Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/846064
commercial carrier journal | july 2017 65 TECHNOLOGY: CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT and business process automation systems, MVT chose EBE Technolo- gies' Ships platform. e fleet is able to make adjustments to its workflow by using the soware's drag-and-drop visual tools. MVT configured Ships to automatically detect any type of excep- tion in its billing workflow. e system presents information to billing clerks only when orders are ready to bill. Orders that have excep- tions are routed to the right person or department to correct. "Billers no longer have to touch every document every day," Kelley says. "e amount of work evaporated." MVT was able to decrease its DSO from an average of four days to 2.5, and the 1.5-day decrease freed up more than $1 million in cash flow, Kelley says. Shipper web portals More shippers and third-party logis- tics providers – such as Walmart and Transplace, respectively – are requir- ing carriers to submit invoices through their custom web portals. Many freight payment companies such as Cass also require this, says Brian Lavelle, a regional sales manager for soware developer TMW Systems. For carriers and 3PLs, the manual work of entering data and images to a website can negate the efficiencies and DSO reduction they gained by using TMS systems and document manage- ment technologies. TMW, in partnership with Amalto Technologies, developed TMW Cash- Link for carriers and 3PLs to automate web communications with shipper portals and notify them if any infor- mation is missing on an invoice before it is finalized. TMW CashLink users can submit the invoices to shipper portals and receive instant notifica- tions when they are approved. As for a return on investment, that comes from reducing the manpower to enter data and eliminating errors that otherwise would delay payment, Lavelle says. e product is offered as a monthly subscription based on the user's number of customer portals. Removing delays Shippers and 3PLs also are becoming stricter in enforcing invoice require- ments from carriers and brokers. A customer may require that an internal reference number be included on an invoice for payment. TMS systems can flag such requirements in the order entry process. To set up an automated billing pro- cess in McLeod Soware's LoadMaster TMS system, motor carriers can use its FlowLogix visual workflow module. FlowLogix comes with templates and a custom flow chart design tool to configure business processes for each customer, says Matt Davis, McLeod's senior FlowLogix developer. e automated process typically starts with the electronic capture of a proof-of-delivery receipt and other re- quired documents such as paperwork for loading, unloading and detention events that may be subject to accesso- rial charges. FlowLogix compares the document and data captured from each driver to the configuration of the billing process for each shipper or "bill-to" customer in the system. Tailwind Transportation Soware's TMS system is used by brokers and smaller carriers – 10 to 50 trucks – through an online Soware-as-a-Ser- vice subscription and can be config- ured to require entry of specific data before an order can proceed to the next stage. Once an order is complet- ed, all of the required information captured in the order entry and subse- quent processes flows to the invoice. Other invoice requirements may include a signed POD document, and the Tailwind system can be configured so as to not allow an invoice to be printed or emailed without a POD. To simplify the capture of POD images, Tailwind plans to release a free app that can be used by drivers to capture a photo and signature of POD docu- ments to expedite billing. To resolve any billing discrepancies, Tailwind soware users can allow their customers access to a portal to view the status of their existing orders, including when they were invoiced and the supporting details, to "reduce the back-and-forth that happens," says Jessie Wright, Tailwind operations manager. Drivers can use Tailwind's app to mark their arrivals and departures to capture load information for possible detention billing, Wright says. Improving any business process pays dividends, but perhaps none are more critical to survival than quickly converting orders into cash. Mesilla Valley Transportation uses EBE Tech- nologies' Ships platform that allows the fleet to make billing workflow adjustments and automat- ically detect any type of exception.