There’s a famous quote that has been consistently attributed to Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” While it’s doubtful that Ford actually ever wrote or uttered these words, the idea is a powerful one. We all get used to doing things a certain way and sometimes it’s hard to see beyond our current methods. You may know you need to address a problem in your business, but you may not be able to easily identify the best solution.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
This certainly holds true in the transportation industry with technology. While following the path of least resistance with technology may seem like an easy approach, it’s not always the best way. If you’re using a mishmash of different apps and technologies in your brokerage or logistics operations, you’re doing yourself and the carriers who move your loads a disservice. Read on to learn why using a comprehensive, unified carrier software platform ultimately benefits you and your carrier partners.
The Importance of Carrier Experience During a
Capacity Crunch
The American Transportation Research Institute’s recent Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry survey found that a shortage of drivers is the trucking industry’s top concern for the fourth consecutive year. There’s been a perfect storm of events this year that has made this shortage worse than previous years. The COVID-19 pandemic has hampered CDL schools’ training of new drivers, while many older truckers have chosen to leave the industry permanently. Paired with uneven supply (and demand), it’s not surprising that truck capacity is hitting historic lows, van and reefer capacity especially.
It goes without saying that when capacity tightens, owner operators and carriers can be more discriminating about the loads they move. The technology that you use with your carriers could very well be the difference-maker when it comes to them choosing you over your competition. If your rate and the rate of a competitor is the same, the fact that you provide a better technology experience could be the tie-breaker. That’s why it’s more important than ever to consider the carrier experience when you use technology-based tools in your operations.
Provide a Better Experience for Carriers with a
Single, Unified Software Platform
Using multiple technologies with carriers may be convenient for you, but it’s not convenient for them. Asking carriers to use a different app or technology every time they track or book a load with you creates a fragmented user experience. It’s frustrating for carriers when they have to download a new load tracking app or visit a special website to move one of your loads. It’s just another step they have to take and another kind of technology that they have to learn how to use. When you use a hodgepodge of apps, websites and technologies with carriers, it negatively impacts their efficiency. The reality is that if your technology is too cumbersome, that carrier is going to go elsewhere.
You can improve the carrier experience by streamlining technology. Instead of asking your carriers to use a new app, website or software platform every time they want to book or haul one of your loads, choose a unified, single software platform that they can use again and again. The Trucker Tools driver app can be that single, unified platform that carriers use to track, search for and book your loads. Carriers can submit BOL and POD documents to you digitally through the driver app once they’ve delivered a load. Our free driver app also helps truckers find the cheapest fuel, best routes, weigh scales, overnight parking, Wal-Mart stores, truck stops, rest areas, food, showers, hospitals, DOT locations and more. Truckers can use the Trucker Tools driver app’s load search/booking and load tracking with multiple brokers and 3PLs, which further adds to the app’s value and staying power.
As Kingsgate Logistics’ Tom Curee noted in a recent webinar with Trucker Tools, streamlining technology for carriers and providing them with that single platform experience can help you keep carriers engaged and moving your freight. That’s critical when capacity is tight, particularly with owner operators and smaller carriers.
“Technology for us has just been huge to make sure that our dedicated carrier base gets access to what they need right away,” Curee says. “These owner operators don’t have a dispatch back at the office hunting and looking for freight for them. So you have a unique opportunity to become that person.”
“Technology for us has just been huge to make sure that our dedicated carrier base gets access to what they need right away,” Curee says. “These owner operators don’t have a dispatch back at the office hunting and looking for freight for them. So you have a unique opportunity to become that person.”
For more on how Trucker Tools’ real-time visibility solution can endear you to shippers, read Hit Your Shippers’ Load Tracking Targets with Trucker Tools’ Continuous, Real-Time Load Tracking. Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ real-time load tracking platform, digital freight matching and/or Book It Now®.
