The market situation is difficult, transport service prices are still rising, and problems in domestic transport may deepen. The time has also come to replace the fleet – vehicles are old and few companies can afford to finance investments with cash. And leasing costs money. Rates are very low and the number of companies operating in international transport is growing. On top of that, there are fuel costs, which, alongside driver salaries, are the most important factor determining the price of transport. Additionally, one must take into account the impact of fees following the introduction of electronic toll collection for trucks and motorway tolls, which has a significant impact on current rates. This is a reason for seeking savings.
But it is not only the issue of savings that is the reason for computerization in companies. Implementing platforms supporting transport logistics management is becoming necessary just to function at all. In transport management in Western Europe, hardly anyone uses phones or sends emails anymore – now, to become an international partner, one must also work on platforms.
Why and how to implement platforms
The main advantage of such solutions is the simplification of the information exchange process between the entrepreneur (shipper) and the carrier. Communication takes place electronically in real time, and its results are visible to all participants. To gain access to it, all you need is a computer and an Internet connection. Standardized communication introduces healthy competition rules and eliminates negative factors, for example, the power of informal ties between partners or the entrepreneur passing orders to their carriers by phone.
By implementing appropriate tools, freight forwarders and transport companies have access to all orders from companies they cooperate with. Information exchange is enclosed in a single channel, and each order carries all the data necessary for its execution. There is no need to contact the operator again to provide detailed data, as everything is already in the system. With constantly growing requirements regarding cargo transport and the expectations of freight recipients, the appropriate level of service becomes crucial. Thanks to transport management systems, the entrepreneur gains access to a closed database of carriers who, in order to be in it, must meet specific conditions. For the shipper, this is an additional guarantee of the contractor’s reliability. Implementing an IT platform requires, first of all, a thorough analysis of the company’s situation and predicting the benefits that computerization will bring. The main factor should be determining whether the company’s partners use IT solutions in communication with the environment and whether information exchange with operators is closed solely and exclusively in this channel. In cases where the shipper uses a communication platform, they most often cooperate with a selected group of carriers through it and no longer use others.
To join this group, a transport company is forced to implement tools that will enable it to participate in this process. Another factor necessary for the proper implementation of an IT system is having the appropriate infrastructure background. Usually, to use transport logistics management systems, a standard PC with Internet access is sufficient, through which communication with partners takes place. Currently, these are commonly used work tools in enterprises, which is why the significance of these barriers is decreasing.
It is also important to convince the company’s employees of the introduced changes. Internal organizational resistance can be an effective barrier – an inhibitor of change. Restructuring a company involves the need to inform the staff about the benefits flowing from it. In daily operations, the dispatcher will be responsible for effective communication. They must know the system’s operating scheme perfectly so that it is possible to increase the benefits resulting from its use.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 5/2011.