• March 28, 2024

Everything You May Want to Know About Transportation Management System (TMS)

 Everything You May Want to Know About Transportation Management System (TMS)

The transportation industry is experiencing changing trends. It has been impacted over the past couple of years by lockdowns and other unanticipated supply chain bottlenecks. Nevertheless, client expectations for shipments are consistently rising; many want their packages delivered in a day or two. This puts the transportation industry in a precarious position where the only way to handle new problems is to digitalise and restructure the IT stack. Therefore, if a firm wants to keep up with the pace of the current world, a transportation management system is essential.

What is a Transportation Management System? 

A Transportation Management System (TMS) is a platform for logistics that makes use of technology to assist businesses in the planning, carrying out, and optimising of the physical transport of products, both incoming and outgoing, as well as in ensuring that the shipment is compliant and the necessary documentation is available.

Who Uses Transportation Management Systems? 

The use of TMS services is possible in almost every industry that transports, moves, and receives commodities. As a result, it can divide the primary users into two groups:

  • Manufacturers, distributors, retailers, shippers, and other e-commerce enterprises handle their own logistics-related operations to meet their business demands.
  • Companies that provide fulfilment services to other organisations are known as outsourcing service providers (also known as third- or fourth-party logistics (3PLs or 4PLs) providers or logistics service providers (LSPs).

Regarding the industry vertical, the government, healthcare, energy & utilities, manufacturing, retail & eCommerce, logistics, and other organisations primarily dominate the Transportation Management System market.

Features of Transport Management System 

There are numerous Transport Management Systems available on the market. Even though they are intended to perform the same thing – improve physical product movement – distinct transportation management system functionalities can be found in logistics. 

Read the following features, which will help you evaluate the best TMS software providers.  

Freight Auditing and Billing 

One of the main problems in the transportation sector, freight audit, can be resolved by enterprises with the aid of a TMS. The programme looks over the bills, confirms their accuracy, and ensures there aren’t any duplicates. Additionally, its operations automation makes it simple to pay for and share electronic proof of deliveries (ePODs). Due to the digitalisation of operations, calculations are completed automatically and without human interaction, reducing the time needed for billing reconciliation and eliminating errors.

Contract Management 

Managing contracts with carriers is one of the most challenging aspects of the heavily regulated transportation sector. The load of manual contract administration will be lifted off your team’s shoulders by advanced transportation management technologies. Due to the built-in contract administration module, your employees can manage complicated contracts with thorough compliance and item monitoring. You can specify insurance requirements, set thresholds on the set policy amounts, and monitor regulatory compliance information using the TMS. 

Integrations with WMS, OMS, and ERP 

A transportation management platform works closely with other technologies like Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), or Order Management Systems (OMS). Ensure your tech stack and the off-the-rack TMS work together seamlessly before using it. This will ensure error-free data exchange, reduce redundant tasks, and enhance departmental cooperation.

Analytics and Reports

In the current business environment, data-driven decisions are crucial. Therefore, a transport management solution needs to have features that let you create reports in a visually appealing and understandable manner. Typically, this programme compresses data into graphs, dashboards, maps, and other visual representations. As a result, you can more quickly and effectively handle data with visualised information, enabling you to make business decisions informed by data.

Transportation Control Tower

A connected and customised dashboard called a transportation control tower gathers important business KPIs and logistics-related events in one location. Due to the control tower, you can recognise, list, and address urgent problems in real-time. It delivers sophisticated shipping notifications, track-and-trace data, en-route goods, and delivery data to give you improved insight into inbound and outbound logistics.

GoBOLT is one of the best TMS software providers and a tech-enabled logistics player specialising in new-age end-to-end logistics services using SaaS-based solutions. It was founded in 2015 with the primary purpose of streamlining the supply chain model and enhancing the Indian logistics industry. 

Connect with GoBOLT to get the best TMS services!

Shabbir Ahmad

https://expertsadvices.net

Shabbir Ahmed is a professional blogger, writer, SEO expert & founder of Dive in SEO. With over 5 years of experience, he handles clients globally & also educates others with different digital marketing tactics.