There is no question that the demand for freight forwarders will always be present. Customers continue to place demands and logisticians and freight forwarders are required to fulfill them.
Time and again, forwarders aim to optimize their methods to get favorable results in their top line. There is no dearth of freight software solutions for forwarders to choose from. As demands increase, you’d expect simplicity to be restored in your ever-so-complex freight and custom clearances. For this, freight solutions were designed to ease out the complexities.
In crude form, you’d expect a Freight Forwarding Software to:
- Centralize key processes
- Save your organization’s time and money
- Continue doing so
- Faster communications between internal and on-field team members
- Alerts to handle disruptions faster and better
- Better allocation of assets and resources
- Timely deliveries and increased capability to handle more business
But among the plethora of capabilities available, there are some functionality or features that cannot be left out in a software solution.
Single platform for Faster booking
For customers, breaking away from phone and email bookings to request quotes during the pandemic may have been an inconvenience at first but it slowly became a preference. There may not be going back on this considering how far we have come.
With the advancement of technology, shippers don’t have to wait for days to receive quote replies. A single platform for the shippers to request and receive quotes and make bookings is essential in a freight solution.
Integration of Compliance
Dealing with cargo moving across cities, countries /and even continents, customers seek you to handle their Custom Clearances too. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of paperless compliances were introduced to facilitate faster freight movement. The paperless compliance smoothen the process for multiple stakeholders and it also shown a light on its benefits. Like the RFPs, paperless compliance is here to stay. Regulatory authorities are embracing customs filing electronically to speed up processes thus leading to more accountability as well. A freight solution with integrated compliance tools helps to increase response times in case of hurdles too.
Learn more from our experts how you can digitalize your freight forwarding & logistics business.
Accounting
A Freight forwarder is an entity that acts on behalf of the shipper. Thus, keeping in mind the customs, taxes that are to be levied and paid requires a place in your freight system. Many forwarders use individual accounting solutions to manage this. While this is fine to start with but it can soon lead to data islands in your attempt to gain visibility. A wise direction would be to incorporate all duties, customs, and taxes paid on behalf of your clients into your existing freight solution.
Using technology to automate and reduce error possibilities
The ascent of technology has made it possible to “see” across supply chains to ensure the flow of goods. This visibility has benefited the freight forwarder in many ways:
Having masters of several entities like vendors, carriers, transporters and the like makes it possible to reduce data manual entry. If repeated data entry is replaced with picking a row from the master, it brings down the possibility of errors. You gain an increased turnaround time for your jobs. The feature of workflow gets your processes digital and ensures your teams adhere to the timelines set for each sub-process.
Managing Sales leads
To drive revenue for the organization, you must find a way to win new customers regularly. As a business owner, you understand acquiring a new customer can be a pretty tough ask. Generating marketing campaigns, following up for appointments and meetings, and enhancing prospects with offers can span days. A sales CRM feature in your software for freight can help you follow your prospects till you turn them into customers. The management can get an easy view of the progress made by your sales personnel via reports. Working on your prospects systematically gives you more growth opportunities.
Enhance your Freight Forwarding with an Apt Freight and Customs System
Freight Forwarding involves adhering to laws of multiple countries in the international shipping of goods and this can be well managed with the right Freight and Customs software. Keeping up with these regulations presents an ongoing challenge for Freight Brokers and forwarders.
However, digitizing your processes and communication enhances your overall freight forwarding services. Reduce errors, expedite processes and gain more with the apt freight and customs solution.