AdminManaging a fleet in a transportation company is no easy task. You have a workforce to manage and vehicles to keep on the road. Without a great system, you risk falling behind and failing customers.
That’s why management software is popular for transportation fleets. Reports show that 38% of transportation companies use management systems. And the chances are good that this number will increase yearly.
The question is, will investing in transport management software be worth it for your business? Keep reading to learn why you should use software for your transport management system.
Greater Productivity
You only have so much time in the day to take on tasks. If you do things manually, you’re limited by your ability to accomplish things without tools. Ultimately, this means you’re limited in how much you can do.
Sure, you can hire employees to take on some of the load. But at that point, you’ll need a huge team to accomplish everything you must do.
Transport manager software helps by streamlining those processes. You can rely on it to automate many tasks and reduce the amount of work to do each day. And since you’re dealing with a digital paperless management software tool, you’ll have less paperwork to deal with.
As a result, you’ll get more done each day with a smaller team. You won’t struggle to meet demand and can scale your operation without as much effort.
Reduce Expenses
On top of increasing productivity and saving time, transportation software will also help you reduce expenses. The first place you see this is payroll. You’ll need fewer employees to manage your operation.
But the cost savings don’t stop there. You’ll find cost savings in other business areas as you use software to optimize your operation.
Take route planning, for instance. You need cost-effective routes to get the most out of your deliveries.
If drivers take the long way to get somewhere, they will waste fuel and spend too much time on the road. You’ll lose money from extra resource usage and lower driver productivity.
But software helps by optimizing this process. Drivers will use the best-optimized routes and get updates on the fly if anything changes.
Integration Applications
The chances are good that you use other applications besides transportation management. You have accounting, HR, project management, and other tasks.
The problem is that the data for those applications is isolated.
But modern software makes things easier by providing integrations. Instead of software operating in a silo, it connects to other apps to share data.
The same is true for transportation software. You can connect to other business apps to share data and streamline operations.
One place you’ll see this is finances. Transportation software can help you manage invoices based on the mileage a vehicle traveled. Connect this data to your accounting software to streamline customer quote generation.
Keep Better Records
Another problem with doing things manually is data entry. You and your team may be great at your jobs. But that doesn’t mean you won’t occasionally make errors.
And even if you have a process to double-check information, that’s still extra time you need to spend making sure everything is correct.
One of the benefits of software for transport managers is the automation of data entry and recordkeeping. Most software will keep track of things like orders, customer details, route information, and more.
Because of that, your software handles much of the data entry work you used to do. Since a computer handles the heavy lifting, you can count on more accurate records.
Better Customer Service
Another problem with not using software is the more challenging time you’ll have handling customer service. With more errors because of manual data entry and an unoptimized system, you’ll struggle to stay on top of issues and communicate with customers.
Having better records means making fewer mistakes. Your team will spend less time on the phone handling support issues and be able to focus on other things.
And when you do have customer issues, you’ll be able to resolve issues more quickly. Your team can easily surface information about a customer’s situation in your software and provide the relevant information to them.
If an employee can’t handle a situation over the phone, they can easily work through your software to find a solution or redirect the issue to the correct department.
Handle Compliance
You have a lot of things to keep track of in the transportation business. You must track driver hours, maintenance information, emissions data, and more.
Doing this without software isn’t easy. You’ll spend all your time managing your data instead of running your business.
The software you use can help you automate many of these tasks. You can easily track employee information and record maintenance data. Once you have your information in your system, you can output reports for government officials who request it.
Create Great Reports
Data is vital to running a successful business. Without access to relevant information, you make best guesses about what works and doesn’t. Although you may be right much of the time, there’s still the chance that you’re wrong.
And a wrong decision in certain situations can create disaster situations.
You can minimize risk by making decisions based on great data. However, it takes a lot of time to compile that information manually to create the reports you need.
Since transportation software stores much of your data in one place, you can use it to generate these reports. Use them to inform your business decisions.
Start Using Transport Management Software Today
You need all the help you can get to run an efficient transport manager system. Without the right tools, you’ll struggle to dispatch drivers, manage their routes, handle scheduling, and much more. And the problem is that this is usually too much to handle manually.
That’s why transport management software is so beneficial. You can automate many tasks and gain more insights that will help you manage your transport management systems. Invest in transport management software today to streamline your transportation systems.
Are you looking for more tools to help you run a more efficient business? Learn more about the tools available by checking out more website articles.
