Plan, procure, execute, & track transportation for every shipment across your supply chain & logistics operations
A SaaS solution to help grow your business by achieving 100% perfect order execution at high volumes
Increase vehicle capacity utilization and customer promise adherence
Grow your business with omnichannel presence and automated pickups
Consolidate shipments for hub to hub movement across land and air
Real-time customer communications and collect accurate PODs
Orchestrate logistics operations with multiple 3rd party carriers
Achieve cost effective, scalable, sustainable, and customer centric deliveries
Orchestrate all your cross-border logistics operations with ease
Improve address accuracy, ensure first-attempt delivery success, reduce costs and boost customer experience
Gain end-to-end shipment visibility, get proactive alerts, and send customers live tracking links
Grow business in a dynamic world and manage operations across First, Middle & Last mile
Delight customers by seamlessly managing store and online orders across own fleet and 3rd party
Reduce freight costs & get end to end visibility across shipments
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The physical movement of goods and products is a critical link in the logistics and supply chain process. However, the scale of operations, shipments, and the number of moving parts in this physical movement comprise a complex management challenge that can only be solved by efficient automation. This is why businesses around the globe are investing in AI/ML-powered Transport Management Systems (TMS).
The key features of TMS solution help businesses streamline the shipping procedure and optimize resources during transportation. They also help in the effective management of fleet operations and meet narrowing delivery timelines. As a result, enterprises are inclined towards technology-driven TMS solutions to upgrade their systems and lower the overall transportation cost.
But then again what are these key features of TMS solutions and what benefits do they offer to businesses? What are some of the key considerations that every business should keep in mind while investing in a TMS?
This blog explores the answers to these and many other questions.
Let us begin with a brief discussion of the TMS trends from all over the globe.
Hence, businesses and supply chain stakeholders around the globe are looking for ways to curb inefficiencies, trap cost leakages and unlock high levels of optimization in their transportation operations.
Here is what supply chain and logistics leaders across the globe are looking for:
Source
However, before investing in any platform, enterprises need to understand the key features of TMS solutions that would help them address business pain points via robust planning.
Before we move on to that conversation, let us first explore why logistics providers need TMS in the first place.
The supply chain network is a barrage of complex processes. Various steps are involved in completing the on-time delivery of orders, such as order allocation, dispatching, management, and transportation. During the movement of goods, enterprises are often subjected to numerous constraints.
Common roadblocks like inefficient route planning, rising costs, lack of visibility, and unforeseen circumstances add to logistics management complexities. With the promise to fulfill quicker deliveries of goods, logistics enterprises often fail to keep the TCO in check.
This becomes extremely crucial, considering last-mile deliveries constitute 53% of the total shipping costs. TMS solution offer key functions to automate operations and overcome transport-related challenges. So, futuristic enterprises are aggressively retiring their monolithic systems and investing in new-gen TMS solutions to increase the efficiency and productivity of their fleet.
Platforms for route management empower organizations to streamline the logistics flow and ensure every process is carried out with the utmost precision. The innovative solutions enable businesses to experience a host of advantages, such as reduced transportation costs, enhanced warehouse effectiveness, improved inventory management, real-time monitoring, and route optimization.
Transportation management software is a one-stop solution for enterprises to drive intelligent planning and ensure on-time deliveries. Listed below are some of the reasons why TMS solutions are critical for efficiency in transportation-related activities.
In a dynamic global business environment, it is vital to have a system that enables businesses to easily navigate through numerous trade policies and compliance procedures. Gartner predicts that through 2026, 80% of companies will register significant value loss owing to the failure to merge their control tower initiatives and digital supply chain twins.
With TMS solutions by their side, organizations attain 360-degree control of their logistical transportation operations. Business users are able to plan, execute and optimize the entire supply chain functions smoothly and with greater accuracy.
For instance, one of the world’s leading OEMs and suppliers made 75% person-hours saving with TMS.
eCommerce businesses and 3PL & LLP professionals can streamline logistics operations by building a loading workflow engine. Besides increasing operational efficiency, transport management capabilities significantly reduce the TAT and minimize overhead costs.
Furthermore, the key features of TMS solutions assist logistics providers in intelligent freight sourcing with spot bidding. As a result, logistic heads draw direct benefits as it saves their time in communicating with various vendors.
One of Shipsy’s clients was experiencing poor collaboration with freight forwarders for spot inquiries and quotations. Customization in key features of TMS solutions helped them to reduce cost by 10% in freight procurement.
