The pandemic has dragged on for another year, but the lessons learned from it have made businesses more aware of possible unforeseen challenges. 2020 has been a wake-up call for freight forwarders stuck with desktop-based freight software applications.
Choosing the apt freight management software marks the first step towards success in 2021, the other being preparing to use your strengths to get ahead in the race.
Understanding market demands and customer behavior will be a factor in your preparation for the race. Setting your priorities and aligning them with your goals is a good start. We share with you here the priorities that you must set for more achievements in 2021.
Servicing Customer through CRM
Quality customer service is the rope that binds a customer to the business. In freight forwarding, the customers could be shippers, carriers, transporters, and customs brokers, to name a few. You need to be on top of every shipment’s status and connected to the shipment’s related stakeholders at all times. A freight forwarder solution that includes a CRM module should be able to handle this.
CRM can automate data entry and reduce inaccuracies for freight forwarders. A happy customer is one who receives deliveries as well as timely updates.
Using Workflow to Remain Organized
Forwarders are looking for programs that can automatically perform tasks and handle document management, quote requests, and customer service elements more quickly and accurately. You define the process in your organization through the workflows you construct.
Simply put: Workflows facilitate process aderence.
Workflows contribute to increasing the speed and accuracy of your freight operations. Additionally, they can also improve scalability, save you money, and provide complete visibility of your operations.
Financial Control
Freight forwarders face constantly changing rates, demand, and compliances. Handling these changes on a spreadsheet or a freight management system that doesn’t have a central database could be a resources-intensive task.
Your financial data can speak volumes about areas of your business that are blooming and those that are bleeding.
Keeping an eye on your expenses and incomes empowers you to make strategic decisions. Data is the key and software for freight forwarders unifies it into meaningful financial reports.
Access to On-Demand Information
The freight forwarding world is moving at greater speeds due to the Internet and developed technologies. With great speed also come great service demands. Shippers are likely to choose a freight forwarder that fulfills requests quicker.
Take, for example, knowing the status of a shipment. If you use traditional freight software, you would be required to key in the AWB number to know the status. But modern freight forwarder solutions eliminate this with a dedicated screen to display the status of all of your shipments. Furthermore, freight forwarding software like Logi-Sys automates sending progressive updates to the customer on milestone completion or known delays.
While 2020 kept everyone on their toes, in 2021 freight forwarders need to understand their priorities and pick up their pace. These priorities will help them to proactively plan and reap benefits from their freight software solution.
