Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/846064
commercial carrier journal | july 2017 63 TECHNOLOGY: CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT American Trucking. Shippers, brokers and carriers use Comchek Express to send unique codes to drivers who can exchange them for cash at locations in Comda- ta's proprietary merchant network. Comchek Mobile's app can be downloaded to personal devices used by fleet managers, drivers, lumpers, merchants and other parties. Once drivers or other parties sign up and are registered to use the app, they receive a unique Comchek Mobile ID number and a Comdata debit card. Fleets can transfer funds to drivers electronically using their ID numbers. ey also can use Comchek Mobile to transfer funds directly to other parties such as lumpers or merchants by using their IDs instead of having drivers pay with cash and turn in receipts. Another option is to transfer funds to drivers and other Comdata Mobile users via Comchek Express; the recipients simply would enter the Comchek Express code into the mobile app to receive a funds transfer. ere is no fee to transfer funds between Comchek Mobile users with IDs. "To pay funds directly is a very big win," McCrossan said. Drivers can transfer funds from Comchek Mobile to their personal bank account or to their Comdata debit card to make pur- chases at fuel stations, hotels and other over-the-road locations. Carriers can pay drivers using the system that also provides brokers with "a very quick ability to get carriers set up and establish a pay practice without collecting bank information and other details," McCrossan said. Small carriers and owner-opera- tors that use Comchek Mobile will be able to receive funds directly from shippers and brokers and transfer those funds to other Comdata Mobile users such as drivers, who then can move funds to their Comdata debit card or to their bank ac- counts as needed, McCrossan said. Unlike the Comchek Express system, all trans- actions sent and received through the mobile app are recorded dig- itally. Users have access to their transaction his- tory through the app and online portal to recon- cile their person- al and business expenses. Workflow automation Doing business only with shippers and brokers that use electronic freight pay- ment systems may not be an option. A more common strategy to speed cash flow is to present invoices to customers faster to reduce the number of days sales outstanding. Business process automation systems can do this by increasing the speed and accuracy of information and documents through the office. Flexibility is an important attribute for systems of this kind, says Mike Kelley, chief information officer of Mesilla Valley Transportation (CCJ Top 250, No. 75). About four years ago, the Las Cru- ces, N.M.-based company was looking to replace a "really rigid" document imaging system for the drivers of its 1,300 trucks. "When we wanted to make a modification, we had to start from the ground up," Kelley says. MVT needed a system that could be modified by its own staff as needed to keep up with its growing and changing business needs. e company's billing department organizes its workflow alphabetically by customer "bill-to" codes. e previous system present- ed images of signed bills of lading to billing clerks who then compared data on the images to the orders in MVT's transportation management soware system. Clerks had to do this manual comparison to ensure that customers' specific billing requirements had been met, but it was time-consuming. "e lack of integration between the two systems meant touching every docu- ment multiple times," Kelley says. Aer researching document imaging Comchek Mobile customer Evans Delivery operates more than 1,300 tractors across multiple companies in the intermodal, truckload and flatbed markets.