Transportation Management Software: How to Tell When You're Ready

We get it – when you’ve been managing your transportation manually, the thought of integrating technology into your processes can be a little intimidating. Especially if you’ve been doing things the same way for 15 years. But if you’re a good candidate for transportation management software, the time and money you’ll save by switching means that it’s something you should seriously consider – and believe it or not, integrating a TMS into your supply chain doesn’t mean ditching everything you know.

Of course, the pressing question is: how do you know when it’s the right time? How can you tell if it’s really something you need? Having offered this software solution for years, we’ve gradually noticed a pattern. There are two major characteristics that define the companies who truly, desperately need the TMS. To find out if your company fits the mold, read on.

Telltale Sign #1: Too many manual processes

This one is sort of a no-brainer, but if your supply chain is managed in a largely manual fashion, you should consider a TMS. Not sure what we mean? Well, consider your day-to-day tasks. Are you consolidating your loads manually? Do you have a manual quoting and tendering process? Is it impossible for you to report on your transportation data? Are you manually entering data into an Excel spreadsheet? Are you lacking EDI communication? If you have other locations around the country, do you have to call or email them in order to gather shipment information? And perhaps the most telltale sign of all – are you hand-writing your bills of lading? If this description fits you… you should seriously consider a TMS.

Telltale Sign #2: Your company is either in growth mode or emergency mode.

Most companies peacefully exist somewhere in between these two modes, and if you only fit the bill for the first telltale sign, you should still consider a TMS. However, if your company also falls into one of the two categories below, that means you need to call us and learn more about the TMS literally as soon as you’re done reading this blog.

What do we mean by growth mode? We’re referencing a specific scenario: your company is experiencing seriously great success, but there is a caveat. Maybe it was unexpected, or maybe you were planning for exponential growth all along, but either way, the success has also brought a drawback: you’re drowning. There’s so much new business that your old processes aren’t efficient enough to work anymore. You’re not sure what to do in order to effectively service all your new customers without making some serious changes.

Emergency mode is on the other end of the spectrum. Trouble is on the horizon. Maybe there have been some layoffs, but your team is still expected to handle the same workload. Perhaps the guy who’s been handling your transportation is about to retire after 20 years – and no one knows how to do his job. Maybe your company is being acquired, or you’re merging with another company, and you’re not sure how to integrate or change your supply chain management strategies. Maybe you’re facing financial troubles and you need to seriously overhaul who is responsible for what on your staff.

No matter which end of the spectrum you fall on, a TMS can address all these issues. The efficiency created by automating your supply chain means you can accomplish more work with less people, freeing up time for your employees to accomplish whatever else is a pressing need.

Okay, I think we might need to consider transportation management software. What now?

You can check out all the resources on our site to learn more. If you’d prefer to talk to us about it and get direct answers to your questions, you can request to get in touch with our logistics consultants right here on our site. We’re passionate about helping businesses get their supply-chains in tip-top shape, and we can’t wait to hear from you!