What is a Transportation Management System?
A transportation management system (TMS) helps to streamline and optimize transportation processes by using technology. Transportation management platforms are designed to provide a comprehensive view of your fleet operations, making it easy to track and manage your vehicles from a single platform. Also, with reliable reporting and analytics, you can take necessary actions to streamline your business processes. By automating manual steps and reducing delivery times, it optimizes fleet management for better productivity and cost reduction.
How Does a Transportation Management System work?
Transportation Management Systems (TMS) help with planning, management, visibility and administration. It performs tasks including route optimisation, analytics and reporting, order and invoice management, vehicle performance monitoring and real-time tracking. Integrated transportation management systems make it possible for users to keep track of several shipments at the same time from a single dashboard, as opposed to dealing with each shipment.
3 reasons why you need a TMS for your business?
There are several benefits of a Transportation Management System including cost reduction, customer satisfaction and payment automation.
- Cost Reduction: GPS fleet management has helped lower accident rates in various industries by 16-30%, fuel expenses by 7-20% and labor costs 9-25% (Source: Verizon Connect). Automating fleet management tasks can help to streamline the process and save overhead costs.
- Customer Satisfaction: It is important to provide a seamless and quick response time in shipping, as this will increase customer satisfaction. According to a study conducted by Verizon Connect in 2020, Customer service improved by 54% because of fleet tracking with Transportation Management Systems.
- Payment Automation: On average, automation helps to save $13 on every invoice that is processed (Source: Levvel Research). Invoice processing is not only slow when done manually, but it is also often inaccurate and can hinder your productivity in administrative tasks on a daily basis.
How to choose the right Transportation Management System?
In order to choose the best transportation management system, firstly, understand the nature of your business by considering the number of shipments you make, the locations you operate from and the process of consolidating and distributing your shipments. Secondly, understand your requirements on how much you are willing to spend for a transportation management system and calculate the time you can spare until the system is installed. Thirdly, understand the capabilities of the specific TMS in terms of turn-around time, user-friendly navigation and comprehensive features.
Let’s Wrap Up!
Fleet management is a tedious and time-consuming task that involves multiple people, paperwork and operating costs. However, the process can be unified, automated and streamlined by utilizing a Transportation Management System for cost reduction, customer satisfaction and payment automation. All you have to do in order to choose the right Transportation Management Platform is to understand the nature of your business, your requirements and the capabilities of the TMS.
Axlerate is a unified platform for Logistics and transport management, payments and services. Our solutions help to simplify tolls, fuel purchases, fleet expenses, loans, insurance, escrow, payments, truck booking, fleet management and the buying and selling of logistics products and services.
