witnessing major companies such as Walmart that need a high level of customer service and information on all the freight that is being shipped to their addresses. If the customers cannot find the right information, then the customers will move to other providers. The customers demand more information that is related to customer service. They are not only asking for the location of the freight but for the in-depth intelligence and analytics of the movement of their load.
-Market reality and dynamics
The customers are increasing their demands every day. They want their partner organizations to adjust fast according to their needs. There are issues, such as driver shortages, tight capacity, and timely deliveries, that only push transportation and fuel costs. It is forcing the shippers, carriers, and brokers to gain insight into the trucking network. This will enable them to come up with faster decisions and thus optimize the trucking management software in a way that increases the visibility,
The companies are also facing challenges related with:
Constantly Changing regulations
Recently, the regulations related to the ELD(electronic logging device) rule that went into effect a while back are creating dramatic changes in the trucking industry. These rising regulations are increasing the overall costs and are also having an impact on the supply chain and on the overall business of the company.
Rising competition
This is no secret that in order to run a profitable organization, it's getting harder every year. As increasing pressure from more competition is constantly fighting in the market, it is impossible to let the customer service lag. A robust trucking management software can assist the company in tending to the changing customer requirements and demands.
Quick innovation times
Companies are innovating daily. Innovation is crucial for achieving success in a world where we expect innovation to hit every 5-year timeline. The Trucking management software is adequate for your organization in bringing the capabilities that are driven by innovation and shift to the digital business.
-Must have in the TMS for a better visibility
- A platform customized according to your needs:
You must search for an adaptable platform that can be configured according to the needs of the business. It must allow your internal teams to make fast and timely adjustments. This is done without having to spend any money or time. The software will provide you with data-driven intelligence and visibility-assisted trucking operations. It will ultimately result in improving the overall process.
- Better optimization for visibility-driven workflows:
The platform must translate itself and share the insight that comes from the shippers, carriers, brokers, e-mail portals, etc., and then use that data to deliver in-depth visibility.
- Integrating advanced analytics for best customer service:
Customers are always searching for quality customer service, quality and cost savings. To meet these demands, a TMS intervention is necessary that can make system-driven decisions and not rely on manual processes.
The platform must be able to manage data and gain insights to support the decisions.
Automation and optimization:
The Working of TMS is flexible. It can accelerate many-to-many relationships, such as orders to shipments. It will enable you to meet the customers wherever they are with the data.
With the process of automation and optimization, the TMS will include:
- Relate, translate, and communicate data.
- Using the visibility data and workflows to drive in-line process and exception management.
- Using the business intelligence to manage shipping windows, ETA’s, data cleansing, etc.
- Creating the visibility data store that improves the customer data for reporting and superior managerial functions.
Easily integrating technology with many ecosystems:
TMS has the power to integrate so many systems and translate the output. This makes it the intelligent powerhouse that combines the different data sources, translates the data, and automates it. A TMS that offers continuous visibility can read and translate various kinds of data types and then engulf them in a similar format from which you can take action. This includes REST and SOAP transactions, electronic data interchange, and many others.
