The trucking and logistics industry has seen dramatic change over the past several years. Leading the charge has been a truckload of technology providers, some new to the game, others well established. It’s a continuing demand which has ratcheted up the pressure on third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and brokers to quickly adapt and employ new technologies as shippers demand even faster responses and more accurate information.
Demands for real-time information and constant visibility are more frequent and complex than ever before. Emerging to address those issues have been a variety of digital brokerage platforms with tools such as automated visibility, predictive freight matching, automated booking, and near-real time visibility tracking of loads within feet.
The industry still needs to innovate and that will require brokers to step up their game once again. Where will that innovation occur? It’s all about data, and the next step on the innovation curve is making that data intelligent. Such next-level software tools, utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence, will take those data sets, apply learned intelligence to them, and inform the user not only “here is an exception” but “here is an exception and now here is the next step to resolve it.”
A case in point is booking a truck for a load. Your system tells you the truck will be at the load point at 2 pm But the driver calls in and cancels the load. That means the broker now needs to go back to the freight-matching tool and find another truck. Next-generation intelligent platforms will flag that missed pickup, automatically review its data on available trucks, and provide a “here is an available truck that can make the pickup” recommendation to the broker.
Insights. Intelligence. Control. Those are the benefits that will come out of these data-rich, proactive platforms that can isolate and resolve exceptions quickly with little intervention. That will bring more precision execution to supply chains, which in today’s fast-paced market, will be crucial to success.