Modern organizations with expansive logistic systems are seeing exponential efficiency gains when they have thorough data on where their products and cargo are at all times with transportation management software.

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 Is Transportation Management Software?

Transportation management software, sometimes called a transportation management system, is a digital platform that enables logistics teams to plan, execute, and track cargo and freight on their journey. These technologies use automation, data analysis, and machine learning to accelerate normally time-consuming procedures. In addition, these programs provide visibility throughout the delivery process.

TMS can track the many modules of a transportation network, such as manufacturers, distributors, fleets, forwarding services, and logistics teams. TMS can handle duties like developing routes and estimating quotes for possible clients. Many of the programs are real time in nature.

Because enterprises of different sizes use transportation management systems, the modes of transportation and actual load composition vary greatly. TMS can aid in the tracking of vessels, planes, trains, and vehicles carrying supplies that can be in bulk, in parcels, or on pallets. TMS is used by some businesses to track internal assets as well as wholesale and client orders, and may track goods inbound or outbound, international, or domestic.

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What Should
Transportation Management
Software Do?

There are some specific uses for transportation management software that are worth highlighting. While every business’s needs are different when in the market for new TMS, these are some of the features that will allow your business to be successful and how you could use them.

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.

Gain insight with transportation management software across your entire operation.

Transportation management software can help you track your vehicles, monitor and manage your employees, maintain compliance, and save your business money. It can also track your company property, help you avoid getting in trouble with the government and help you stay competitive in a complex market. Some of the most popular models of transportation management software include:

Cloud-Based Software

Organizations with satellite officers rely on their transportation management software being accessible through the cloud from anywhere with an internet connection.

On-Premise Software

Investing in on-premise transportation management software is an investment into a stable connection with security options for organizations to completely own their assets and data.

Mobile Software

Mobile transportation management software is designed to be used on mobile devices. This provides the best flexibility for businesses that manage their cargo and fleet on the go.

Web-Based Software

Web-based transportation management software is accessed through a web browser. It is convenient, like mobile software but works better on a laptop or desktop.

Hybrid Software

Hybrid transportation management software combines the features of both on-premise and cloud-based software. Many organizations go for this type of software for its accessibility from any network location.

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.

The Future of Transportation Management Software

Customer expectations are becoming more consistently demanding of companies of all sizes, not only for on-time deliveries and same-day and even next-day deliveries, but also real-time updates provided throughout the shipment process. Similarly, ever-changing global trade regulations and standards also force supply chains to innovate to keep pace. As a result, the quickest way to stay competitive is often by employing a transportation management system.

Transportation management systems must become more powerful and take on increasing complexities, offering customers faster responses with more precise information. TMS can also become increasingly sophisticated due to machine learning, delivering better recommendations and more accurate forecasts.

Companies can integrate their transportation and global trade management systems with emerging technologies to improve visibility and offer better customer service. These advanced features include connection to sensors that provide real-time driving conditions updates, digital assistants, and chatbots, AI and machine learning, and temperature management for perishables and climate-sensitive materials.

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