A whitepaper by Amdocs The telecom industry has been working…
Automate manual processes: Digitise all the tasks and ensure full visibility
What common challenges are shippers facing when analising rates and buying freight?
While supply chains have become increasingly complex, the freight procurement process has barely changed in two decades. Much of the logistics industry still uses Excel to source, compare and analyse freight rates from carriers. These spreadsheets can have thousands of data points so identifying the optimal carrier partners is an enormously time-consuming process that is also susceptible to human error.
The reliance on manual processes also makes it very difficult for businesses to respond quickly in a crisis. With antiquated processes and limited visibility of data it‘s difficult to negotiate costs, run tenders for problematic shipping lanes, weigh the cost of alternative supply routes or diversify the carrier network. The knock-on effect is very significant and often unnecessary costs for businesses.
Crucially SHIPSTA is taking a truly next-generation approach to digitise all these tasks and provide full visibility into current and historical rates. By connecting shippers and carriers while centralizing all the relevant data, the platform is helping logistics team to secure capacity, save freight costs and reduce RfQ preparation time from half a day to just 6 minutes.
The platform has been awarded as the Best Procurement Technology 2022. Actually, the industry-leading judges actually highlighted that “SHIPSTA showcased great innovation and demonstrated how they are bringing digitalisation to a historically manual industry and removing friction in an area so critical to all our supply chains. It’s a game changer and highly relevant with the current supply chain challenges.
What are the best ways to reduce logistics costs?
Over the last few years we’ve seen freight costs reaching record highs day after day. The ongoing disruptions, material shortages or port congestion still determine the volatility of the current market. At times like these, thinking creatively about costs and implementing strategies that guarantee not a single cent is wasted makes all the difference.
These are 3 smart ways to cut procurement costs and keep logistics budgets under control:
- Digitise freight invoice auditing – Many shippers would be surprised to discover the amount of money hidden in their incorrect invoices. Around 10% of carriers’ invoices are overcharging. To claw back those amounts (without a ton of manual administration), SHIPSTA’s technology allows shippers to make sure to only pay what they owe.
- Standardise processes – Bad processes cost money. By bringing processes together in one easily-to-use space, companies increase their transparency and centralise all processes on one platform – which help them directly to save time and costs.
- Tender at the right moment – Now it’s possible to get instant alerts to tender at the perfect time when rates go down. SHIPSTA integrates real-time market data into rate sheets to instantly notifies users when the price of a lane drops. It can even automatically tender the lanes.
Learn more about the future-proof technology that is helping shippers to cut logistics cost by 12% on average, and as much as 40% for some customers.
How will automation influence the future of Sourcing and Procurement?
The automation of sourcing and procurement logistics is already a reality that is making the difference between companies that manage market disruptions nimbly, and those that merely react to them.
The procurement automation allows logistics teams to analyse millions of real-time data points (at SHIPSTA we use 280 million data points) and compare them to the current rates in milliseconds. This lightning-speed analysis means the software provides better insights than could ever get manually, so they can make the best possible decisions in a fraction of the time.
The most advanced level of automation is currently based on scanning the market for real-time rates, identifying the best routes to bid based on current contracts, and automatically creating an RfQ. This requires some human oversight to communicate and negotiate with carriers to ensure that the specific lane conditions are accurate.
In the near future (as Gartner predicts, by 2030), the supply chain will be fully autonomous. The next level of automation will embrace real-time data and artificial intelligence to scan the market, instantly create RfQs based on all kinds of specific needs, secure quotes from carriers and learn independently from the results -without any over – without any additional oversight required.
So, automation will influence the industry to further drive efficiency and improve shippers’ strategy by taking over tender management, offering real-time scenarios and analytics. Therefore, now more than ever, building a strategy around autonomous procurement technology is the key to enabling teams to future-proof their procurement processes.
Download here the ultimate guide to autonomous freight procurement and learn more about how this technology works and how to implement it.
General info about the company:
SHIPSTA’s digital platform connects shippers and carriers to ensure a frictionless procurement process for spot and contract buying of freight, entirely online. By automating complex tasks and providing complete transparency of data, it helps businesses control freight costs, manage risk and build resilience in their supply chain. Launched in 2019, its customers already include some of the world’s largest chemicals, pharmaceuticals and automotive companies.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN
