Competitive and customer pressures tend to be the main reasons that carriers adopt and integrate with real-time transportation visibility (RTTV) platforms. They also sometimes fear that the increased transparency would be to their detriment, giving shippers more power through the increased data on performance, potentially leading to further erosion of what are, in some cases, already razor-thin margins.
The reality is that RTTV solutions actually benefit carriers in several ways. In fact, implementing a RTTV solution leads to a win-win-win outcome for shippers, carriers and visibility providers, especially with Shippeo’s as it’s 100% free for carriers to use.
Like shippers, carriers can experience low productivity challenges as a result of staff spending many hours each week manually entering information into various customer portals. Additionally, the lack of real-time information about delays or delivery problems for their clients or of dwell times at their customers’ logistics centers waiting to load or unload goods, result in further inefficiencies and wasted resources.
Here’s what life was like for an anonymous representative from a carrier with a 700 vehicle fleet before having access to real-time transportation visibility:
“We have between three and four customer portals to fill daily. The manual entry of information is time consuming for our teams, but it generates added value for our customers. What increases the workload is that no portal is the same, and it’s not centralized. For each portal, the way of working is different. None of the orders are sent to us in the same way, so we have to constantly log in to get the details, and our employees need specific training. This means extra time dedicated to each client, and they are not always easy to use. The problem is that shippers do not consider these challenges. They do not reflect on what kind of additional workload this creates for us, or whether their portal is simple to use.”
Fortunately, there is a better way. Shippeo offers a single portal, that’s easy to connect with, and that enables automation and seamless data synchronization to save carriers time. Here are some of the key reasons carriers should consider integrating with a real-time transportation visibility platform:
01 GAIN NEW BUSINESS
Integrating with a RTTV platform helps carriers to win new business. A potential client who already uses a specific RTTV platform might prefer to use a carrier that is already onboarded. It will ensure the carrier can focus on shipments rather than admin or chasing deliveries for customers or warehouse personnel. Improved ETA accuracy reduces dwell time, maximizing time on the road.
02 WIN REPEAT BUSINESS
Increased visibility and transparency of operations provide carriers with a service differentiator for customers, as operational efficiency is boosted, communication is improved with automated notifications and customer support levels are raised as teams know the precise status of a shipment. This fosters trust and can boost reputation.
03 REDUCE ADMIN
A RTTV portal combines several data sources into a single source of truth, providing a holistic view of operations and instant access to data and insights, saving a lot of time on chasing shipment statuses with truck drivers. Changes in delivery status can be automatically communicated to all parties involved, reducing the number of customer inquiries and allowing customer service teams to focus on dealing with exceptions.
04 REDUCE DETENTION
Based on end users’ conversations and use cases collected by Gartner, visibility solutions can reduce detention and demurrage fees by 25% on average.
05 BETTER LAST-MILE CAPABILITIES
By using the Shippeo mobile application, drivers can access trip information including milk runs, which can be dynamically updated. Parcel and packaging scanning features allow better management of returnable packaging, the ability to take proof of delivery photos, tracing of shipments down to the SKU level and the ability for drivers to generate an eCMR.
06 eCMRs
The ability to generate an eCMR using a mobile application has a number of benefits. Paperless workflows reduce physical interactions with others thanks to reduced paper handling. It also saves time by automating data inputs for drivers and is instantly stored and accessible to admin teams upon completion. Electronic storage makes accessing previous eCMR records instant. The ability to attach proof photos of a delivery also help to avoid future litigations.
07 INTEGRATE WITHOUT HAVING TO DEPLOY NEW TECH OR I.T. INFRASTRUCTURE
Connecting to a RTTV solution is easy using API connections, requiring very little involvement of IT teams, compared to other integration types (e.g. EDI). The availability of a mobile application also means that shipments can still be tracked even when a truck is not equipped with telematics.
08 REDUCE FREIGHT PAY & AUDIT TIME
Complete and objective data on deliveries helps speed up freight pay and audit processes and eliminates the back and forth on disputes.
09 TURN TRUCKS FASTER
Reduced dwell times thanks to more streamlined operations maximizes truck utilization.
At Shippeo, we’ve incorporated a range of activities and practices to deliver the best quality onboarding experience for carriers on the market to help ensure consistent adherence and tracking rates.
Shippeo’s Visibility Guide “The ‘3-way-win’ approach to onboarding carriers onto transportation visibility platforms” outlines some of the challenges to smooth carrier integrations and onboardings, as well as the carrier benefits. But more importantly, it covers Shippeo’s unique and thorough approach to carrier onboarding quality including the seven best practices to be aware of to ensure your visibility project is nothing short of a standout success.
Download the guide now or feel free to get in touch with one of our experts if you're interested in finding out more about Shippeo.
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