Manually entering data and tracking finances in a spreadsheet is bound to elicit some big yawns from your team — or worse, a small human error that results in a costly mistake. That’s why automating your freight finance processes in a Transportation Management System is essential. TMS software for shippers ensures that financial data and reporting are accurate. Plus, it frees the team to work on strategic projects and relationship building. Overall, using a TMS can optimize your logistics operation.
This scenario might sound familiar: On your logistics team, you have your own methods and software for tracking shipments and freight finance. Down the hall, the finance team has totally different operating procedures, systems, and software. Even though you’re in the same company, working toward the same KPIs and goals, there’s a significant discrepancy.
At Owlery, our TMS bridges the gap between operations and finance so that shippers can build a comprehensive understanding of their operations. We consider ourselves an internal partner, helping supply chain teams work better together, and making everyone’s lives easier. We can make your finance team love you — really!
Aside from winning over John in accounting, there are plenty of reasons to automate freight finance with a TMS system for shippers. Let’s look at five key reasons.
A small slip or leaving out a zero when entering finance data can lead to some big errors. Automating freight finance reduces the instances of manual errors in financial data processing.
Many shippers don’t have time for manual invoice audits, so they have no clue how accurate the invoices are. With automation, they can have oversight without the overhead of manual audits.
With automated finances, shippers can get detailed analytics to ensure data-driven and accurate cost allocation. An automated system might identify a spot where a shipper has duplicate or redundant spending. Logistics teams can take that information and make a strategic decision to allocate costs better.
The automation helps with budgeting and financial control, contributing overall to a healthier balance sheet.
Remember those yawns from earlier when teams had to enter data manually? Streamlined admin processes are a big reason to automate your freight finance processes. Automation reduces the time and effort teams spend on administrative work, freeing up people and resources to work on strategic projects.
Automation also helps with accrual reports, which record revenue and costs that are not yet on the balance sheet. The reports allow shippers to close books faster and more accurately with actual freight costs.
With automation in freight finance, shippers have access to real-time financial insights. They can view variance reports, which highlight the differences between estimated and actual freight costs. Freight prices sometimes change rapidly if a natural disaster or geopolitical event suddenly squeezes capacity.
With real-time insights and variance reports, shippers have better financial visibility, which helps them make decisions based on the most current and accurate information.
The last but not least reason to automate freight finance in your TMS systems is to save costs. While it may sound counterintuitive, investing in automation can reduce costs.
Automation improves efficiency, which leads to cost savings. Shippers stand to gain by automating their freight finance processes.
There are plenty of reasons to automate your freight finance processes in your TMS. It’s more accurate, saves costs, streamlines admin work, and will make the finance department love your logistics team. Who doesn’t want that!?
A robust TMS system for shippers, like that of Owlery’s, makes it easy for accounting departments to handle different invoices from different providers. We can batch, format, and validate the invoices. No matter which carriers are used, the finance team has an easy time, and the logistics team doesn’t have to waste time on manual processes or audits. It’s a win-win for multiple departments at the shipper.
If you’re ready to automate your freight finances and get your logistics and accounting teams in lockstep, check out Owlery. We offer services such as enterprise-grade TMS, order operations, logistics insights, and much more. Get started with Owlery today.
