Transportation management software, or TMS, is software that keeps all of the different departments in your business running smoothly and efficiently. For your distribution system, order management system, warehouse, and so on, to all work together, this TMS can be a true miracle worker. The software anticipates your needs and makes your job a lot easier and less time-consuming, and it helps businesses of all sizes run more efficiently so that you can save both time and money and increase your bottom line.
In these days of technology-driven businesses, it is impossible to run a business without the right software, and the software that helps manage the transportation of your goods and services is one of the most important. If you’ve never used this type of software before, it’s not too late to give it a try. If you’re still not convinced that a good TMS package is what you need, here are some of the great features it offers that you’ll soon learn you can’t live without.
1. Carrier Selection
Top-notch TMS like Rose Rocket will automatically determine the right carrier and mode option for your particular deliveries. This means more efficient and much less costly deliveries for you, and it also allows for a much more efficient procurement process. It’s simply a great tool to have because you won’t have to compare all different carriers yourself.
2. Business Data Analytics
TMS should have a way to analyze all of the data that involves your business. With this feature, you can observe trends and make both operations and procedures much more efficient. To improve any part of your business, you have to know where you stand now, and with the right analytics capability, transportation management software helps you do just that.
3. Contract Management
With this feature, you get real-time data on the terms and conditions of all of the contracts you have with your carriers. The feature, therefore, allows you to compare different characters so that you can determine which one is giving you the best service at the best cost. It reviews different details related to each carrier so that you can see for yourself which one you should be using.
4. Freight Estimates and Settlements
This feature helps to keep down your costs because it calculates your delivery costs and enables your accountants to create invoices, allocate costs, generate payments, and so much more. When you want to save money on the shipping process, this feature of a TMS will get to be one of your favorites. It is also a favorite of accountants because it makes their job a lot easier.
5. Route Optimization
TMS packages also help you determine the best route for your products to get shipped. It will analyze maps, fuel costs, road speeds, traffic data, and much more so that the most efficient route is determined, making for both lower shipping costs and a faster shipping time. This is a fairly sophisticated feature that produces great results for your business, especially financially.
6. Shipment Consolidation
This TMS feature suggests ways to consolidate shipments whenever possible to save you money. When products can be shipped in sets and placed on the same truck, this saves both time and money, so this feature of TMS can be a real money-saver and make for a better bottom line. Think of it as being similar to buying in bulk, because your business will save with more products on each truck or trailer, even if they’re going to different places.
7. Risk Management
Managing your national and international shipping risks is much easier when you have the capability to automate your auditing processes and generate cross-border reports. Top-notch transportation management software always has a risk management feature, and it can be a real miracle worker. If you want to manage your risks, you have to have a starting point, and that’s what this particular feature of good TMS does.
8. Tracing and Tracking
This is yet another great feature because you can trace a package anytime you like. It shows you real-time data and information between the customer, the carrier, and the distribution center so that you can learn where packages are and where they’re on their way to any time you need this information.
9. Product Visibility/Shipping Support
You need full visibility of your products to make sure everything is running smoothly. Simply put, the right TMS will offer this feature, enabling you to see where your packages are at any given time. From start to finish, you’ll be able to see everything that’s going on so you will be sure the process is running smoothly.
10. Warehouse and Yard Management
To make sure your warehouse and other divisions work together, TMS gives you a way to manage them easily and quickly. With this feature, you can monitor the movement of your trucks and trailers across warehousing, manufacturing, and distribution facilities so that if any problems or snags pop up, you can be notified immediately.
