Logistics transportation software is a specialized data-driven solution used by trucking companies to plan, manage, and automate multiple routine operations. A robust all-in-one TMS helps logistics businesses optimize cash & workflows, ensure greater truckload visibility, and stay compliant with regulations.
What is logistics software?
Simply put, logistics IT solutions are various software systems developed to help supply chain businesses like freight forwarders, carriers, shippers, and 3PL providers enable process automation, data management, and overall performance optimization across their organizations.
When market competition is getting higher, transportation companies strive to find ways of staying ahead of the curve. First off, they need to cut down their operational costs. And implementing a decent transportation management system (TMS) can really help out with that via automation of multiple everyday processes and documentation flows.
Secondly, logistics businesses go all out to reach new audiences. To win and—which is more importantly—retain more customers, transportation service providers have to offer far better, custom-tailored solutions that drive improved customer experiences.
And last but not least, transport companies need greater visibility and dispatch control of numerous truckloads, routes, drivers and owner operators. To efficiently manage such huge volumes of operational and historical data, a robust transport and logistics software solution seems more than just another trend.
Logistics management software: The industry market overview
Today, the logistics industry has a wide range of software tools and services to set itself up for success and future growth. These are usually niche-specific applications that help supply chain businesses get more accurate data-driven insights, conduct customer analysis, enable dynamic route planning, and automate paperwork and processes.
The importance of digitization is clearly seen by key market players, who’ve been investing heavily in innovative software solutions in the recent decade. And it shows.Statista revealed some interesting facts indicating stable growth rates of the supply chain software segment worldwide.
- Global revenue rates of the Logistics software industry exceed the threshold of US$17 billion in 2021.
- By 2026, a market volume is projected to increase up to $24 billion.
- The market share of SAP as its leading player reached close to 19% in 2020.
- The cumulative revenue of the top three logistics software vendors accounts for $7 billion.
- The lion’s share of the logistics software market in terms of revenue goes to the United States, with its approx. $9 billion in 2021.
The facts above look quite promising, especially for trucking companies that are just considering the adoption of logistics management software. You can get more insights onlogistics trends and facts for 2021 in our recent article.
What software do transport companies use?
Let’s check some stats to realize what type of logistics software the US trucking companies really need and eventually integrate across their operational business flows.
Trucking companies are among key customers of logistics software
According to takeaways found via the 2020 Logistics IT Market Research Survey, logistics software is widely used by transportation service providers. To be exact, 81% of customers of logistics software development companies are freight forwarding & trucking businesses. More importantly, there is a solid customer base growth indicated by all the logistics IT companies surveyed. For 37 % of IT vendors the number of their customers increased up to 20%, and only 5% of respondents saw zero growth.
Types of logistics software the trucking companies choose
Speaking of ways—or rather—methods of how software management solutions can be delivered and implemented, the logistics software solutions mostly offered to trucking companies are the following:
By running environment:
- cloud-based software
- SaaS logistics platforms
- hosted solutions
- on-prem software
Interestingly enough, a far fewer number of logistics software vendors offer an option of implementing transport management software on customers’ own premises.
By platform/device:
- iOS apps
- Android apps
By software application type:
- native mobile applications
- web-based apps
- hybrid applications
By functionality:
- ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning software solutions that are largely designed to handle company’s accounting and inventory management data. Used more for in-house operations, which do not include customer-related services.
- SCM, or Supply Chain Management software suites. These are complex all-purpose systems developed for taking overall control throughout supply chain activities. The SCM solutions are usually quite pricey for small and medium-sized trucking companies.
- WMS, or Warehouse Management Systems. As the name implies, WMS software is utilized to administer warehousing workflows while keeping track of goods in stock and material handling.
- TMS, or Transportation Management Systems, which are a perfect fit for trucking companies that need to scale up their logistics business. This niche-specific software enjoys a wide range of advantageous features that usually work out of the box are the following: dynamic route planning, automated documentation flows, truck management, vehicle & driver dispatching, to name just a few. You can read more on TMS benefits on our blog, to see how a custom-built transportation management system can be perfectly tailored to meet and exceed your individual business optimization expectations.
Also, here you can find some other types of logistics software used by trucking companies.
What features of logistics software the trucking companies really need
Technically speaking, as a CEO, CTO, or COO at a trucking company—you obviously know what exact functionality your ideal TMS must have to address your industry specific optimization issues. And even if you’re not sure yet what problems you can tackle by implementing trucking software to improve your management processes, here is a tip.
For business owners, there is probably the best way to realize the scope of TMS advantages. That is to say, you can compare how your own expectations with a logistics software product stack up against your peers’ business needs.
A recent research done by Inbound Logistics makes it easier for trucking companies to embrace the range of features they really need to enhance operational efficiency. As shown by the results below, the trucking businesses’ demand for high-performance logistics software solutions is quite high and diverse.
Summary
Apparently, all logistics market players like carriers, shippers, freight forwarding and trucking companies are looking for pretty much the same logistics management software with feature-rich functionality to optimize their everyday trucking operations. However, any business has its own specifics that totally depend on a country of business operations, customer base, service offerings, transportation modes, you name it. This given, choosing a custom-built logistics management system would be the best option for trucking companies of any size. Unlike ready-made software, bespoke software solutions are a way better fit for achieving revenue growth and improving operational efficiency. With this in mind, why not choose HebronSoft as your software development partner?
Feel free to visit our blog anytime to stay current with the latest logistics trends and great software solutions.