Freightgate Provides Insights On Transportation Spend Management

By Author: Nick Matyas
Total Articles: 1
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Current economic trends are encouraging global supply chain managers
to utilized air freight and other multimodal alternatives while ocean
carriers reduce capacity and increase surcharges.

In addition, numerous manufacturers are re-examining their
transportation providers and are seeking to change to carriers who are
financially stable and have a track record of being able to manage in
challenging and rapidly changing market conditions. There has been a
very large increase in the number of Request for Proposals RFP /RFQs.

These are challenging times for supply chain managers, logistics
service and manufacturers. Most transportation tenders are still done
manually using spreadsheets to compare rates and purchase space using
gut feel of market trends. Neither method is very rational. Nor, do
they provide the essential end-to-end decision making visibility to
create a strategically oriented framework from which to drive
corporate transportation spend initiatives and supply chain
efficiency, states Nick Matyas Freightgate's ...
... VP of Strategic
Initiatives.

Freightgate's GTM-Trek! Global Tender Management Software supports
corporate initiatives for multimodal transportation spend management
and improvements in supply chain efficiency. Freight Tender RFP / RFQ
software has made advances in the last several years to include easy
customization, fast implementation, useable templates, historical rate
analysis, tracking for total spend, service performance, payment
auditing and a slew of statistical reports. These new decision making
tools do not guarantee instant success. Data gleaned through
initiating transportation spend management will produce many questions
and assessments about company goals, strategic direction, carrier
selection and logistics partners.

Freight Tender RFP / RFQ success can be benchmarked in several ways,
Matyas continues. Some manufacturers consider reducing transportation
spend as success. Whereas, other manufacturers seek better service
guarantees with stronger collaboration and visibility. The corporate
goal of reducing freight costs must be thoroughly examined. Reducing
transportation spend on an ad-hoc basis without a plan may create an
overall deterioration of service and incur additional risks in supply
chain efficiency.

Matyas says It is a well known fact that carriers move high yield
shipments first. Creating a long-term partnership with carriers and
freight forwarders is very important. Shifting cargo between carriers
and logistics providers; and continually asking for spot bids may
reduce transportation spend in the short-term, but in the long-term it
could jeopardize the net results gained.

When selecting Freight Tender RFP / RFQ software for transportation
spend management, purchase a hosted SaaS Solution. SaaS is known as
Software-as-a-Service. Successful freight tender procurement is about
collaboration and reducing administrative labor. Logistics managers
can focus time on What-If Scenario Analysis investigating the best
opportunities to reduce total transportation spend.

A hosted SaaS transportation spend management solution has several
advantages. First, it enables real time collaboration between
corporate departments and global field offices. It allows for
end-to-end collaboration with carriers, freight forwarders and supply
chain partners. It's nice to get a low rate but if the accounting
department isn't in the loop this effort might be in vain, especially
with the complexity of freight surcharges these days says Matyas.

Second, a hosted SaaS Solution has a labor-free maintenance advantage.
Hosted SaaS Solutions are updated frequently and easy to maintain with
the latest technology thereby providing logistics managers essential
on-demand visibility with a competitive edge in negotiating with
carriers, forwarders and suppliers.

Third, make sure the hosted SaaS transportation spend management
solution has RDV technology. RDV is known as Role Dependent View. RDV
allows users only to view information which is important to their
participation in the tender procurement process. Field offices and
suppliers view their part; carriers see their part; forwarders see
their part; and corporate management has end-to-end visibility of the
entire multimodal transportation spend management process. RDV ensures
data confidentially and security.

Fourth, a very important consideration is the multimodal experience of
the software provider's staff. A software provider with in-house
logistics and supply chain experts in airfreight, ocean transport and
trucking is going to lead the manufacturer to success faster.
Manufacturers will be able to leverage the expert's multimodal
experience and insights in the procurement negotiations.

Fifth, be environmentally aware. Select Freight Tender RFP / RFQ
software with multimodal carbon footprint functionality. When deciding
between rates or service levels knowing the carbon footprint enables
well-informed decisions in alignment with corporate ‘green'
initiatives and carbon emissions.

And finally, make sure the Freight Tender RFP / RFQ software is
seamless multimodal (ground, air, rail, ocean, last mile delivery) to
analyze five-leg door-to-door routings. Customization with reusable
templates and fast easy implementation are essential. Selecting the
best multimodal transportation spend management software will put the
manufacturer in the driver seat, steering the company strategically to
better service at a lower total transportation spend.

For more details on how Freightgate can help lower your transportation
spend and a free demo of Freightgate's GTM-Trek! Global Tender
Management software, contact Freightgate on the web at
www.freightgate.com, email: sales@freightgate.com or call (714)
799-2833.

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