Over the last few years, there’s been considerable buzz in the industry around digital freight matching technology and rightfully so. Digital freight matching provides a host of benefits to freight brokers and logistics providers like you — and to owner operators and carriers. When digital freight matching technology first came on the scene, it was only affordable to the biggest brokers and 3PLs. Today, digital freight matching technology is an option for freight brokers and 3PLs of all sizes. It’s a scalable technology that is helping companies big and small move more volume and provide better service to shippers without hiring on additional employees.
In this blog, you’ll learn what digital freight matching is, how it works and why you can’t afford to delay implementing it in your operations, whether you’re a micro broker, mega broker or somewhere in between.
1. Connects Brokers and Carriers
Digital freight matching technology creates a common digital platform through which freight brokers/3PLs and owner operators/carriers can exchange information about open loads and available capacity. Until digital freight matching technology came on the scene, there was really no shared, real-time digital place for owner operators/carriers to find and book loads and for freight brokers/3PLs like you to find and book capacity in real-time. Digital freight matching, also known as digital load matching, uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics to continually improve matching the right load with the right truck and vice versa.
2. Not a Load Board
Unlike load boards, digital freight matching is a real-time technology that automates the exchange of information between you and carriers/drivers. The digital freight matching technology baked into Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity uses the real-world movement of trucks and data from our free carrier platform (used by 220,000 carriers) to tell you where capacity is available now and in the future. One of the frustrating aspects of using load boards is that when a load or truck is booked by someone else, the capacity/load may still appear available. With digital freight matching, capacity and loads are automatically removed from the digital freight matching marketplace when they’re no longer available.
3. Helps Brokers Cover Loads Faster
Instead of manually calling carriers, emailing carriers about capacity or using load boards, your team members can search for both in-network and out-of-network capacity in a matter of seconds. They can search by lane, date(s), type of capacity, weight and other variables with a few clicks of a computer mouse. Digital freight matching ultimately helps you cover your shippers’ loads faster and with greater efficiency, increasing service levels and making you stand out to your customers.
4. Reduces Operating Costs
Increasing capacity sourcing efficiency ultimately reduces your operating costs. In simple terms, time equals money: the less time and labor associated with covering a single load, the lower the operational cost. Let’s say, for example, right now it takes 30 minutes for one of your team members to cover a single load by working through a list of carriers and calling each one. Let’s also say, for example, that with digital freight matching technology that same team member can locate and secure capacity in 10 minutes. You’ve just reduced the labor costs associated with that load by two-thirds. At the same time, your team member has 20 additional minutes free to book additional loads/capacity and increase your load count.
5. Expands Capacity Options
With digital freight matching platforms like Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity, you can expand and contract your network as needed. That’s invaluable, especially when freight markets are volatile. When you use Smart Capacity, you gain access to the nearly 2 million drivers using our mobile app and 250,000 carriers on our carrier platform. This massive capacity network makes it possible for you to add new lanes for customers with relative ease. You also can use Smart Capacity to research what capacity is available in specific lanes before you commit to adding additional lanes with a shipper.
6. Integrates with TMSs
Although each digital freight matching platform has its own user interface, most can be integrated with your transportation management system. For example, Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity integrates with the most popular TMSs in use today, including AscendTMS, BrokerPro, Dr. Dispatch, EZ Loader, FMS, HighJump, Mastery, McLeod, MercuryGate, Port TMS, Revenova, Tai, Tailwind, Teknowlogi, TransIntelligence, Turvo and others. This integration capability makes it possible for your team members to source capacity from Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity right within your TMS’ interface, saving them valuable time and simplifying internal workflows.
For more on the power of digital freight matching, read “How Trucker Tools’ Digital Freight Matching and Book It Now® Outperform Load Boards.” Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ Smart Capacity.
