While it can’t solve every problem under the sun, technology can help you run a lean and highly efficient business that minimizes redundancies and maximizes profits. This year, we’ve seen just how powerful technology can be in the logistics and freight brokerage industries. During COVID-19, companies with digital operations have been better able to weather fluctuating demand and uneven truck capacity. If you’ve been delaying digitization, now really is the time to consider capitalizing on the versatility and agility that technology offers.
In this blog, we look at the top five challenges that you’re likely facing in your day-to-day operations — and how innovative technology like Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform, digital freight matching and Book-It-Now® can solve these problems.
1. Where’s That Truck?
Knowing where the load you’ve brokered is located is invaluable. When you have access to real-time load tracking information, you can provide accurate ETAs to your shippers. That helps your shippers better their operations and makes you an attractive potential partner to new customers. Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform gives you GPS-based location updates every five minutes. With Trucker Tools, you know immediately if a truck is stuck in traffic, has a breakdown or if the load is going to be late for other reasons — and your staff can immediately get to work on remedying the situation.
2. Can’t Find Capacity
A supply chain survey last month found that transportation capacity has reached new lows. When finding truck capacity is a challenge, technology can reduce the time and effort it takes to cover a load and help you expand your carrier network. Trucker Tools’ digital freight matching platform automatically matches your open loads with available trucks within your network of preferred carriers. No more time-consuming phone calls and emails to carriers, and no more load boards needed. If you need to add capacity, you can turn to the 1 million+ truckers using Trucker Tools free driver app and the 135,000+ trucking companies on Trucker Tools’ carrier platform.
3. Unable To Meet Shippers’ Load Tracking Needs
The pandemic has made digital freight visibility more important than ever to shippers and, as a result, some shippers are requiring that brokers and 3PLs meet specific visibility consistency and compliance requirements in order to move their freight. Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform provides you with 100 percent stop level visibility and automatic location updates every five minutes. The average visibility compliance rate for brokers and 3PLs who use our real-time load tracking platform is 75 percent. Many of the brokers and 3PLs on our platform achieve visibility compliance rates in the 80 and 90 percentiles. Being able to show current and prospective shippers that you can provide them with 100 percent stop level visibility and high visibility compliance rates gives you an edge over your competitors.
4. Core Tasks Take Too Long, Require Too Many
Resources
When you use check calls, manual emails, manual load board postings and paper-based systems in your operations, it impacts your profit margins, how many loads you can move and your relationships with shippers and carriers. Using well-designed tech like Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform, digital freight matching and Book-It-Now® increases your operational efficiency and reduces your cost per load. With technology taking over repetitive manual tasks (tracking loads, finding trucks and load bookings), you can devote your human resources to relationship-building with carriers and customer satisfaction. Digitizing your processes with Trucker Tools means fewer phone calls to truckers/carrier dispatchers, which increases their efficiency. Thanks to the software integration capabilities of Trucker Tools’ digital platforms, you can share data with your shippers automatically, which boosts their efficiency, as well.
5. Expanding Customer Base Requires Increase in
Overhead
When you rely on manual tasks (check-calls, emailing carriers to inquire about capacity, booking loads by phone) in your operations, you have to add additional human resources to be able to expand your customer base — and hiring more staff increases your overhead and may offset any profit margins you gain. With Trucker Tools’ digital platforms, you can scale up your core operations with relative ease without adding significant overhead. The scalability of Trucker Tools’ platforms gives you the power to react quickly to changes in the market and scale up your volume without sacrificing margins.
Read When Capacity Tightens, Use Technology To Build a Loyal Carrier Network to learn more about how your logistics business can thrive, despite the current capacity crunch. Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform, digital freight matching and Book-It-Now®.
