Transport Management (2) How can I gain transparency?

As a shipper, it is often not easy to get an overview of your own transport logistics. Reliable shipment tracking is just one of many challenges. Part two of our series on transport management is therefore all about transparency. We explain how InstaFreight can help you to achieve operational and financial transparency as well as visibility into the CO₂ emissions of your transport logistics – and the important role that digitalization and automation have in this.

The InstaFreight platform as a central system 

How many transport orders do you place each month? And how many freight forwarders and carriers do you use? Fact is: The larger your transport volume is and the more transport partners are involved, the more difficult it becomes for you to keep track of all the processes: This starts with the non-transparent placing of orders via a multitude of different communication channels such as telephone and email, extends to the often fragmentary transport tracking, and ends with time-consuming cost control.

Our digital Transport Management Solution consolidates these processes and procedures into one central system: The InstaFreight platform. We onboard your entire transport logistics to our platform – including your existing transport partners, rate cards and lanes – and process all transport orders transparently for you.

Delivering actionable insights into your transport logistics

Digitizing your transport logistics creates the basis for a transparent transport management. This way, you receive insights into your operational, financial and sustainability-related key figures as a basis for optimization. One example is the evaluation of the reliability of your transport partners: If you can track just with a click which carrier delivers on time, you can assign time-critical orders in a more targeted manner. Find out more about operational transparency now:

Operational transparency: Control over all transport processes

As the central hub for your transport logistics, the InstaFreight platform gives you full operational transparency. Important tools are the dashboard, the Control Tower with included real-time transport tracking, and the regular KPI reporting on your most important key figures.

1. Dashboard

Your personal dashboard provides you with an overview of all current transport orders as well as an evaluation of your shipments on a weekly basis. This allows you to track the status of your transport management at a glance. With just a click, you can also directly order new transports – both spot loads and contracted business.

2. Control Tower with real-time tracking 

While the dashboard offers a general overview of your transports, your Control Tower provides important detailed information on all orders. This includes status updates on the delivery progress of each shipment and information on any delivery delays that may occur. By connection to telematics systems, we also provide you with reliable real-time tracking. This combination of status updates and live track & trace provides you with a powerful tool for the tracking of your shipments.

3. KPI reporting with operational key figures

Would you like to receive evaluations of your operational key figures? Our Transport Management Service includes an individualized KPI reporting that is generated automatically on the basis of all transport data. There, you will find information on the number of your transports on monthly basis and on lane basis, on the performance and reliability of your transport partners, and on delivery problems by category, e.g. delays in pickup or delivery. Thus, you gain detailed insights into your transport logistics and can derive and implement optimization measures together with our logistics experts.

Financial transparency: Transport costs well managed

In addition to operational transparency, our digital Transport Management Solution also offers visibility on all financial aspects of your transport logistics. Thanks to our open-book approach, the KPI reporting and our consolidated invoicing, you always have an overview of all costs.

1. Open-book approach & management fee

With our operational service, we support you in conducting tenders for contracted business. In addition, we handle your spot orders by sourcing capacity and by handling the onboarding and vetting of new transport partners for you. To do so, we use our large network of over 25,000 vetted carriers. We pass on the agreed rates to you transparently and without markup on a 1:1 basis as part of our open-book approach. In return for our service, we charge you with a small transaction fee. However, this does not increase costs for you due to the efficiency gains we achieve and the resulting direct and indirect cost savings.

2. KPI reporting with financial key figures

Many companies still work with Excel lists to monitor their freight costs. However, manual list maintenance is susceptible to errors and time-consuming. With our automated KPI reporting, you can get an accurate overview of your freight costs with just a click. Here you can check your total freight costs for any period of time and receive a detailed breakdown of costs on route or transport base. This not only allows you to gain transparency over your key financial figures, but also serves our logistics experts as a benchmark for cost-cutting measures.

3. Consolidated invoicing

Each transport order results in the payment of the freight forwarder or carrier. Fact is: Working with different transport partners often leads to non-transparent accounting, as countless single invoices have to be processed. With our Transport Management Service, we take over the invoice auditing and payment processing of your shipments for you. Thus, you only receive one, consolidated invoice for all transport orders at the end of each month and have a clear overview of your costs.

Transparency on CO₂ emissions

Do you know the ecological footprint of your transport logistics? If not, you share a common challenge with many other companies. However, sustainability in logistics is becoming increasingly important. That’s why our sustainability reporting gives you the opportunity to evaluate your CO₂ emissions on lane or on transport basis – and reduce your ecological footprint together with us. Find out more in part three of the InstaFreight Transport Management article series.

Would you like to learn how our Transport Management Service solves your individual challenges? Book a no-obligation conversation with our logistics expert Anna Formella – with just one click!