Transportation Management Solutions: A Comprehensive Guide

As a company scales, it necessarily needs certain resources to optimize some or all of its processes. To ensure the competitiveness of a logistics company, it is necessary to meet the requirements for speed and accuracy of delivery (and they are constantly growing). How can you fulfill these requirements and outperform your competitors?

In a nutshell, transport management solutions are tools aimed at simplifying maintenance, including various TMS features such as planning, tracking, and optimizing transport. Such applications can: 

• route planning;
• selection of container transport schedules;
• audit and analytics of operations;
• storage and transshipment;

TMS platforms cover a wide range of functions to meet the unique needs of transport corporations.

Usual Problems in the Transportation Industry

Road transportation has always been in demand, since the transport sector is the leader of the economy. Many aspects grow each year:

Let’s explore some of the common problems encountered by transportation industry entrepreneurs:

1. More qualified employees are needed. Now, “post-covid” statistics show that the demand for road transport has doubled: in the US, Europe, and China, there is a real shortage of this specialty. In the EU countries, 21% of job vacancies still need to be filled, indicating a shortage of truck drivers.
2. Optimizing processes with software is not a problem; it’s a solution, but the essence hasn’t changed: many companies simply need software to simplify their logistics processes. 
3. High fuel prices. The increase in fuel costs initiates a rise in operational expenses within the transportation sector, which, in turn, cascades onto the cost structure in the supply chain, leading to inflationary pressure on the price indices of consumer goods in retail trade. 

This process significantly impacts macroeconomic stability, prompting adjustments in monetary policy and the regulation of financial markets aimed at neutralizing inflationary expectations. 

The above points are extremely important when considering scaling a logistics company. Not all of them can be solved in one day, but we can provide your business with the 2nd point (process optimization).

Choosing the Right Transportation Management Solution

Selecting the finest TMS is vital for your company as it will hugely determine your business success. The market, as it is, gives you space for several alternatives, which means you must consider several things to ensure you have made the right choice. Here are some crucial moments to keep in mind:

Scalability

Just as your company is expanding, your transport management is also growing. Make sure that the solution you select can take effort to upgrade without any dismantling of your existing infrastructure.

Integration Capabilities

Implementing an optimization program requires seamless integration with existing systems and technologies. If you already have logistics software, our developers will find several solutions to improve and enhance it.

Customization

Concerning transport companies, we can talk about something more than mere services and discuss various sets of laws and rules. For your business to run smoothly, you need a powerful TMS whose interfaces should be customized to meet your requirements.

Positive Experience

An interface that users find enjoyable and the process simple leads to greater adoption and productivity. Focus on choosing those with a user-friendly interface and a minimal learning curve for the team.

Software Development Pricing Models

There are four pricing models commonly used in the software industry, which are also used when collaborating with vendors to develop a TMS application:

1. Fixed price. A fixed-price model will be used based on a scope of work pre-agreed upon for the total cost. This model gives clients a clear and predictable path, which is useful for projects with minimal contingent changes.
2. Time and materials. In this model, a project’s cost is determined by the amount of labor and money needed to implement it. Time and material pricing suits projects with changing needs or unclear scopes, making them much more understandable.
3. Dedicated team. In a client-hire model, the client creates a dedicated group of developers, designers, and others who work on the project independently. This model works well for projects adapting to an agile development process.
4. Deliverable-based pricing. This model, also known as value-based pricing, directly links project costs to the value delivered or achieved. The outcome-based pricing model encourages a “game for results” and a common goal between the client’s requirements and the application development team.

With all of these considerations in mind, choosing the right TMS is clearly one of the most important steps a business in the logistics sector can take. This decision will expand operations, increase efficiency, and thus determine the future direction of business growth.