Overpayment and duplicate billing are some of the significant threats in logistics that evade most supply chain profits. It is assumed that up to 80% of freight invoices contain discrepancies, resulting in a 10% or more loss in revenue due to invoice overpayments.
TMS solutions and their key features detangle the issue of billing and claim management by making sharing of ePODs effortlessly easier. With the digitization of billing, operations make calculations error-free, minimize human intervention, and bring efficiency to billing reconciliation.
Apart from the above-mentioned, TMS platforms offer numerous other advantages for enhanced operational transparency and delivering business value. By replacing legacy software with transport management systems, logistics players are scaling deliveries more effortlessly.
Next, we move on to discuss the key considerations a business must have while investing in a transportation management platform.
Choosing an ideal TMS solution that meets your enterprise’s dynamic and peculiar requirements can be a tedious process. Forward-thinking enterprises opt for customized TMS solutions instead of off-the-shelf software to address their unique business needs.
Implementation of a TMS solution is a time, effort, and money-intensive operation. Hence, choosing a TMS solution can make or break the operational efficiency of an enterprise. Therefore, careful analysis of various key features of TMS solutions is a must before making a decision.
Here are some key factors to consider before investing in any transportation management software.
The one-size-fits-all approach no longer works as every business has a different set of operational challenges and business use cases. Organizations that are small in size tend to avoid complex systems that are dependent on in-house IT expertise.
High-code platforms tend to confuse team members, derail productivity and negatively impact customer experiences. Moreover, you need to ensure that you’re nurturing a forward-thinking organization that is comfortable adapting to new environments, such as integrating with new solutions and their capabilities.
Only a handful of TMS platforms handle every aspect of transport modality. Therefore, you need to ensure that your selected software supports whatever transport model you use. Many customers opt for software that supports multimodal transportation, whereas their logistics operations are intermodal.
Therefore, you should thoroughly consider the nature and mode of your transportation model before investing in TMS solutions. State-of-the-art platforms such as Shipsy’s route optimization and planning software leverage in-built algorithms to intelligently allocate consignments to the right vehicle based on numerous critical metrics.
Whether you’re a retailer, manufacturer, distributor, or logistics provider, you need to have a clear-cut purpose for investing in transportation management software. Maintenance costs, lack of integration with existing ERP, dependency on IT teams, etc., are some of the common hindrances of traditional transportation management solutions.
Customizable TMS solutions are filling the gap for businesses in fulfilling a diverse range of requirements – increasing operational visibility, improving customer relations, minimizing leasing and fuel costs, enabling auto-allocation of riders, and empowering customers for delivery feedback.
Some of the key features of cloud-based TMS solutions include robust analytics, ease of documentation, enhanced functional agility, reduced cost, and help to bid smartly.
TMS solutions offer a big basket of features. However, not all features can suit your business model. 3PL, LLPs, distributors, retailers, and manufacturers – all have a unique set of needs. Therefore, while selecting a TMS solution, always analyze the functionality and usefulness of various key features of TMS solutions in your business.
A manufacturer who dispatches material from one warehouse to another may not use billing and invoicing features as frequently as distributors. In a nutshell, the availability of appropriate features and options to customize the platform according to one’s needs is vital for seamless functioning.
New-age TMS solutions can help your business in manifolds. For instance, organizations that need claim management would benefit greatly from a centralized method of claim and dispute handling.
The claims reporting and analytics features of TMS solutions provide insights on carrier portals, delivery ETAs, selected delivery time slots, and track claims, consignments, packages, and more. Organizations can get help with compliance and governance by automating carrier, driver, ELD, or HOS Compliance, PoD, and more.
While selecting an ideal TMS solution, businesses must ensure a frictionless integration with existing solutions. There is an intense need for seamless integration of WMS, ERP, POS, and BI tools.
A TMS platform has numerous benefits for businesses of all sizes, from making freight operations efficient to delivering a superior customer experience.
Now that we are armed with a detailed overview and key considerations, let us move on to explore the key features of TMS solution.
A robust TMS platform enables business users to allocate orders based on type, location, volume, size, and other crucial parameters. Every customer has a unique address, and by clubbing multiple orders based on location, maximum deliveries can be carried out with one vehicle.
Smart TMS platforms come with in-built algorithms that analyze, evaluate, and assign consignments to the most suitable vehicle.
