Technology helps non-asset providers match freight and trucks more efficiently.
Non-asset transportation providers and arrangers may go by different names – carriers, brokers, agents, 3PLs, intermediaries, etc. – but ultimately they share the same resource: someone else’s truck capacity. Companies that are able to secure capacity quickly and consistently have the competitive edge. Increasingly, technology has become central to this effort.
Until early last year, J.H. Rose Logistics used a software package built primarily for asset-based carriers. The system lacked a process for managing carrier settlements, so the company relied heavily on Excel spreadsheets.
“Paying carriers on time is golden to us to maintain our credit rating,” says Amy Noyes, vice president of operations for the El Paso, Texas-based company. “That’s all they’ve got to look at.”
That’s why J.H. Rose Logistics switched to PowerBroker, an enterprise software system from McLeod Software developed specifically for brokerage and logistics companies. The company now processes settlement checks daily and pays carriers in as few as three days. Revenue increased by 25 percent last year without having to add additional staff, Noyes says.
“We did almost 3,000 more loads the first year,” she says. “You can’t attribute it all to software, but we did gain efficiencies.”
Major providers of trucking enterprise software see the third-party logistics segment and other non-asset transportation companies as a great prospect for new business development. Online freight matching services also recently have added more tools and resources to help brokerage and logistics companies capture capacity faster – and before their competitors do.
At the enterprise level
Some of the most recent technologies include new enterprise software packages and deeper integration between the different business systems used by brokers and carriers.
