Customers thrive in this single-platform environment

By Jeff Potts

Today’s transportation management systems (TMS) are available on different software platforms, from on premise (installed), to hosted, to true SaaS (Software-as-a-Service). The growing preference of industry experts is toward true SaaS, in which software and data are hosted in the cloud. This centrally located software is highly secure and offers significant benefits over on-premise software or hosted systems. Understanding all the benefits of a true SaaS platform is the key to making the best TMS decision.

A TMS provides procurement, planning, execution, and settlement transportation functions. With a multimodal SaaS TMS, such as LeanLogistics LeanTMS, companies have access to a community environment providing freight management and collaborative opportunities, leading to benchmarking and reporting capabilities not available in standalone TMS software offerings. All users—shippers, carriers, suppliers, customers, and other trading partners—conduct business on the same software instance on the same platform. The transportation data, from millions of loads and billions of dollars in spend, flows through this single system and enables network-wide visibility, business intelligence, and collaboration.

What really makes SaaS unique, however, is the intangible benefits that exist by being part of a community as opposed to simply working siloed within the four walls of an organization. Once a carrier or supplier is in the network, it is connected to all appropriate partners. With hosted or on-premise applications, the carrier has to integrate with each user separately. This intuitive connectivity creates competitive advantage in a number of ways.

Visibility
All transactions flow through this central transportation command center, which allows the monitoring of critical activities in your supply chain. Because partners are all in the same environment, visibility is that much greater. Real-time communication is enhanced because every party knows what is happening, when, and why. Additionally, data and information within one system enables real-time analytics and performance metrics that are significantly more accurate and robust.

Benchmarking with Better Data
SaaS TMS solutions—with a large community of users—create a transportation network that processes millions of transactions across a single platform. As a result of this, transportation network data such as rates, carrier performance, and transit times provides comparable data sets to create market-level indices. SaaS TMS solutions help you improve performance by providing an industry frame of reference, beyond historical-only company data, allowing unparalleled visibility to industry network data. SaaS transportation network members utilize quantitative benchmarking to identify ‘what’ can be improved, ‘why’ differences exist, and ‘how’ to improve performance. By accessing network data, users are able to make smarter decisions for continuous improvement.

Faster Return on Investment
LeanTMS provides the supply chain industry with on-demand transportation management technology in a low cost, plug & play model for NetSuite customers. The speed of implementation when a SaaS model is deployed allows companies to achieve a faster return on investment. NetSuite customers can see 5-15 percent transportation spend savings as well as improve service performance to customers. With SaaS TMS, there is no upfront investment on technology; companies simply pay for what theyuse. Additionally, there are no costly upgrades and technology is updated multiple times throughout the year.

Collaboration
Network collaboration is considered to be one of the most significant benefits of a true SaaS platform. All members of the network have the opportunity to connect with other network members for additional capacity and collaborative transportation opportunities. With greater visibility, businesses can share information faster and more efficiently. This facilitates collaborating with other vendors, carriers, and shippers to work across each other’s networks, sharing transportation assets and creating economies of scale. Shippers can leverage SaaS TMS to unleash rapid and significant change throughout the organization. Access to this type of collaboration within a transportation network is only available with a true SaaS platform.

When evaluating a TMS provider for your business, ask the tough questions: “Is your SaaS TMS on a single-instance, multitenant platform?” and “Do I gain access to the entire transportation network with unfiltered, unbiased data?”

Supply chain visibility, business intelligence, cost structure, as well as collaboration are key reasons why true SaaS technology is becoming the preferred TMS solution. To learn more about LeanLogistics pre-integrated SaaS solution with NetSuite, please contact solutions@leanlogistics.com

About Author

Jeff Potts, Co-founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development at LeanLogistics, is responsible for overseeing the LeanLogistics business development, sales, and marketing teams to support revenue growth for all solutions provided by LeanLogistics. Jeff plays a vital role in the growth of the company through the ongoing partnerships with strategic client organizations while leading the global expansion of the organization. Jeff has held positions in sales, consulting, and business development during his past 29 years of experience in the transportation industry, providing significant knowledge of diverse supply chains and vast industry experience. Jeff cofounded LeanLogistics in 1999.

The statements and opinions contained herein are those of Lean Logistics and not of NetSuite. NetSuite has not verified any statements or claims herein and assumes no responsibility for such statements or claims.