The last 12 months have been marked by unpredictability and volatility. It’s been feast or famine as the pandemic has impacted nearly every facet of supply chains, including staffing, manufacturing, inventories, ports, rates and driver availability. One of the big lessons learned over the past year is that technology helps brokers and 3PLs better mitigate market volatility. Approximately 62 percent of logistics, supply chain and transportation executives report that they’re instituting new digital technologies in response to what’s happened over the last year. The writing is on the proverbial wall: if you’re not already using technology to your advantage, you better start doing so now. Technology offers you opportunities for growth while reducing overhead. It also can strengthen your relationships with customers and carriers, which is crucial in creating opportunities for future success.
Increases Productivity, Reduces Inefficiencies
Inefficiencies in your daily operations ultimately can kill your profitability. But the truth is that most businesses have at least a few outdated or unnecessarily complicated processes and systems in place. Now is the time to identify these inefficiencies and build new, more efficient processes with the assistance of technology. Three of the most time-consuming and resource-heavy activities in freight brokerage/logistics are: finding capacity, booking capacity and load tracking. All three of these activities can make you burn through your staffing budgets quickly and inflate your operating costs. If you want to rejuvenate your business in 2021, consider using software platforms that reduce the time and resources needed to complete these tasks.
Keeps Overhead Low, Provides Growth
Opportunities
If you haven’t integrated technology into your operations, it can be very difficult to increase the volume of freight that you move or to expand your customer base. The reason why is simple: you have to hire more people to service more customers and move more loads, which can mean a significant increase in overhead. When you use digital freight matching technology, real-time digital visibility software and app-based load booking with your carriers, you can boost volume and grow your customer base without significantly increasing your expenses. Automation of these activities also gives you the opportunity to reallocate your human resources to relationship-building with shippers and carriers.
Strengthens Relationships with Shippers and
Carriers
Let’s face it, if you can help your partners run their businesses more efficiently, you become a better partner to them. With a solution such as Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform, you can automatically share digital load location updates with shippers. Trucker Tools’ real-time freight tracking software integrates with MacroPoint, Project44, 10/4 and FourKites visibility software, which means shippers can view the real-time location of their loads in their own preferred visibility software. When you give your shippers that instant access to digital load tracking data, it saves them time and helps them operate with greater efficiency. Automated load tracking also benefits drivers and carriers because they don’t have to field your phone calls asking them where the load is and when they’ll arrive — and that’s priceless when you’re building your carrier network.
Read How To Grow Your Broker Business in 2021 for more tips on expanding your networks and increasing your profits this year. Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility platform, digital freight matching and Book-It-Now®.
