Guides and Reports
7 cash saving software features for your transport business
Tough times call for tough measures, and businesses must look to cost-saving exercises to help stretch profit margins. We’ve identified seven ways a good transport management system (TMS) can help hauliers put the cash back in their businesses by increasing operational efficiencies. Here’s how:
1. Reduce empty running
Operating costs are more expensive than they ever have been due to escalated fuel prices, transport planners must ensure that every mile driven delivers a profit and not a loss from empty running. Your TMS system should easily identify any part of a journey where a vehicle is empty, and help you plan a route that ensures it is always carrying a load.
2. Improve planning accuracy
Planning is key to meeting customer demands and making sure collections and deliveries happen on time. With a multi-day job planner, easy resource allocation and load validation, you can make the most of your fleet, while intelligent planning functionality allows you to visualise and validate your plan as you build it.
3. Prevent costly route errors
Complex routes exponentially increase the risk of human error. Transport management software reduces this risk by helping you plan routes specifically tailored to the vehicle you’re driving and suggesting the best routes to optimise miles per gallon. The route planning system will always select the most time-efficient route for your fleet to take but will always prioritise avoiding hazards, meaning your drivers don’t have to worry about problems like low bridge strikes.
4. Save on hardware layout and maintenance
A TMS software with cloud connectivity means you don’t have to deal with hardware expenses and maintenance issues, allowing you to refocus your time on other important tasks within your business.
5. Improve cash flow with invoicing on delivery
Slow invoicing can be the obstacle that delays payments owed to you. With electronic proof of delivery via an integrated driver app, you can remove this obstacle and invoice customers in a matter of clicks as soon as jobs are marked complete. Gone are the days of having to wait for drivers to return to the depot with the all-important proof documentation.
6. Reduce customer service enquiries
A self-serve customer portal allows your customers to book jobs, view ETAs and status updates for jobs in progress, as well as access proof of collection and delivery documents. This helps reduce the administrative burden from your staff, which in hand helps you deliver exceptional customer service.
7. Reduce insurance premiums
Having real-time location tracking of your vehicles can lower your vehicle insurance premiums. In addition, the telematics data that a Mandata tracking unit feeds back to your TMS system allows you to identify where each driver can be more efficient to improve fuel usage and minimise wear and tear on your vehicles.
Technology is the cornerstone of growth and sustainability within the competitive haulage industry. See our range of transport management systems that support hauliers of all sizes to achieve their current and future goals.
