Efficiency equals cost-savings for your shipper partners, which is why shippers lean heavily on key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge the efficiency of their operations. Shippers define what their KPIs are, so there may be some variance between shippers. However, most shippers are concerned with four major transportation KPIs: on-time delivery, on-time pick-up, dwell time and on-time delivery to the customer. These four KPIs directly impact a shipper’s performance, which is why they are so important.
Shippers also use KPIs to measure your effectiveness as a brokerage or logistics company. Many shippers require on-time performance rates of 80 to 90 percent or higher from their broker and 3PLs partners. If you’re not meeting your shippers’ on-time KPIs with your current visibility solution, keep reading to learn how Trucker Tools’ visibility solution can help you meet or exceed the KPIs set by your shippers.
Why KPIs Are Important to Your Shippers
If you want to land lucrative contracts with shippers with strict KPI requirements, it’s important to understand why on-time and dwell time KPIs are so important to your shipper partners. When a consumer or business purchases a product and pays for shipping, they’re paying for shipping at a specific speed and delivery time. Meeting the delivery expectations established with the consumer helps the shipper retain that customer, plain and simple. If a consumer or business knows exactly when their shipment is arriving, they also can plan to be available when the shipment arrives, which ultimately reduces theft and potential replacement costs for the shipper.
It’s not enough to just know that a freight load has been picked up, delivered or delayed by the carrier. Your shippers often need detailed load tracking information and consistent data points to measure on-time KPIs and dwell time. If you’re using a visibility solution that can’t provide the real-time, continuous load tracking needed by shippers, you’re likely using check-calls or other manual load tracking efforts to track freight. Check-calls take time and significant human resources. They’re also prone to human error, which makes them less than ideal.
Carrier-Centric Load Tracking Technology That Truckers Will Actively Use
Trucker Tools’ free driver app functions as the data collection component of Trucker Tools’ load tracking solution. The load tracking tool included in our driver app is one of 17 highly sought-after tools and features that are designed to help simplify life on the road for truckers, particularly for owner-operators and small to mid-sized carriers. Using the Trucker Tools driver app, carriers can access information on optimal routes, fuel prices, weigh scales, traffic, weather, DOT locations, available loads and more. Because our free driver app provides real value to truckers in their everyday lives, carrier adoption of the trucker Tools driver app typically is higher than it is for apps that only track freight.
The load tracking tool included in the Trucker Tools’ driver app leverages the GPS in the trucker’s smartphone to determine the precise location of trucks and their freight. Your staff members can view the real-time location of trucks in the Trucker Tools visibility platform or directly in your TMS. The driver app sends location updates to the visibility platform/TMS every five minutes so that you always know where trucks are located. When delays occur, you can work to resolve service issues quickly, which helps you meet your shipper’s KPIs.
Trucker Tools’ visibility platform can be integrated with your shippers’ visibility platforms, as well, such as Project44 or MacroPoint. When Trucker Tools’ visibility solution is integrated with your shipper’s preferred visibility platform, shippers automatically receive real-time load tracking updates. Automated data sharing reduces the time that both you and your shippers spend on load tracking, which is an efficiency win.
Strengthen Your Shipper Relationships with Visibility Technology That Delivers
Brokers and logistics providers who implement Trucker Tools’ visibility solution routinely achieve visibility compliance of 80 percent or higher. Some of our broker/3PL partners are achieving visibility compliance rates as high as 95 percent. The consistency and accuracy of Trucker Tools’ visibility solution are what drive these high visibility compliance rates, as does high carrier adoption of Trucker Tools’ driver app.
Trucker Tools’ high visibility compliance rates position you to meet or even exceed the on-time KPIs required by your shippers. If you have access to real-time load tracking data that is updated every five minutes, your brokerage/3PL can proactively work to address service issues or driver detention incidents as they occur. The ability to react quickly to delays and/or detention increases the likelihood that you can successfully meet your shippers’ on-time KPIs.
Learn more about how Trucker Tools’ visibility platform can benefit your brokerage/3PL by watching our webinar “Visibility Technologies – Why They’re Not All the Same, Key Strategies for Increasing Carrier Adoption, Compliance.”
Request a free demo of Trucker Tools’ visibility solution.
