Live from NCOF: Online Procurement Changing LTL

Orlando, FL— Transportation is no longer a commodity but a strategic decision thanks to online procurement, said Brad Gregory, director of sales and software alliances for SMC, a consultancy on less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping, during his Tuesday session, “Current Trends in Less-Than-Truckload: Best Practices You Really Need to Know”

Online procurement enables shippers to download the carriers’ pricing responses directly into their applications, eliminating the need to load them by hand and increasing accuracy. “The time required to manage this process is going down,” Gregory said. “The ability to upload data files, contracts, pictures of your freight, also allows you to select the carriers to participate. Shippers can use weighing techniques to analyze the responses and determine the best overall value. And shippers can analyze carrier responses in minutes instead of days. You should be able to reward the business electronically.”

Carriers, conversely, can use online procurement to reduce cycle time and increase data and pricing accuracy. Misunderstandings between shippers and carriers are reduced because quotes are in an electronic format.