Aljex Software – a provider of hosted management software for freight brokers, carriers, 3PLs and other transportation providers – has introduced a document management upgrade to its Web-based transportation software designed to speed a company’s billing cycle and improve cash flow.
Saving, searching for, and accessing documents now are as intuitive and easy as virtually every other function in Aljex software, according to the company. Aljex says users can save any digitized document directly to a shipment folder where it can be accessed instantly; documents can be in any digital format – XLS, DOC, PDF, EML, TXT and JPG, among many others – and can be attached easily to customer bills and e-mailed or printed and sent with billing through the regular mail.
Aljex says the document management upgrade speeds handling of one type of document in particular, the signed delivery receipt; when delivery receipts are scanned on the road and sent electronically, the carrier or broker can bill the customer immediately. There is no need to wait for a truck to arrive at a company location with paperwork. according to the company; that can cut days and even weeks from the billing cycle and lower a company’s days billing outstanding, or DBO, an important financial measure that reflects cashflow directly.
The upgrade is being applied to both Aljex software options, Aljex Classic and Aljex TIN (Transportation Intermediary Network), which includes mapping. Since Aljex is hosted over the Internet, the update will be available to all customers of each version at the same time and at no extra charge.
“We constantly upgrade our hosted applications,” says Tom Heine, Aljex president. “We implement upgrades as soon as they are tested and secure. Customers do not need to install updates or interrupt their operations at all.”
Digital document management is important as more drivers scan signed proof-of-delivery documents and forward them from truckstops or through carrier document management systems; some drivers even can scan documents in their own truck cabs. In-cab scanning, introduced commercially in 2006, is spreading among large carriers and likely also will become common among small operators; eventually, it will be an industry standard.
Aljex says the same upgrade can be used to manage other kinds of digital files, including digital photos of damaged freight and accident scenes, for example; similarly, users easily can save and access spreadsheets and even videos that might be associated with a load or shipment.
Aljex says it provides uninterrupted customer access to software and data through redundant servers located on the Internet backbone in Denver; Philadelphia; Asheville, N.C.; Dallas, Bismarck, N.D.; and at the company’s headquarters in Middlesex, N.J.
