If you’re struggling to ensure your transportation and shipping needs are being handled efficiently, quickly, and in a cost-effective manner, you might be overworking your ERP. In recent years, many businesses have been attempting to utilize their ERP as if it were a TMS (transportation management system) – and this is usually unsuccessful. Stop trying to make your ERP into something it’s not! The poor guy is going to start having an identity crisis.

If an element of your business involves shipping or receiving product, you likely utilize an ERP (enterprise resource management) system, sometimes called an OMS (order management system). These software systems are usually employed company-wide, or at least across multiple departments, like the customer service, sales, accounting, billing, and shipping departments.

Some of the big-name ERP developers have caught onto this trend, and they’re taking advantage of it. They’ve started offering ERP “add-ons” that can be purchased for an additional cost—a la carte, if you will—to increase the functionality of the ERP and make it operate more like a TMS. Unfortunately, these add-ons are generally more expensive and less functional than an actual TMS, so investing in them tends to create a lose-lose situation for the company.

Businesses are sometimes attracted to the idea of ”tacking on” functionality because they want to continue using their ERP, and they balk at the idea of switching over to a TMS… change is intimidating, after all. However, a TMS can actually be seamlessly integrated with an ERP. Businesses can determine what information they’d like to flow freely back and forth to and from both systems, and people who aren’t directly involved in your company’s shipping processes (like customer service or accounting) can still do everything right in the ERP without even touching the TMS, while those involved in transportation have all the advanced features of the TMS at their fingertips. Sometimes, it is possible to have your cake and eat it too!

When you partner with a 3PL company like Trinity and utilize a best-in-breed TMS, you’ll enjoy increased control over your shipments, significant cost savings, enhanced automation and efficiency, and amazingly customized reports that can help you improve your processes in every arena. These are things an ERP just can’t do, no matter how much functionality you try to tack on.

Does the idea of integrating your ERP with a TMS sound intriguing? Our solutions experts would love to talk to you about it! You can send us an e-mail by clicking here.