Triptika Chaudhari
The logistics industry is characterised by collaboration. In order to move freight with speed and precision, almost every company in our sector must collaborate with partners. And yet, historically, 3PL collaboration has proved problematic. Technological barriers, regulatory barriers and, ironically, logistical barriers have always loomed as roadblocks.
The TEG platform eliminates barriers to 3PL collaboration, making it easier for our industry to team up, unlock hidden efficiencies, and grow. Here’s how.
1. The TEG platform grants 3PLs visibility
Perhaps the most obvious barrier to logistics collaboration is that of visibility at scale. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect transport managers to log lists of carriers in their heads, or even Excel, when managing a handful of carriers at any one time. When managing dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of carriers at once, a different system altogether is needed – because in its absence, collaboration becomes impossible.
With TEG, 3PLs have a purpose-built carrier hub
The TEG platform equips transport managers with a purpose-built digital carrier hub. The hub houses every carrier a transport manager can use – including internal vehicles, external carriers … and even potential new carriers that meet your specific compliance requirements (more on that below).
Through the hub, managers can see vehicle positions, destinations and capacity statuses via a live, interactive map. That removes artificial limits on the number of carriers a 3PL can work with… because the hub shows you all your carriers in one place, reducing admin, streamlining communication, and eliminating the need for scattered spreadsheets.
2. The TEG platform removes compliance roadblocks
To work with an external carrier, 3PLs need to be confident that the carrier satisfies a long list of regulatory, safety, and insurance requirements. And typically, 3PLs check as much manually. That costs time and money. What’s more, checks are discreet: they show that carriers are compliant at the time the checks take place… but compliance statuses can change at any point.
With the above in mind, 3PLs typically limit the number of external carriers they work with. Rather than continually seek out optimal external carriers to cover contracts, they instead accept tenders from just a handful of carriers. The rest of the market – no matter how qualified – is effectively invisible.
Onboard carriers instantly
The TEG platform, however, uses advanced technology to make onboarding new carriers straightforward.
Prospective carriers simply submit their compliance documentation to compliance specialists ahead of time who, through technologies including biometric verification, automatically verify credential authenticity.
That allows 3PLs to work with new carriers on demand, safe in the knowledge they can onboard them instantly, checking and sharing compliance documentation on-the-fly.
Monitor carrier compliance continuously
What’s more, the TEG platform monitors carrier compliance on an ongoing basis. So you know, at any time, all of the carriers in your hub can work with you.
All of a sudden, you can work with not a handful of potential carriers, but thousands.
3. The TEG platform makes it easy to pay partners
In logistics, paying carriers is a laborious process. There’s matching invoices to POs. And matching PODs to invoices. Then preparing payment files. Then checking bank details, all the while fielding calls chasing payments.
Auto-reconciling orders, invoices and PODs
The TEG platform, however, solves carrier payment woes. With the TEG platform, 3PLs book their carriers in-platform. And carriers submit invoices and PODs through the platform. That makes purchase orders, PODs and invoices inseparable. Which means the TEG platform can automatically audit freight on your behalf, highlighting any discrepancies for further investigation.
Settling all invoices with a single payment
Better still, the TEG platform allows 3PLs to pay carriers in a single, aggregated payment.
As the month unfolds, carriers complete deliveries, invoicing according. Batch approval makes approving non-discrepant invoices effortless. Then, come payment run, 3PLs make one, aggregated payment into their TEG wallet, which instantly divides the payment between carriers accordingly.
With the TEG platform’s integrated payments, payments are no longer a barrier to collaboration.
The importance of neutrality
The final ace in the TEG platform’s sleeve is its inherent neutrality.
TEG is a logistics technology business. We exist independently, to make it easier for the industry to collaborate, and have done for 25 years.
That’s important because it’s frequently why other efforts to aid sector collaboration fail: the purveyor of the solution has skewed incentives. If TEG was, say, a forwarder that’d built a collaboration platform, we would naturally face incentives to serve ourselves over the interests of platform members. As a neutral player, our only incentive is to make sector collaboration easier for all.
From constraint to collaboration
In logistics, collaboration is essential. But historically it’s always been capped.
The TEG platform removes common limits that prevent logistics collaboration, making it easier for 3PLs to build their external networks and transition from asset-heavy operating models to asset-light businesses even more capable of delivering their customers’ evermore demanding supply chain goals.
Greater collaboration grants 3PLs efficiency gains, sustainability gains, and increased resilience.
Those interested in a TEG platform demonstration are encouraged to get in touch.
