A viable TMS – main features
An efficient TMS brings a core value to the shippers, carriers, freight forwarders and 3PL or 4PL logistic services work. It can be a standalone product or a part of the supply chain systems, depending on the particular business needs. In each form, it should facilitate the automated decision making, load consolidation, route optimization, time-saving, reduction in carrier overcharges, and automated freight audit.
To meet the demand of making these crucial logistic processes seamless a good TMS needs also to cover certain features. Most of all, the software must be multifunctional and allow diverse data processes. This commonly includes the following modes:
- Accounting
- Administration and Management
- Reporting and analytics
- Sales
- Risk management
- Shipping
- Vendor
- Tracking the transportation process
Another significant matter includes the scalability and the potential for further and adaptation and integrations. TMS vastly depends on data exchange between different partners (suppliers, carriers and logistics service providers), so it must be accessible for integration with external systems without generating excessive costs in case of turnover or business expansion.
Yet the most remarkable and overarching the abovementioned criteria remains the factor of adequacy to the user’s niche and unique business core demands.
The need for robust systems is followed by a supply: there is a great abundance of ready-made software for logistics, addressing the specific challenges or even the sectors of the economics. Some of them may fit perfectly to the companies requirements but in other case building a custom system is beyond any doubt worth considering.
To build a custom TMS or not to build?
To answer this question, the business should define its operational needs and what it wants to achieve through TMS implementation. The critical analysis must not overlook any of the business-specific factors as well as the development predictors and forecasts – otherwise, it may result in bringing up the solution that would occur to be completely inoperative.
The rapidly changing industry environment arises the necessity for an agile correction to the shift, predicting and reacting to uncertainties. The operational reaction is time-critical for establishing the company’s position and it is possible only with the highly adjustable custom solutions. Owning a custom TMS would not only save the company from being left behind by the competitors but also will enable the business to proactively shape it’s environment and set new standards of innovation.
Regarding Off Shelf systems, it is worth taking into account hidden costs, such as license, subscription extension, annual maintenance, the necessity for 3rd party software purchase and implementation, and personnel training. On the contrary, custom transportation management software is owned and controlled by the client. This means that there is no recurrent licensing fee, nor unwanted, untested updates that can risk the stability of the entire system. It also enables much faster actions taken by dedicated IT developers with high expertise in particular logistics issues.
Another benefit of a custom TMS is the possibility of implementing seamless integrations with other systems and applications (such as WMS, ERP or customer’s purchase systems).
Finally, data security is a great topic. Any breach of data induced by poorly protected data storage is potentially disastrous and can severely damage the company’s reliability, not to mention any legal aftermath. With the custom TMS, no third parties get access to the data as the user becomes also the only owner of the product. Hence the security of the application is the responsibility of the owner’s technical partner, it is extremely important to choose the development resources thoroughly.
In Conclusion
Each of the logistics businesses characterizes by its own peculiarities, processes and methodologies that need to be addressed and enhanced by the perfectly suitable TMS rather than being transformed in order to adapt to the software constraints. The evident need for smarter, faster and more dependable services in the L&T industry proves that the tailored solutions may bring a great competitive advantage to the companies that decide to develop in-house systems, maturing along with the enterprises.
