Shipment Visibility - A Necessity, Not A Luxury

Complete Shipping Visibility Is a Necessity for Shippers — Not a Luxury 

Shipping visibility is more important now than ever before as supply chains work overtime to overcome pandemic-driven service interruptions and soaring transportation costs. 

Visibility enables companies to increase logistics efficiency and effectiveness. This includes details like verifying the selection of a particular mode and whether it achieved the intended economic impact, whether it enabled the intended level of service, and reduced inherent risk of not meeting your customer’s service expectation.   

How do you get complete shipping visibility? It requires having the right technology, such as:

• Data visualization tools like Microsoft® Power BI® that allow customers to interact with and better interpret distribution chain performance on both a macro and micro-level

• A Transportation Management System that enables multi-carrier quoting, dispatches and tracks shipments, automatically updates shipment activity, manages complex documentation, and creates invoices

• Warehouse Management System applications that oversee day-to-day warehousing operations by guiding inventory receiving/stocking, optimizing picking/shipping processes, and reporting on inventory replenishment needs

 For some shippers, creating this level of visibility enables you to take more control of your supply chain. Here are five of the top benefits shippers can look forward to when implementing leading tech-enabled solutions:

1. Removing the Guesswork

At the core of every efficient shipping operation are processes that ensure smart and faster decision-making. Shippers can leverage the power of algorithms to digitize order assignment and free up time to focus on more complicated tasks. The ability to process orders in seconds and send them to the best carrier simplifies more traditional manual processes. With warehousing and transportation management software, your company can quickly and accurately automate front-end as well as back-end tasks, which eliminates human error and removes the guesswork on your end.

2. Maximized Deliveries in the Fewest Miles Possible 

Gone are the days of route planning done with paper maps or simply doing things based on “the way it’s always been done.” Intelligent distribution management software can provide optimized routes to drivers, so they can deliver shipments faster. You could save time, fuel, and increase your earnings by integrating new technology that helps streamline driver routes for the best performance and shortest route distances with the highest stop density. Certain systems can also assign deliveries based on service level and vehicle requirements, as well as driver geographical position, availability, and workload.

3. Tracking Deliveries in Real Time

While not the only type of visibility (as we’ve hopefully made clear here), track and trace is still a very important part of any distribution chain. With the ability to track deliveries in real time, nothing gets lost. End-to-end tracking, through a combination of technology and logistics partner team members, allows you to anticipate slowdowns or delays before they become a problem. You can address on-the-fly situations by implementing new systems that enable bi-directional communication and in-transit alerts between you, your customers, and your logistics partners. This kind of technology can also help you provide exceptional customer service that sets you apart from your competition.   

4. Increase Supply Chain Collaboration and Agility

Shipping will always require issues to be resolved, it’s the nature of the business. And, good communication is always required for most any type of problem resolution. A distribution management platform will elevate communication. In the face of rapid change, logistics companies also need a flexible solution that allows their supply chain operations to stay fluid. Find a system that gives you increased collaboration opportunities and operational agility, so you can stay on top of things and better scale your business.  

5. Gain Actionable Business Intelligence

Visibility is also not just about the day-to-day, there are long-term and strategic benefits as well. The information you gain from comprehensive visibility can give you total insight into critical data analytics related to order fulfillment, carrier performance, profit margins, forecasting trends, etc. Your company can use these tools to deliver actionable business intelligence, saving your team time and money in addition to helping you offer seamless service.  

Leveraging technology and working with an experienced distribution chain management partner will help give you that competitive edge that can be so hard to come by. By taking a more automated approach, you can achieve the visibility you need to increase productivity and decrease freight costs.

To learn more about eShipping’s dedication to “All Modes, All Optimized, All Visible” and helping companies take control of their distribution chain through people and technology, click here.