Cloud-based TMS solutions offer seamless integrations with your company’s existing solutions like ERP, SAP, WMS, and POS. Easy integration makes systems more agile and adds compatibility.
Additionally, a low-code, easy-to-use platform eliminates the dependency on IT teams, and users can carry out critical tasks hassle-free.
Finding the most efficient route becomes critical to ensure on-time delivery and reduce wait times. Route optimization capabilities also enable businesses to take the most optimal routes to minimize fuel waste and meet sustainability goals.
The AI-enabled platforms assist riders in avoiding traffic, reducing vehicle idling, keeping vehicle maintenance costs in check, etc. Additionally, customers are also kept in the loop regarding the order status in real-time with delivery ETAs.
Static route planning becomes a hassle for enterprises when faced with unforeseen circumstances such as bad weather, accidents, or a sudden traffic surge. Dynamic route planning automatically adjusts routes by analyzing multiple parameters: cost-effectiveness, location of multi-stop deliveries, traffic conditions, product delivery SLA, etc.
By generating the best-optimized routes on the go, TMS solutions maintain the uninterrupted flow of the supply chain network and ensure customer satisfaction.
Innovative transport management platforms provide a single dashboard for managers to track and trace every inch of last-mile operations in real-time. Intelligent solutions such as Shipsy’s last-mile delivery software share real-time alerts based on predefined benchmarks and boost rider engagement via the gamification of incentives.
Apart from completing delivery on time, the success of last-mile operations also depends heavily on customer convenience. Buyers should be provided with options to alter contact details, update delivery address or reschedule the deliveries as and when required.
TMS solutions provide 360-degree visibility into the current state of events and assets along with real-time of the exact location of goods. This is one of the most crucial key features of TMS solutions that enable enterprises to keep an eye on the movement of goods to minimize delays, reduce costs and ensure SLA adherence.
Alongside business users, customers also receive a tracking link via WhatsApp, SMS, or email immediately after placing an order and check the order status at any given point in time.
eCommerce giants like Amazon drive better customer engagement and satisfaction by keeping them informed about the estimated time of arrival (ETA). One of the key features of TMS solutions involves sharing a quick link to track driver and order status at all times.
The solution also sorts consignments in certain orders for loading to ensure products are delivered at the customer’s preferred time slots.
Not all TMS solutions offer cloud-based solutions. Several players still offer conventional solutions that lack usability. The cloud-based architecture allows teams to retrieve real-time information from remote locations. It also enables businesses to expand and downscale their operations as and when required and pay only for the features they use.
Therefore, organizations with global expansion apprehensions should always consider cloud-based platforms for greater agility and flexibility.
System complexity is the last thing that any organization expects with solutions. A user-friendly interface and easy navigation with minimal IT dependence are significant parameters to consider when investing in a TMS platform.
AD-hoc reporting becomes easy, and concerned parties get valuable analytics in a few clicks. Low-code, easy-to-use software enables users to make the most of the solution capabilities, saving significant amounts of time and effort.
TMS features remove bottleneck hurdles and promote diverse functionality beyond standard routing guides. Automation and data analytics optimizes workflows and provides greater visibility to stakeholders via centralized dashboards.
The AI/ML capabilities help enterprises dish out recurring challenges by analyzing historical data to facilitate informed decision-making.
Innovative features of TMS solutions offer intuitive, AI-enabled chat features that help address customers’ queries. These AI-based chatbots are designed to mitigate customers’ common issues, whereas complex and unique issues are forwarded to CRM departments for better redressals.
Customers also receive a real-time tracking link immediately after placing an order and are provided with platforms to share delivery feedback. Additionally, the innovative platforms also enable buyers to select a delivery time of their preference for greater convenience.
In a nutshell, the key features of TMS solutions meet the complex problems of logistics and supply chain transportation and help businesses to plan, execute, and optimize processes to make them more agile and less complicated.
Shipsy offers world-class TMS solutions that can streamline most critical logistics management issues. Our AI and cloud-enabled capabilities seamlessly iron out critical hurdles of your logistic operations and augment business growth by upscaling the functionality of supply-chain processes.
With a growing network of 20000+ shippers and 50+ 3PL and LLPs associated partners, Shipsy is your trusted partner to optimize mile operations and deliver superior CX without a hitch.
Shipsy’s smart TMS solution comes with advanced in-built AI algorithms that offer on-the-go optimization and help businesses unlock:
For more information about Shipsy’s TMS solutions, get in touch with our experts and schedule a custom demo today.
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