As part of this release, McLeod says new functional enhancements and 3rd party integration were added to the products.
With capacity shortages putting upward pressure on rates, the key differentiator in competing for the best customers is shifting from just rates to service performance. Version 11 has new analysis tools for service level history that gives both carriers and brokers insight into historical information about how customers are being served and the context for measuring those service levels against a variety of key factors and variables that they can control, the company says.
The process of offering and accepting loads has been streamlined and further automated for outside
carriers along with enhancements to the PowerBroker internet portal for customers and carriers. Brokers can quickly see comprehensive up-to-the-minute load offer and acceptance history for each carrier.
Lane analysis has become a big part of brokers and carriersā strategic decision making process to understand where they make money and where they donāt make as much. A new lane analysis tool has been added to PowerBroker to allow brokers to analyze their lanes by carrier margins, which effectively lets brokers create their own lane rate index for any market they serve.
The McLeod financial solution, which is integral to both the LoadMaster and PowerBroker products, has nearly a dozen enhancements. Companies can set up statistical accounts in their general ledger to do cost rollups and establish cost centers with greater ease, the company says. Financial reports from the system can now easily calculate ratios of accounting data to nonāaccounting data such as drivers, employees, customers, tractors, miles, and other variables.
The new version has new integration options for Internet Truckstop, Tenstreet, Macropoint Lite, Blue Tree Systems, and iBright have been added. The existing LoadMaster integration for mobile communications suppliers Qualcomm and Xata have been enhanced and expanded in this release, the company says.
The growth in choices for trailer tracking and monitoring systems has been explosive. McLeod Software says it is now up to 9 interfaces with the bulk of the investment coming from reefer carriers. Integration of EOBR data with dispatch has also become more important and widely used than ever.
Brokers are always looking for new ways to automate and expedite the check call process with carriers and make it more accurate. Last year, McLeod worked with uFollowit. This year it is adding Macropoint Lite and expects to see more alternatives coming to the market to automate this function.
Both the LoadMaster Enterprise and PowerBroker version 11.0 releases will begin shipping immediately.
