Quite often data is just as important as the shipment itself, which is why we see one of the top 5 questions shippers ask when evaluating a new freight company to be a part of its business is “what shipment visibility options does your company offer”.
As this question relates to InTek Freight & Logistics shippers, we offer shipment visibility in various forms of push and pull technology methods to meet the preferences of our customers and their processes.
Push & Pull Technology Methods for Freight Shipment Visibility
The two forms of visibility technology revolve around whether a shipper wants the information to come to them (push), if they want to look up the information themselves (pull) or they want a combination of both methods.
For us, either direction a customer chooses is just a few clicks in our cloud TMS to configure and the customer is ready to go.
Push Technology
Push technology is the automated report generation method to give shippers the status of their shipments. Through this method our customers receive status reports on all their shipments from initial order and tender to final delivery for all their shipments moving with us.
Through the push technology option customers can quickly see all their shipments moving with InTek on one report sent to them automatically on the time intervals that are important to them.
Shippers that choose this method of receiving their shipment visibility information is:
- Receive the information automatically at the time intervals important to them.
- Data is crisp and clean on the data the shipper wants to see with each shipment.
- Easily sorted by the various references to quickly track the hot shipments or see potential issues InTek is working to recover to ensure on-time delivery.
- InTek can customize reference fields to track shipments on data that is recognizable by all departments across its organization.
- Full visibility to all shipments, without having to know a particular reference of the shipment.
- Not required to visit a website and input their TMS login credentials.
- The shipment activity from tender to delivery can be sent via email or electronically to then be uploaded directly into the shipper’s system.
- Electronic options include: EDI, XML or FTP.
- Provides equipment pool visibility for better management of first in first out loading practices to keep the proper equipment turns.
Pull Technology
For those shippers that prefer to track a shipment as needed or provide the portal to others in its company, such as sales support to answer customer questions, InTek constructs a customer portal to login and view shipments on demand.
These portals can be customized by login ID to provide shippers with the data they want its individual users to see in the shipping process.
Additional Commentary on Freight Shipment Visibility Technology
- Shippers can choose to elect both a push and pull shipment visibility.
- Both inbound and outbound shipment visibility can be handled.
- Shippers that want to simplify their shipment visibility through one source can have InTek connect into all the shipper’s contracted carriers to leverage InTek’s technology to provide a single source for all its shipments.
- Includes Inbound and Outbound Freight Dock Visibility
How InTek Captures Freight Shipment Data from Tender to Final Delivery
InTek understands how valuable accurate and timely freight shipment visibility is to its customers, so it gives multiple options to its contracted carriers to provide the data based on volume and the technology it prefers to use.
InTek Contracted Carriers Provide Shipment Information Via:
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Electronically - EDI
- XML
- FTP
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Carrier Portal
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Call & Email Checks
- If a carrier does not provide timely shipment tracking data, call and email checks are pushed out automatically at set time intervals.
Conclusion on Freight Shipment Visibility Technology
The long and short of it is that InTek deploys various methods to provide shippers real-time visibility to their freight. This is the same information the InTek Operation Team utilizes to manage the progress of shipments through the milestones required to maintain its industry leading on-time deliveries.
InTek continues to invest in the latest technologies available to integrate into its cloud based TMS to drive the best possible information available for its customers. As part of the TMS investment, the track and trace capabilities is evolving to a predictive technology versus a reactive process.
For more on InTek Freight and Logistics, please visit our website, blog or reach out to us.
Additional Resources to Help with Your Logistics Challenges:
- Freight Costs: An Insider’s Look on Freight Pricing Buyers Should Know
- Pros & Cons of Working with Mid-Sized vs. Large Logistics Company
- What Shippers Need to Know About Cheapest, Lowest & Best Freight Rates
- Freight Management Service Solutions Help Mid-Sized Companies Compete
