Did you know? Trucks move around 11.84 billion tons of freight annually. They also most approximately 72.5% of US freight, with almost 12 million people involved.
Like any other industry, the trucking industry benefits from global digital transformation. Nowadays, trucking companies use various technologies to help manage and streamline their operations.
In this post, we'll talk about the popular software trucking companies use.
What is a TMS?
A transportation management system (TMS) helps companies manage their transportation operations. By automating processes, a TMS reduces the need for manual tracking and coordination of transportation tasks. One essential function of a TMS is route planning. The system can evaluate shipping orders and suggest the most efficient routes for delivery, potentially saving time and money on transportation costs. The TMS can also help identify the best carrier for a given shipment and provide support for freight audit and payment. Using a TMS can lead to significant savings, with some estimates suggesting that companies can reduce transport costs by 5% to 10%. A TMS can also save time for the trucking company and its clients by streamlining and automating transportation processes.
What Software Do Trucking Companies Use?
Here are the most common trucking software companies use:
1. FlexTMS
As its name implies, FlexTMS is a transportation management system mainly serving entrepreneurs in the shipping industry. FlexTMS offers solutions to transportation management issues such as time-consuming data entry and complicated driver protocols. Using the FlexTMS app, owner-operators and trucking business owners can save time & money and increase revenue. The app also boasts advanced features that make any entrepreneur's life more convenient. With its reasonable pricing plans, FlexTMS offers business owners a way out of manual processes without breaking the bank.
Flex TMS' best features include:
Dispatch Board
While you can hire a dispatcher to focus on this task, you must double-check everything to ensure your business runs smoothly.
FlexTMS solves this problem. With a user-friendly dispatch board, FlexTMS lets you double-check any dispatch-related actions.
Compliance Management
As an entrepreneur in the trucking industry, you must comply with several regulations.
Compliance management ensures that a trucking business' procedures and policies align with the rules set by any governing body.
Equipment Maintenance
Think about this. If your driver gets into an accident because the truck did not go through regular maintenance, you will pay for your employee's sick leave and fix or replace the truck. Worse, you will endanger your driver's life.
FlexTMS lets you avoid these. By allowing you to monitor equipment maintenance, you don't have to put your business at risk of losing money and endangering your employees' lives.
Reports
Reports contain crucial data that lets you determine whether you meet your KPIs (key performance indicators).
Doing this lets you know whether you must change specific processes to become a successful carrier.
In particular, FlexTMS allows you to make logistics, issue, parcel coin, delivery reports, and transit time reports. The FlexTMS app also lets you export and import data, allowing you to generate more reports.
Driver App
For one, the FlexTMS driver app offers mobile check calls. You and your drivers can call each other anytime, giving you real-time updates. This feature is also helpful for raising issues while your drivers travel.
Concerning this, the FlexTMS driver app gives you mobile driver notifications. This means that you can know where your drivers currently are. This also allows you to send help if your drivers get stuck in the middle of nowhere.
2. Tailwind Transportation Systems
Tailwind Transportation Systems is a transportation management system (TMS) developed by Envaset Technologies. It is designed specifically for carriers, brokers, and other transportation and logistics companies. The trucking software aims to help these businesses streamline and optimize their operations.
Tailwind Transportation Systems' best features include:
Carrier Portal
The carrier portal allows carriers (i.e., trucking companies or other transportation providers) to access and manage information related to their operations. These include load planning, scheduling, dispatch, tracking, and billing.
Customer Portal
The portal provides customers with a centralized platform to manage and track their orders. It can improve the customer experience by providing an easy way for customers to access information and communicate with carriers.
Routing
The trucking software finds the most efficient path for your shipment from its origin to its destination. This also involves choosing the most cost-effective route.
3. Load Stop
LoadStop is a cloud-based transportation management system (TMS) that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and other modern technologies. It helps trucking companies streamline their core operations, manage their fleet and crew more efficiently, and increase profitability.
Load Stop's best features include:
Dispatch Management
Dispatch management ensures that shipments get delivered timely and cost-effectively.
Invoice Management
Load Stop lets you create, track, and manage invoices related to your operations and transportation of goods.
