3 ways freight technology can make life better in 2020

These days you can’t scroll through news about trucking and logistics without stumbling over the word “disruption.”

Sure, technology may be changing the way fleets, owner-operators, drivers, 3PLs, and freight brokers tender loads and pay invoices, but with so many products in the marketplace, adoption rates aren’t always high. Plus, the freight industry is still about human interaction. Drivers, carriers, and brokers want a centralized platform that’s trusted and stable while enhancing personal relationships in the supply chain.

As you embark on a path to success in 2020, Transflo president and CEO Frank Adelman identifies three ways technology can minimize those disruptions and distractions—and help you make better business decisions in the year ahead.

Cure Your App Fatigue

Nearly 90% of truck drivers use their smartphones every day for work, primarily for navigation, phone calls, and texts. 3PLs, brokers, and load boards have their own mobile apps where carriers can find, bid on, and accept loads. Carriers have apps designed to help drivers manage documents, hours of service, and other business processes. There are apps for weather, truck stop loyalty programs, truck scale locators—you name it.

Just because “there’s an app for that” doesn’t mean people will use it. Mobile users spend 85% of their time using just five apps. Managing updates, permissions, security, and user experiences for multiple apps is time consuming and impractical.

People want one platform with one point of access that provides a complete view of everything that happens during the freight transaction: navigation, hours of service, track and trace, document scanning, fueling options, weigh station bypass—services they need to get the job done. Transflo Mobile+ is a cure for app fatigue—it’s a center-stage app that lets you can manage all of these tasks in one place.

Make Freight Tendering Easy

Digital freight brokering. Book-it-now buttons. Instant load tendering.

No matter what you call it, automated freight tendering is designed to eliminate lengthy load searches and negotiations and automate manual processes. It allows freight brokers and 3PLs to focus on things customers really value: the ability to solve problems, build strategies, and communicate on a personal level.

In order to cover every load, digital brokers need access to a lot of available capacity. Today, most find carriers on the spot market without knowing much about them.

Transflo has more than 60,000 carriers on our network and just over 250 freight brokers tendering $100 million in freight every day through the platform. The small broker that wants automation in tendering, track and trace, and invoicing doesn’t have to develop its own book-it-now technology and convince the market to adopt it. That broker can leverage Transflo’s technology and access capacity through Transflo Velocity+.

Velocity+ gives all brokers on the Transflo platform a level playing field where they can manage an entire workflow: load tenders, shipping documents, digital data extraction, load visibility, invoicing, and expedited payment processing.

Keep the Humans in Charge

The Transflo Mobile+ platform is a launching pad for solutions that strengthen connections among drivers, carriers, and brokers.

For example, we know that track-and-trace technology with GPS pings and geofencing provide carriers and brokers with reliable, automated notifications without having to talk to the driver. 

But human interaction is a big part of transparency and collaboration. Carriers and freight brokers want drivers to know they’re being listened to. With Transflo Velocity+, owner-operators and company drivers can live-chat with freight brokers through the app and eliminate time-consuming phone calls.

In 2019, Transflo introduced Transflo Engage, giving fleets the ability to measure driver satisfaction with surveys delivered directly from within the Transflo Mobile+ app. It’s a simpler, more convenient, and more personal survey experience since the driver is responding to questions within the mobile app he or she uses as part of an everyday workflow.

Live-chats, surveys, and personal communication help drivers feel more engaged and respected, which leads to improved morale, lower turnover, and a better bottom line.

Looking back, the Transflo story involves a rich history of innovation. In the 1990s, we developed new scanning and imaging technology. In the 2000s, we pioneered new techniques in physical and digital document management. At the start of this decade, we redesigned driver experience by introducing new mobile workforce solutions. During this time we’ve built one of the most robust digital platforms in the industry. As we map the road ahead, the future looks just as bright.