If you’re the owner of a freight brokerage or logistics business or you work in one, you’ve no doubt heard the buzz in the industry about digital freight matching technology. Digital freight matching technology can reduce the time it takes for you to cover a load by half — and that’s a conservative estimate. With digital freight matching technology, you can see where truck capacity is available in real-time. The technology automates your process for locating capacity, while giving carriers digital access to your loads in real-time. With digital freight matching, you don’t have to make five, 10 or even 20 phone calls to find a carrier with capacity.
If that sounds too good to be true, know that it’s not. Brokers and 3PLs that implement digital freight matching technology often are able to increase operational efficiency, reduce operating costs and increase their load volume.
Check out these top five questions about digital freight matching answered!
1. Is Digital Freight Matching the Same as Load Boards?
No, digital freight matching technology and load boards are different. Digital freight matching is a next-generation technology that is built on the real-time exchange of data between brokers/3PLs and carriers. The capacity that you see in Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform is based on real-world truck availability data from our free carrier platform and driver app. Load boards aren’t real-time technology. If a load or truck is booked via a load board post, it’s not automatically removed from the load search results like it is with digital freight matching. The result is that carriers and brokers alike often are looking at stale, outdated information on load boards.
2. Why Should I Use Digital Freight Matching in My Freight Broker or 3PL Business?
For starters, digital freight matching saves time. Instead of working the phones or sending mass emails to carriers to find capacity, you can simply do a quick capacity search in the digital freight matching platform. With Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform, you can search from a customized list of preferred carriers first and/or search by lane, equipment type, date/time and other factors. You’re shown the best matches at the top of the search results so that you can quickly cover the load and move onto the next one. Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform also includes predictive load matching that gives you access to future capacity — and a leg up on your competitors.
3. How Can Digital Freight Matching Help My Business When Capacity Is Scarce?
It’s no secret that that truck capacity is tight at the moment. When you’re using load boards to source capacity or calling/emailing carriers to inquire about available capacity, it can be hard to get to carriers ahead of your competitors. Digital freight matching technology helps you connect with carriers and secure capacity earlier in the cycle. When you find the right truck for a load within the platform, you already know that it’s likely that the truck is actually available, so your phone call to the carrier can be about negotiating the rate instead of just asking if capacity is available. Digital freight matching makes your communications with carriers much more targeted and efficient. With digital freight matching, it’s also much easier to locate capacity from among carriers you’ve already onboarded, which is important during a capacity crunch and reduces the costs associated with onboarding new carriers.
4. How Does Digital Freight Matching Impact My Relationships with Carriers?
Using digital freight matching in your operations cuts out the frustrations that carriers often experience with load boards and reduces the number of phone calls and emails you make and send to carriers, which they appreciate. Just like you, carriers want to run their operations as efficiently as possible. Digital freight matching streamlines communications with carriers and also gives them digital access to your loads. When you use Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform as a broker/3PL, carriers can view your available loads in our free carrier platform and owner operators can view your loads in our free driver app 24 hours/day and seven days/week. They don’t have to wait until your office opens to call you and find out if you have a load going to Chicago — they can do a quick search in Trucker Tools free carrier platform or driver app in a matter of seconds. Being easy to do business with can go a long way in building long-term relationships with carriers.
5. If I Work in a Freight Brokerage or 3PL Business, How Will Digital Freight Matching Affect Me?
Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform is designed to help you do your job more efficiently, not to replace you. If you are paid on a commission basis, digital freight matching technology actually can help you move more loads and make more money by increasing the speed with which you can locate and secure capacity. Digital freight matching allows you and your company to do more with less. If you can find and secure a truck for a load in half the time it used to take you, you have more time to move more freight volume, which is good for you and your employer. Using a digital freight matching platform like Trucker Tools’ in your day-to-day work also reduces repetitive manual work, such as calling or emailing the same carriers over and over.
If you’re looking to strengthen your carrier network, be sure to read Three Benefits of Using Trucker Tools’ Platform To Manage Carrier Relationships. Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform, real-time visibility platform and Book It Now®.
