Nothing in life comes for free, especially in the transportation and shipping industry where predictive freight costs carry so much weight. It cost money to make money and even to try and save money. A great deal of the cost that goes into shipping gets tied up in securing load capacity and budgeting for fees and expenses incurred along the way. And that helps to create entirely new ways of viewing the supply chain to proactively hedge risk.
As further explained by Deloitte, “business cases show how new technologies – from smart sensors to advanced data analytics to cognitive computing – are transforming traditional linear supply chains into connected, intelligent, scalable, and customizable digital supply networks to help reduce costs and drive sustainable growth.” Ultimately, it comes down to how good logistics managers get at transportation rate forecasting. Understanding why rate forecasting is so vital and how accurate data and analysis can help improve predictions are essential. And logisticians need to understand why rate predictions exist in the first place.
Ensuring capacity to secure more drivers and their corresponding bids often comes down to understanding current transportation rate fluctuations and consumer demands. The inability of shippers to do this can lead to many problems that can greatly impact the profitability and overall success of the supply chain. Some of the biggest issues that may arise in this fashion include:
Knowing predictions for fees and expenses can help shippers maintain a competitive advantage. Accurate transportation rate forecasting remains key to continued success and growth for all truckload services. But why?
The best way to ensure accurate transportation rate prediction and planning for the supply chain remains modern technology and innovation. Real-time data analysis, automated processing, mobile data platforms and data sharing platforms all improve shipping services in powerful ways. And the top three key benefits to recognize of these advanced tools include:
Fast and reliable access to real-time data is vital for successful transportation cost and rate prediction. Keeping tabs on key expense points, such as fuel cost, man hour rates, fees and tariffs, and other shipping costs, helps shippers stay informed. Blindly trying different things to see what might work is no way to run a supply chain. It further runs the high risk of losing money on poorly optimized loads and subpar expense planning.
Embracing technology and making the move toward smart data and automated analytics help managers save money. Data and analytics remain key to successful rate prediction and planning. A digital dashboard that records, displays and shares transportation rate data makes it easy to save time, money and resources at every step throughout the supply chain network.
Old and outdated data has no value in the supply chain. In fact, it can even be detrimental if used to make important decisions about capacity, fee rates and budgeting plans. Having access to real-time data makes it easy for logistics managers to properly analyze transportation rate predictions. Data-driven dashboards and automated platforms make it quick and easy to maximize profits and reduce expenses. Request a FreightWaves SONAR demo now to get started.
