Transportation management software (TMS) helps you oversee, monitor, and control your company fleet. From cars to buses and vans, or even drones for the more developed markets, a TMS tracks where your vehicles are at any given moment, what they’re carrying, and who is driving them.
Modern companies use a TMS for a variety of reasons. For example, some businesses want to see where their vehicles are at any given time to monitor the progress of shipments. Others want to track employee time spent on the job to comply with employment laws and regulations.
According to Allied Market Research, while lockdowns and the pandemic raged on, the TMS market emerged as a lucrative industry and is only becoming stronger, solidifying them as a sound corporate investment. Moreover, with TMS's profitability from both the developer and logistical standpoints, we may expect these systems to become even more helpful and advanced over time.
What Should
Transportation Management
Software Do?
Track Inventory in Real Time
Trucks can be equipped with GPS systems and security that are then monitored remotely. In some instances, logistics team members can be notified if a truck makes an unauthorized stop on a route or if the locks on a trailer are being tampered with.
Tracking vehicles is also important when generating delivery windows for customers or other stakeholders. Gathering this data can be useful when optimizing future deliveries and giving customers more accurate quotes for both time and cost.
Monitor and Manage Your Drivers
For smaller-scale operations, it’s also possible to have part-time drivers on your roster. As an employer, you not only have to track their hours to pay them appropriately, but you also have to abide by laws and regulations.
With the aforementioned GPS systems, you can remotely and routinely log the time drivers spend on the road, at pick-ups and drop-offs, as well as their downtime. This prevents the falsification of service logs, making the roads safer for other drivers and even your employees. It also allows your business to stay compliant and avoid inopportune fines.
Help You Save Money
There are a few ways transportation management software can help your business save money. For example, many companies still frequently track their employees' work hours using paper time sheets. With TMS, you can avoid paper time sheets because the software has that feature built in — and can automate the processing of it.
Without manual input from managers, supervisors can better focus on business-critical operations rather than having to continuously monitor employee hours. So, while saving money on payroll is attractive,TMS can also help you track fuel, maintenance, and mileage. It can also help you predict maintenance issues before they happen, optimize delivery routes, and compare the costs for different carriers, if necessary.
What to Look for in
Transportation Management Software
There are a few key factors to look for when choosing a transportation management software solution. First, ensure that the software is compatible with any existing systems. Second, review that the software is easy to use and understand so your team can comfortably traverse the platform. Third, and arguably the most important, the software must be able to handle your specific business needs.
Other important aspects are cost efficiency and a technology partner with a strong focus on customer satisfaction. Of course, depending on features, there can be a give and take with a budget, but no budget is worth an unresponsive team or a lack of training for this investment.