Supply chain management software provider project44 has rolled out a new tool that can help carriers win more business.
Connection Accelerator – built on the company’s Connection Center, which provides a unified view of all carrier connections, onboarding status and data quality across modes in a single platform – gives project44 customers instant access to 80,000 carriers across all modes (FTL, LTL, ocean, air and parcel) with 95% of active connections going live in minutes.
The typical carrier onboarding process can take weeks or even months because of time-consuming manual processes and complex technical integrations, slowing down freight efficiency. The typical process involves sending a spreadsheet with a list of carriers and waiting for a response to see if those carriers are in network.
With Connection Accelerator, carriers get the benefits of an automated and self-service onboarding process, but they also gain access to project44’s network of customers.
“When a carrier joins our network, they're usually coming on board for one customer, but when they set themselves up with an instant connection, that means that every new customer that comes on is going to be able to immediately use them, immediately get visibility, and they're going to be happier with that carrier,” said Nimrit Vest, a senior product manager at project44 that focuses on carrier onboarding and experience. “Our customers require this type of visibility from their carriers, so good performance across our network (and) quick onboarding means more business for carriers.”
Vest said Connection Accelerator is the front door to providing carriers access to existing and potential new customers.
It’s how carriers get onboarded to the project44 Movement platform, where customers and carriers have access to shared shipments.
Onboarding is initiated from the customer side. Customers upload their carrier lists and can instantly see which of project44’s carriers are available for immediate activation and connect to them in minutes. As soon as a customer clicks confirm and complete onboarding, the carriers on their list receive an invitation from the project44 platform.
Customers, she said, are more likely to trust and use a carrier that is already in the project44 network.
That’s because, on the customer side of the platform, customers have a holistic view of every connection within their multimodal network. They can monitor the health of those connections and carrier performance metrics within Connection Center.
“If a carrier is onboarded to our network, is providing the visibility that their customer is expecting, and the customer is happy with their performance, they're much more likely to win business with that customer,” Vest said.
On the carrier side of the platform, carriers can view shipments just like a customer can, and they can also view their own data, quality and performance. Vest said they also have exclusive access to a competitive comparison took, which enables carriers to compare their performance against others in the network to inform their rate pricing and where they could improve.
A reusable connection platform
Project44 Founder and CEO Jett McCandless said p44’s aim is to make carrier onboarding as simple as connecting with someone on LinkedIn.
Connection Accelerator is a step toward making that happen.
Legacy systems treat carrier onboarding as a one-time implementation hurdle, but customers need the ability to be more agile in an ever-changing freight environment, said Chelsea Quint, senior product marketing manager at project44.
Connection Accelerator allows them to continuously add new carriers, replace underperforming partners and adapt to market changes without a long implementation process with each new carrier.
Customers can upload one carrier at a time or bulk upload. They enter the carrier’s name, SCAC (Standard Carrier Alpha Code) and DOT number, and then Connection Accelerator analyzes the information to match customers with the best-performing connection for the service they need.
“The reason that this is really powerful is that we are able to take the information they provide us, compare it against our network, and not only see if the carrier is in and out of network, but we're able to … recommend the best way for them to connect with those partners and get the highest quality data,” Vest said.
And quality data is the foundation for AI, Quint added.
“Our belief is that offering AI agents and any sort of AI capabilities is only as good as the data feeding it, and without complete access to all of that data for customers across their full carrier network, even the best AI models aren't going to be able to produce reliable outputs,” Quint said.
Looking ahead, project44 plans to introduce carrier profiles, which will enable carriers to showcase their capabilities and performance to potential customers.
