Real-time shipping updates are one of the best ways that retailers can provide a transparent and high-quality customer experience. Today, it’s common for large online retailers to let customers track and manage their orders through a portal.
While freight forwarders and logistics service providers (LSPs) are in the business of providing a great customer experience, traditionally, their shipper customers haven’t received the same level of visibility as end consumers.
“There’s a really large knowledge gap that exists between freight forwarding companies or logistics service providers and their customers, and really it’s the transfer of information,” said Julian Alvarez, Logixboard founder and CEO.
That transfer of information is blocked because data is often siloed in freight forwarders’ and LSPs’ transportation management systems. Traditionally, freight forwarders and LSPs have primarily communicated via email, phone calls, and reports generated from their TMS, which quickly go stale. Due to the constant back-and-forth, important documents get lost in massive email threads, leading to customs holdups, scheduling mishaps and delayed payments.
Leveraging technology can help LSPs elevate customer service and maximize their revenue opportunities by delivering a customer-facing application in which clients can track shipments, pull customs and other important documents, see invoices and a breakdown of costs, and communicate with providers online.
Unfettered access to all the real-time data insights, analytics and documentation they need, in one place, allows customers to more easily manage their own supply chain, making for a best-in-class customer experience.
Logixboard, a user-friendly supply chain management platform, is an example of one innovator taking this approach to the customer experience. While LSPs may run their operations across 12 or more systems internally, they can give their customers access to just one. Logixboard connects and streamlines all of an LSP’s channels into a single customer-facing application.
In turn, their shippers can cut out the information middleman in favor of an easy-to-navigate interface where they can view their freight operations in real time. Not only does this enable streamlined communication, but it also eliminates single points of failure and builds trust between the LSP and its customer.
As freight forwarders and LSPs grow and expand their offerings into areas such as domestic and warehousing services, they can integrate management of these operations on their platforms. This can help them cross-sell to customers much more effectively.
“If they’re able to provide one unified, customer-facing application, they’re able to land larger accounts, provide visibility across the entire supply chain, which ultimately is what BCOs, shippers and importers want,” Alvarez explained.
Deploying technology requires work, and Logixboard consults with and works closely with clients as partners to successfully roll it out to customers. Logixboard also integrates into freight forwarders’ and LSPs’ existing systems, minimizing the burden of retraining their operations teams.
“Not only are we getting them up and running quickly, but we’re delivering a lot of value for them rapidly, whether that’s through new sales, through growing their share of wallets or just generating more efficiency as an operation,” Alvarez explained.
Providing a unified customer experience, combining both great service and great technology, allows companies to streamline their freight operations, in turn maximizing efficiency and accelerating new business.
“When we think of customer experience, we think of it as critical for these customers. We think the technology and the service that these companies offer ultimately helps them win,” Alvarez said.