What are the Benefits of Data Automation in the Freight Industry?

The cost of manual processing

What is the cost of a data entry error in the freight and logistics industry? For anyone who’s ever had to unpick the tangled knot of problems a single incorrectly entered digit can cause, no matter where you are in the chain, the simple answer is – a significantly costly amount of trouble.

The freight industry has a data problem. Manual data processing is costing the industry around 20% of its annual revenue. And this pain point is only going to intensify as the volume of data generated across the supply chain increases exponentially with time. Manual processing is responsible for errors, delays, productivity losses and major inefficiencies at every step in the shipping lifecycle. For freight forwarders, brokers and carriers who hope to stay competitive, digital transformation and wide-scale automation of legacy processes is mission-critical. Here’s why.?

The freight shipping process in its current state

At the moment, around 80% of data in the freight shipping industry is unstructured, and 90% is still processed manually. Unstructured data slows down every organization in the supply chain.

Every day, freight forwarders and freight brokers must manually handle hundreds of price requests which arrive in a number of different file formats and languages, often containing inaccuracies and omissions.?

Each request must be manually processed, which takes on average 3 hours per request (longer, if the request contains errors or omissions), and also introduces the potential for errors.?

From here, the request is sent through to the carrier, who must not only interpret it correctly, but spend hours manually researching the best routes and rates. If all goes well, this process is carried out without error. Often, this isn’t the case.?

By the time a proposal makes it back to the shipper who requested it, more often than not, they’ve already signed a contract with a competitor, who managed to respond faster. And if they are interested in accepting the proposal, the chances that it is 100% accurate are low.?

Overall, the process is inefficient, inaccurate and extremely resource-intensive. At each step in this process, manual processing of unstructured data causes a delay, resulting in a knock-on effect that ultimately compromises the freight forwarder’s ability to convert the price request into a sale.?

How does the automation of data management improve these processes?

Automation and data management have the potential to dramatically improve efficiencies at every step of the freight process.?

For freight forwarders, the right automation system can convert price requests into structured formats, no matter which format or language they arrive in. Totally optimized multi-lane proposals are generated and sent off automatically, with 100% accuracy. Booking requests are handled automatically via the organization’s existing ERP system, and carriers’ buy price data is enriched and restructured for ease of reference, including ideal routes, rates and margins.?

For carriers, automation and data structuring around key processes such as price request management, booking requests and buy price data massively reduces response times, maximizes efficiency and reduces errors to near-zero.

Overall, automation removes the potential for human error, while automatically filling in omitted data based on historical data. By eliminating repetitive, resource-intensive manual data processing tasks, automation frees staff up to focus on more important work.?

By structuring the wealth of data flowing in and out of freight organizations every hour, stakeholders are able to communicate more quickly and clearly with one another, while cutting manual research time to zero. And because automation is much better at working out ideal routes and rates, freight forwarders and carriers are able to offer more attractive, hyper-optimized proposals to customers, securing more deals, and increasing their margins.

Choosing the right digital solutions: key questions to ask

When considering an automation solution for your freight operation, there are a few key questions that should guide your choice.

Does it integrate with existing systems?

Ideally, you need a solution that fully integrates with your existing ERP and financial management systems, slotting into your tech stack with minimal disruption to your operation.?

Is it AI-enabled?

AI-enabled automation solutions are far more efficient, accurate and flexible than other options on the market. A solution built around NLP and ML architecture can deliver 100% data accuracy, extracting, cleansing and enriching data from all sources, including free-text emails.

Can it automate proposal generation?

The right automation solution should be able to generate accurate, optimized multi-lane proposals in a matter of seconds.?

Does it deliver a proprietary environment for each client?

AI-enabled automation should be able to maintain a custom proprietary environment for each of your clients, learning that client’s preferences based on historical data, previously chosen routes and broader context.?

Does it deliver business intelligence insights?

The automation solution you choose should also deliver deep business intelligence insights, enabling you to streamline and optimize your operations at every level.?

Can it “read” my inbox?

The automation solution you choose should be able to read all data formats, including Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, free-text emails, PDFs and any kind of attachments.

For automation, choose Stargo

Stargo’s AI-enabled StarDox platform delivers on all of the above, equipping freight operations with a robust automation solution that helps freight forwarders, freight brokers and carriers streamline and optimize every aspect of their businesses.?

With its advanced AI and ML capabilities, StarDox has been proven to increase productivity by 27%, improve conversion rates by 5% and raise margins by 4% in freight and logistics operations through superior automation functionality.?

Find out why Stargo is the right automation solution for your business by trying a free demo today.?