On Thursday, FreightWaves hosted an hour-long conversation with Trucker Tools and its customers about its Smart Capacity product, which launched in 2017. The webinar, titled Capacity Management 2.0, featured a speaker panel which included Prasad Gollapalli, Founder/CEO of Trucker Tools, Tom Curee, VP of Logistics at Kingsgate Logistics, and Diana Bullington, IT Director at Syfan Logistics. The panel discussed how new disruptive technology like Smart Capacity can enable freight brokers to drive new productivity while cutting costs and increasing profits.
Prasad Gollapalli spoke about the current state of the trucking industry, focusing on the major inefficiencies facing brokers. The first inefficiency was “one load wonders”: drivers who leave a broker’s platform after only making one shipment. The next problem was that multiple sources of information in the freight market prevent accurate and real-time data from being accessed by brokers. The final inefficiency was that brokers will often be forced to make many calls to cover a load, often thirty to forty. Prasad goes on to address the various tools and methods Smart Capacity’s Dashboard uses to rectify each inefficiency.
One of the ways Smart Capacity will increase efficiency will be to automate manual tasks by implementing new technologies such as email phrasing, natural language and artificial intelligence. The primary goal will be to match available carriers to loads and identify previously obscure freight movement opportunities. Brokers will be able to cover their load, track it to its destination, validate the shipment and reload the truck. “We want our customers to think like an asset-based company,” Prasad clarified.
Tom Curee and Diana Bullington explained how Smart Capacity has benefited their businesses. Bullington talked about how having new technology is enabling Syfan Logistics to attract new talent for the freight industry. “To make people want to work for a logistics company, we have to be on the cutting edge of technology—otherwise they don’t want to come to work for us.” Tom Curee said that Smart Capacity is needed to address the market inefficiency of matching shippers with carriers: “Imagine going through the process to buy a new car every time you need to drive to work.”
The panel concluded the webinar with a Q and A session involving the audience. At of the end of 2018, Smart Capacity has already established a strong presence in the logistics industry. Over five hundred thousand drivers have downloaded the Trucker Tools App among 115,000 carriers. Technology like Smart Capacity that is geared to improve efficiency and relationships will continue to enhance the trucking logistics market into 2019 and beyond.