Balance

Can A Shipper Really Balance Transportation Cost With Service (OTD)? Yes They Can.

Costs surrounding freight always fluctuate up and down. The trick for shippers is to deliver the goods their customers expect on time, without acquiring and then passing down increased transportation costs. There’s more focus on transportation budgets and service than ever before, and utilizing software– that outputs real-time data– will take the mystery out of how shippers can successfully balance transportation costs with service levels. Because as transportation insiders know all too well, shippers are either over-paying and receiving great service, or under-paying and receiving horrible service. The new way forward for savvy shippers is to utilize a combination of automation and data intelligence to always deliver goods on time while paying a fair truckload price. 

Automating Freight Procurement Procedures

It seems overnight, the digital transformation and new emerging technologies have instantly changed supply chain procedures to become more agile to help overcome new challenges. For example, instead of relying on freight brokers and RFPs to source compliant carriers, innovative shippers have turned to automation technology, which uses a self-regulated freight marketplace to dynamically source compliant, asset-based capacity at the right time, place, and price! On average, these shippers are saving 

over 17% on truckload cost, while generating 97%+ OTD. 

Closing the Freight Procurement Data-Gap 

Forward-thinking shippers have also prioritized the need to close the massive data gap associated with freight procurement by choosing to only do business with partners that provide 100% data transparency. Once the data gap is filled, shippers are then empowered to make stronger, data-driven decisions surrounding how best to optimize their carrier network so they can always deliver goods on time, at fair market price. 

For example, TL360 provides a complete snapshot of truckload activity, including carrier names and carrier cost, while freight brokers purposely don’t share this data. Therefore, it’s safe to say that any shipper still utilizing freight brokers has data gaps, which hinder the transportation team’s ability to deliver goods on time, and at fair market price. By having all of the data in one master reporting suite, shippers can quickly identify problems across the carrier network to know which carriers are achieving stellar service levels, at fair market cost, and more importantly which carriers are not so they can be replaced. 

Taking advantage of emerging technology, and demanding advanced analytics, have pushed many large shipper’s freight procurement efforts to a totally different level, creating a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, all shippers are dealing with the same economic uncertainty, and only those shippers who figure out how to effectively balance transportation costs with healthy service levels will have the secret sauce on how to maintain happy customer– ultimately positioning their business to succeed no matter what future challenges lay ahead– in order words they are sustainable.