Characteristics of a World Class Transport Management System

With nearly 14.5% of Australian GDP expected to be generated by the transport and logistics sectors, the Australian road transport industry is a critical component of the nation’s path to prosperity. The Australian economy is expected to steadily recover from the pandemic impact in the period from 2021 to 2026. The transportation sector in Australia is not only extremely competitive, but also peculiar due to the fact that none of the Australian transportation brands command more than 5% of the market share.

As an organisation, this offers ample scope of growth and market domination for your business, but, is your transport management system capable of handling the expectations?

As you must be aware, Australia is rapidly emerging as a trading powerhouse and a number of countries in APAC as well as south-east Asia have a great demand for Australian products including fresh produce, as fast as possible. Approximately 75% of all Australian exports are meant for Asian countries such as China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan being the top ten export markets. Faced with such demand, the transport management system used by Australian logistics service providers has to be at par with the best in the world. This is where a legacy system can actually set you back by not offering adequate automation, visibility and real-time flexibility of operations across locations. Moreover, the legacy systems used at different locations and for different processes are usually incompatible with each other and lead to operational inefficiencies.

In such a scenario, the best bet for you is to go for a cloud transport management system which is globally compatible and infused with modern tech such as AI, data analytics, IoT and so on. So far, there hasn’t been an adequate focus in the Australian market on the benefits offered by an advanced cloud-based transport management system (TMS) which include:

Multi-dimensional visibility: You no longer need to rely on phone calls and other track and trace mechanisms as a modern cloud-based transport management system would offer you multi-dimensional visibility right from booking of a consignment until invoicing seamlessly. 

Planning and optimization: A world-class transport management system would come with a module for planning as well as a customizable library of rules and constraints to enable a high volume of booking requests. 

Location and navigation intelligence: Through the integration of GPS tools, a modern transport management system can offer accurate ETAs, weather patterns and turn-by-turn navigation. 

Integrations: Modern transport management systems are capable of creating an integrated ecosystem that includes carriers, customers, agents, marketplaces, telematics, sensors and sorters etc.

Mobility: A cloud-based transport management system would also offer an integrated driver app that can support booking request creations, approvals, invoices, alerts and proof of delivery etc. 

These are just some of the features that a world-class cloud transport management system would offer you as they help you scale the Australian market. You can further optimize its efficiency by integrating it with a fleet management system that can increase the availability of the fleet and reduce the overall operational costs for your business. 

The best thing is that you can easily explore the leading transport management systems as well as the options for a cloud fleet management system online!