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This article will tackle the comparison of trucking software features that trucking companies of today can certainly benefit from. Like with other industries, the trucking and dispatch sector is experiencing dramatic improvements in its operation because of the multiple functionalities that a software can bring.
Trucking Services: From Rail to Road
The construction of the early highway systems paved a way for manufacturers and distributors to explore alternative ways of delivering goods and products to different states. As part of the economic expansion in direct delivery services, trucking services became a widespread alternative, which slowly replaced the old system eventually. This variation of delivery transportation alternatives made commerce and trade flourish faster, and we have not looked back ever since.
In American trade, trucking services play a great role in sustaining a continuous and timely delivery of goods of various kinds, which even include perishables and consumables. Up to this day, they have remained steady in their role in modern economies of different countries all over the world. The dominance of trucking services in the market can be seen in the statistical analysis on US trucking companies by Sageworks, which said that the sales increased by seven percent in 2014.
A trucking services report and statistics revealed that the total revenue from trucking services for the year 2013 amounted to $225 billion.
When it comes to international trade, trucking services still have a huge part to play. A number of trucking companies have established interconnected services across different countries, which enable them to seamlessly deliver goods using different modes of transportation. Partnerships are an essential part of a delivery transport system, which broadens the services of a particular trucking company. This is also an important manifestation that global trade does not just happen in e-commerce, but is actually happening outside it, even before it was conceived.
Large-Scale Applications of Trucking Services
One of the few robust industries in the world today that survived the evolving means and ways of the market is the delivery transportation sector. One could not argue more about its importance in advancing trade and commerce in other market industries.
On a large-scale setting, the importance of trucking services is highlighted more. Its capacity to carry large volumes of goods and the efficiency of its delivery system helped businesses to continue operating within the growing demands of its consumers. Its steady pricing schemes are also attractive for its capacity. Many businesses have grown to rely on trucking services for the longest time, and many have grown alongside with it.
There are also unique features and capabilities of trucking services that made it the best choice for most businesses. In the industries involving far-flung areas and hazardous working environments like agriculture, forestry, and mining, they need a stronger fleet of delivery transportations to be able to withstand the environmental conditions and remain efficient in their services. While air travel can be considered here, it can be costly to implement, and the volume of goods it can carry is also limiting.
Trucking service is one of the formidable options when it comes to considerations in the volume of goods to be transported. And since its industry is as mature as the businesses it serves, the system of delivery has been established, and businesses do not see any other option as indispensable as the familiar and comfortable. The evolution of the transportation sector, in general, highlights more on the commercial side (private transportation), but the aspect of delivery transport stood basically the same as it was before.
Small-scale Trucking Services and E-commerce
Even in the advent of e-commerce, freight still plays a significant role in enabling businesses to commence their services and complete their customers’ journey. Having your product delivered at your doorstep is the fulfillment of the service no matter what. Instead of making trucking services obsolete, e-commerce even made it stronger and expanded its services. Although we no longer talk much about volumes delivered at once when it comes to consumer e-commerce, the situation opened doors for small trucking services.
A number of freight and cargo services serving door-to-door deliveries are growing in number worldwide. The network that these small-scale services create is significant enough to raise the bar in the efficiency of trucking services’ deliveries. Now that technology is penetrating trade and commerce in a faster speed, we see that it is time to advance on this aspect.
But before we discuss the advancements of software technology brought in the field of trucking services, let us take a look at the different issues and challenges being encountered today. This is to fully support the important role that technology plays in improving trucking services in various aspects.
Issues and Challenges in Trucking Services Today
As the economy progressed, we see how the industry for trucking services grew in terms of the volume of goods it transports. This growth trend is friendly to its revenues and is positive in almost all aspects. However, alongside the growth are some challenges brought about by the same flourishing aspect.
Highways became more congested as the volume of transportation modes share the spaces with trucks. One of the competing industries in the road aside from public transportation and trucking services are car rental services. This posed issues when it comes to timely and efficient delivery. This also poses a greater risk when it comes to vehicular accidents.
Congested roads also have an impact from a national perspective. Since the government deals with volumes, it needs, therefore, to consider road and infrastructure expansion projects which can help alleviate the congestion. It is not easy to produce funding for these projects, though, as the government also sustains other sectors and considers other aspects that might be affected by the expansion.
Since the trucking services industry is a significant part of our economy, both the public and private sectors should take part in helping it overcome its setbacks in the modern issues it faces. Transforming it to become more adaptable to the advancements and technologies present is one way for it to cope with its issues.
Software Technology and Its Role in Trucking and Dispatch Services
The digital technology continues to bring innovative solutions for various business aspects, and its benefits centralize on cost savings, efficiency, and productivity in general. We cannot deny that the internet empowers digital technology the more, and together, it builds up stronger integrated systems through automation.
What is trucking software? Trucking services of today need technology to thrive in the modern demands of both business and consumers. They could also take advantage of technology to rise up to the challenges brought about by the modern world itself. Now that trucking delivery services can cater directly on a consumer-level, it is time to take advantage of a software that will make the services commence faster and more efficient.
Trucking software for drivers is specifically designed to meet the need for a systematic and orderly way of load distribution and dispatch of trucks. Through technology and automation, it should be able to make the delivery process meet client requirements when it comes to timely delivery while maintaining service quality. For the trucking service company, the software should serve as a tool for them to maximize time and cost for delivery in order to maintain high, substantial and consistent revenues. The software should be able to consider all the elements surrounding the delivery system and come up with the best solution in terms of route and dispatch times for maximized results.
Among other features, a trucking software for small fleets, more so for bigger ones, should have a strong dispatch system or program. Truck drivers can take advantage of GPS location services which can tell them the best route to take, with considerations of traffic and weather. They can also give specific directional information to drivers to ensure that goods would be delivered on time. They also have more sophisticated features like voice transcription, instruction recognition, and email capabilities.
A trucking software dispatch should also be equipped with a comprehensive log system. This is to effectively track mileage and fuel consumption, which is essential for logistics planning and budget. General log information like dispatch times, the length of trips, shift events and driving hours are also vital in the attendance system of truck drivers.
Log system information are also important data from which the software can derive useful insights. Another important trucking software feature is analytics and measurements. By drawing out data from actual numbers, the dispatch manager can see how the resources are being used up, and compare journeys to know in what situations can it get the most revenues. With the same data, he can also monitor the inefficiencies and loopholes of the current dispatch implementation and try another approach next time.
Dashboards are important in monitoring and tracking systems such as with a trucking software. With huge volumes of trips to analyze, the software is able to effectively capture the data and categorize the information accordingly. With sophisticated analysis methods, it can derive deeper insights on various information and help executives and key business people arrive at data-driven conclusions and decisions.
With automated dispatch features, trucking software for small companies could help the trucking services industry become more efficient in its delivery system, which can greatly benefit clients and customers. On the side of the trucking company, cost-saving measures are maximized due to the data-driven insights that aid in decision making. This means maximized revenues as well.
A trucking software can also be effectively integrated into the company’s ERP system for better and seamless management.
Check out reviews and comparison of trucking software features and services from CrowdReviews.com to help you start incorporating technology into your trucking delivery company and make it more efficient in its services.
Jeev Trika
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