What Should Freight Forwarders Look for in a Best-in-Class Freight Rate Management Solution?

Freight forwarders are looking for streamlined methods to manage their rates in one central location and easily present them to customers. Clients want to receive quotes quickly, but it is often inefficient to manage rates manually. In addition, forwarders want to ensure that services are priced correctly to maximize margins. 

In general, forwarders have identified the following challenges as they attempt to manage carrier rating while meeting operational requirements and customer needs including:

• Spending too much time providing customer quotes

• Providing an accurate quote with complex surcharge and fee structures

• Improving the overall quote-to-book ratio without expending sales bandwidth

• Gauging the profit margin of a shipment at the time of booking

• Wasting valuable time accessing multiple carrier websites to obtain spot rates

• Meeting complex carrier allocation commitments

• Connecting data into a Forwarder TMS

Today’s customers have high expectations. They want instant access to quotes online and to book with confidence knowing that space has been allocated for their shipment. They also want competitive rates, accurate landed costs, and receive alternate shipping options. Market leading forwarders are:

• Looking for the technology that can provide customer booking and rating capabilities on any internet-enabled device

• Seeking a solution that can be customized with your logo, color scheme, and personalized URL as the face behind the technology

• Exploring technology that is adaptable and can provide quotes for simple one-leg bookings as well as complex, multi-leg shipments

With the right technology in place, freight forwarders can:

• Increase customer satisfaction with ease of booking and accurate quotes

• Minimize labor-intensive one-off quoting

• Increase the number of customer quotes that result in bookings

• Eliminate the need to build a customer-facing system using internal resources

Internal systems are the powerhouse behind forwarder operations, and many platforms are deeply embedded in day-to-day processes. While forwarders may know the benefit of adding a customer-facing booking and rating solution to their tech stack, some are concerned that this will require a complete replacement of internal systems.

Best-in-class solutions do not require forwarders to switch existing platforms. Instead, the solution should be able to be deployed as a technology layer that easily connects with your current TMS. The right technology should come preconfigured with out-of-the-box Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and other available system-to-system connectivity protocols such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The data should easily populate existing platforms and trigger automations to drive operational efficiencies. Beyond this, world-class solutions should stream data from carriers and regulatory agencies.

With the right technology in place, freight forwarders can:

• Keep existing systems intact to maintain business continuity

• Eliminate the need to re-key customer booking data into current platforms

• End the need to expend valuable IT labor to connect systems

Keeping the bottom-line top of mind is critical for forwarders. For this reason, it is important for LSPs to keep sell-rates above buy-rates to stay in-the-black. In a highly competitive market where freight rates fluctuate and negotiated rates are hard won, it is challenging for forwarders to ensure that each booking remains profitable.

Innovation technology should automatically refresh sell-rates whenever buy-rates are updated. This means that forwarders can remain nimble and cost-effective should buy-rates change. Leading solutions should define profit margins and configure pricing for each client to ensure profitability and tailored service. In addition, the solution should be flexible and deliver specific rates for a given customer or can establish pricing tiers for a segment of customers, business niche, trade lane, or time periods.

Descartes Digital Rate Management is transforming how freight forwarders service their customers and manage rates. With the Descartes solution in place, forwarders are delivering a premiere customer booking and rating experience, connecting with internal systems, and ensuring that profit margins remain high.

It is our 30+ years of experience, deep domain expertise, understanding of forwarder operations, our integrative capabilities, and on-demand customer-facing interface that sets Descartes apart. As you explore your buying journey, we encourage you to carefully weigh the features available to you from the solution, gather your pain points, and connect with us to explore if Descartes Digital Rate Management would benefit your operations and your bottom-line.