Trucking companies are known for lagging behind the curve when it comes to adoption of technology. But they have begun increasing investments in tech, whether because of regulations requiring them to invest in electronic logging devices or today’s inflationary economy encouraging the use of fuel-saving telematics systems.
While those technologies are helpful and necessary, industry experts say having those many disparate systems can create inefficiency – the opposite of what customers expect in the age of ecommerce.
Customers in the trucking sector now want the same level of transparency into their freight that they have grown to expect on their personal shipments, and that’s where the transportation management system (TMS) steps in, connecting all the systems to drive efficiency and provide greater supply chain visibility.
Matt Cartwright, CEO of SaaS-based TMS provider Magnus Technologies, said it’s common for systems – finance, maintenance, customer integrations, ELD, etc. – to be siloed solutions. A TMS, he said, is the master of all the data, ingesting that data, rendering it to its users and then passing it along to partners as necessary.
“The TMS is like the cardiovascular system plus the lungs. It’s integral to absolutely everything; it’s needed to tie everything together,” Cartwright said. “The brain can work on its own but obviously has to be integrated with the cardiovascular system since oxygen and blood are required for the brain to keep working. It's just a key component that really has to be pervasive throughout your entire business process.”
He said the primary requirement necessary to create true transparency is being fully digitally integrated with all the various trading partners, customers, drivers, and reporting entities, etc., as well as a company’s different systems like telematics, for example.