4. Prophesy
Prophesy offers trucking and transportation management software solutions for for-hire carriers, brokers, and private fleets. Its goal is to create an environment where efficiency is the norm and profit is the natural result. Prophesy has a solution tailored to your specific business needs, whether you are a truckload or less-than-truckload carrier.
Prophesy's best features include:
Dispatch
Prophesy helps trucking companies plan and optimize routes, track and monitor shipments, and manage transportation operations more efficiently.
Integration
You can link Prophesy with other systems or applications used in the transportation and logistics industry.
5. Trimble
Trimble helps transportation stakeholders, including drivers, carriers, intermediaries, and shippers. It aims to improve collaboration, increase resource utilization and freight coverage, and transform the global supply chain. Its solutions aim to benefit everyone in the transportation industry by enhancing communication, optimizing resources, and streamlining processes.
Trimble's best features include:
Rating & Mileage
Trimble's rating and mileage solutions are used by carriers, shippers, third-party logistics providers (3PLs), and brokers to calculate precise mileage, drive time, accurate rates for lane analysis, and driver pay.
Maintenance
These solutions help trucking companies streamline their maintenance processes, reduce downtime, and improve their operations' overall performance and profitability.
6. McLeod
Since 1985, McLeod Software has provided powerful transportation management and trucking software solutions to the trucking industry. McLeod TMS helps businesses in the transportation and logistics industry streamline and optimize their operations. It is typically used by carriers, brokers, and shippers to manage tasks such as load planning and scheduling, dispatch, tracking, and billing.
McLeod's best features include:
Load Planning
This feature allows users to plan and schedule shipments, including identifying the best carriers and routes and tracking progress in real-time.
Tracking
McLeod TMS includes tools for tracking shipments, including real-time updates on location, delivery status, and other details.
Integration
McLeod TMS integrates with other systems, such as accounting software, to streamline operations and improve efficiency.
7. PCS Soft
PCS Software, a leading provider of transportation management systems (TMS) for shippers, carriers, and brokerages in North America, has released Prime Express, a new TMS platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The platform, initially made available as a web portal accessible within users' existing TMS systems, uses AI and ML to provide optimal load and driver matching within supply chain networks. Prime Express offers users instant recommendations for driver-load matching and a modern user interface to efficiently execute those recommendations through integration with TMS dispatch functions. This platform provides unique benefits not available with traditional TMS.
PCS Soft's best features include:
Optimal Recommendations
The recommendations help users make the best decisions for their transportation and logistics operations. They're typically based on data analysis and algorithms considering various factors, such as cost, efficiency, and compliance.
Easy-To-Use Dashboards
The easy-to-use dashboard allows users to view and manage various aspects of their transportation and logistics operations. The dashboard typically includes a range of user-friendly and intuitive features and tools.
Additionally, it helps users quickly and easily access and manage the information they need to run their operations effectively.
Direct, Real-Time Communications
In the transportation and logistics industry, timely communication is often critical to ensuring smooth operations.
Users can communicate with each other in real time through the TMS platform. Direct, real-time communication help improve efficiency and coordination by providing a quick and easy way for stakeholders to communicate with each other.
Comparison of Software Trucking Companies Use
FlexTMS
Price: Starts at $145 monthly, unlimited users
Ease of use: Easy
Cloud Based: Yes
Interface: Modern
Tailwind
Starts at $176 monthly per user
Ease of use: Average
Cloud Based: Yes
Interface: Some what Modern
Load Stop
Price: Starts at $500 per month
Ease of use: Average
Cloud Based: Yes
Interface: Old
Prophesy
Price: Starts at $200 monthly per user
Ease of use: Hard
Cloud Based: Yes
Interface: Old
Trimble
Price: Custom
Ease of use: Hard
Cloud Based: Yes
Interface: Old
PCS Soft
Price: Starts at $410 per month
Ease of use: Hard
Cloud Based: No
Interface: Old
McLeod
Price: Starts at $2,500 per license
Ease of use: Hard
Cloud Based: No
Interface: Old
Conclusion
A transportation management system streamlines your processes, saves time & money, and generally makes your business life easier. By choosing the right software for your trucking company, you can spend more time doing things that highly matter to your business. Are you looking for an all-inclusive transportation management system that's cost-efficient and effective? Check out FlexTMS now!
