If you’re in the market for an eProcurement platform for your logistics procurement team, the sheer number of options can be overwhelming.
Nowadays, there are a number of eProcurement platforms claiming to work for freight buying. However, there’s an easy way to whittle down your options to find the best fit for your team: look for a platform specialized in logistics.
Choosing a generic procurements platform means you’ll miss out on the logistics-specialised features that simplify the complex process of freight buying. Here are 4 big benefits of choosing a logistics-specialised eProcurement platform for freight buying.
1. You can integrate real-time market data into your rate management
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To stay within budget and hit target, you have to secure the best rates possible for your key lanes. But with the average supply chain often containing hundreds of lanes and many complex routes, this is difficult to manage.
This is where logistics-specialised software can be a game changer. Today’s leading freight procurement platforms integrate real-time data into your rate management. This allows you to see at a glance which lanes you can save on based on current market prices. You can even set up alerts to notify you when key lanes reach a specific goal price – so you can tender at the perfect moment.
Generic eProcurement platforms don’t have this logistics-specialised feature. They’re designed for buying many different materials and business necessities, so don’t have the capacity to offer this niche freight procurement feature.
2. Managing your rates is faster and easier
When you use a generic procurement platform, you get access to module-based eProcurement. However, this is built with a focus on materials, not on logistics. Managing the procurement of materials is vastly different to freight and lane management – with different challenges and digital requirements.
This means the software isn’t optimised for the needs of a freight procurement team, and at the management stage, your rates won’t be optimally set up.
You would also miss out on leading rate management features that help your team save time and make smarter data-driven decisions. For example, here are some of the business-critical features a logistics platform offers that you wouldn’t get with a generic option:
- The platform automatically adds newly tendered rates to the rate management system
- The rate management system is optimised for specific MoTs
- The entire platform connects to your rate management giving unrivalled visibility.
3. Access industry-specific templates to simplify tendering
Tendering is time consuming – especially when you’re moving perishable or high-risk cargo. Freight procurement platforms provide industry-specific templates to manage your tenders, doing the tedious admin work for you.
The ready-to-go templates make kicking off your first digital tender a breeze. And the digital RFQ creator reduces hours of admin to just minutes.
Learn more about digital freight tendering here.
4. You can use a freight calculator to instantly access your rates
If you choose a generic procurement platform, you won’t get logistics-specific features like a freight calculator. So, what is a freight calculator? And how will it help your freight procurement team?
Here are just some of the benefits of the freight calculator:
- Instantly request budgetary transport rates for your sales team
- Audit your invoices digitally to eliminate accidental overspending and save time
- Find the ideal mode of transport for your cargo in a couple of clicks
- Search contracts for valid rates, so you never buy spot unnecessarily again.
Logistics-specific features like these make rate management far more efficient and ensure your team avoids additional costs that push you above budget.
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