In today’s hyper-competitive freight brokerage market, you have to be able to deliver real-time visibility to shippers if you want to stay relevant. Real-time visibility keeps shippers agile and competitive, which is why it’s become increasingly common for shippers to expect real-time visibility from you and your brokerage.
But if you’re like most brokers, you may be providing visibility to your shippers with a patchwork approach. Sometimes you may call the driver or dispatcher to find out where the truck is. Or perhaps you’ve gotten permission to use ELD location data to track freight with some carriers. Maybe your shippers have mandated that carriers use their single function freight tracking app to haul their loads.
The problem with all of these approaches is the same: none of these load tracking methods make your life easier, and they certainly don’t make life for your carriers any easier. In this blog, learn how Trucker Tools unlocks real-time visibility by addressing the three major obstacles that hamper most visibility solutions: platform integration, driver app design and check calls.
Trucker Tools Real-Time Visibility Platform Integrates with Your TMS
At Trucker Tools, we understand that if a software solution is going to be successful, it has to improve how you do things. If you need to open another software application to access visibility data, that adds time to that task and ultimately hurts the bottom line of your business. That’s why the Trucker Tools real-time visibility platform was designed to integrate with all of the major transportation management systems in the market today.
Thanks to Trucker Tools’ integration capabilities, you can view real-time visibility data directly in your TMS. The trucker’s smart phone is pinged through Trucker Tools’ free driver app every five minutes for a location update. You can view that real-time, GPS-based location data right in your TMS interface without opening another window or software program.
Newly Updated Trucker Tools’ Driver Delivers 17+ Easy To Use Tools and Features
Another way that Trucker Tools unlocks real-time visibility is by incentivizing load tracking for carriers. Here’s something that you may not know: if you want to provide real-time visibility to your shippers, you have to choose visibility solutions that provide value to carriers. With this in mind, we recently rolled out a new, updated version of the Trucker Tools driver app that is all about providing carriers with a positive user experience. The latest version of the driver app has 17+ easy to use tools and features designed to simply life on the road for carriers. In addition to a transparent, real-time visibility tool, Trucker Tools’ driver app provides carriers with real-time information on fuel prices, weigh scales, DOT locations, Wal-Mart locations, truck stops, rest areas, parking, available loads, routing, nearby medical facilities, restaurants, doctors and more.
In the new version of the Trucker Tools driver app, we also have added a new feature, Useful COVID-19 Links. This resource provides carriers with the latest industry news related to COVID-19, including info from broker and factoring companies about bonuses and special offers to news about rest areas, parking and truck stop services. This new feature makes it easy for carriers to access the latest COVID-19-related news when they’re out on the road. We will continue to update this resource as information becomes available to us.
Reduce Check Calls, Increase Operational Efficiency
If you’re like many brokers, you may be tracking freight the old-fashioned way: with phone calls. Check calls are problematic because they are time-consuming, inefficient and don’t give you real-time visibility. You may call the trucker or carrier dispatcher and not be able to reach them, which means you have to call back later. In the interim, you can’t tell your shipper exactly where that load currently is — and that’s not a good thing. Check calls also are distracting to truckers.
The freight brokers and logistics providers who use Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform are able to reduce the number of check calls they make, while increasing visibility. Iowa-based LTI Delivers has reduced its check calls by 40 percent thanks to Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform. Syfan Logistics based in Georgia has reduced its check call volume by 30 percent with Trucker Tools. The reason why is pretty simple: because the visibility data provided by Trucker Tools is accurate and delivered in real-time, you don’t have to constantly call carriers to find out where that load is.
Reducing check calls can increase operational efficiency for your brokerage, which can mean higher profit margins. With less time needed for check calls and other load tracking methods, you have more time to devote to business development and shipper service. Fewer check calls to carrier partners helps boost their efficiency, as well.
To learn more about how freight visibility can benefit you and your shippers, read Freight Visibility Technology Is THE Competitive Advantage for Brokers and Shippers.
Schedule a demo of Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform.
