The digital revolution hit the logistics industry hard and fast a few years ago, and companies have to work harder than ever to differentiate their offerings from all the other tools and applications flooding the market. One way to do that is capitalizing on existing products by adding features that help broaden the potential client pool.
That is exactly what artificial-intelligence based software provider Teknowlogi is doing. The company has partnered with Trucker Tools to allow its transportation management system (TMS) customers–including Logistics Fox and Freightsaver–to use Smart Capacity’s market intelligence and capacity management features to improve predictive freight-matching processes, secure available capacity faster and improve engagement with truckload service providers.
“It is really about a wider offering for us. Trucker Tools offers such a great suite of products for the truckload community. It allows us to expand on what we do,” Teknowlogi Director of Marketing and Business Development Sean McGillicuddy said. “Bringing in an entire suite like Trucker Tools in provides a deeper level of connectivity.”
In addition to its TMS software, Teknowlogi offers a digital marketplace to its customers. McGillicuddy said the company has been established in the less-than-truckload (LTL) space for some time, but its truckload offerings have grown over the past few years. Integrating Smart Capacity allows its brokerage customers to cast an even wider net in the truckload space, especially among small carriers and owner operators.
“We’ve also got our great network of shippers all booking shipments and doing both LTL and truckload with us,” McGillicuddy said. “Where this partnership is great is that Trucker Tools has a network of the full truckload carriers. Trucker Tools allows for planning. Brokers and shippers are able to see the capacity and rates out there.”
Smart Capacity delivers “reliable data and process automation into the critical challenge that consumes much of a broker’s time – finding the right available truck, matching it to the customer’s load and completing an exception-free booking quickly and accurately,” said Walter Mitchell, Teknowlogi’s chief technology officer.
All the companies Teknowlogi works with do business a little differently, so being able to offer a wide variety of integration partners brings a tremendous value, according to Mitchell.
Trucker Tool’s Smart Capacity platform is integrated with the industry’s most popular driver smartphone app, which has been downloaded by some 850,000 owner-operators and is used by more than 130,000 small-carrier fleet operators to access load information, secure loads with brokers and provide real-time, automated shipment tracking updates for logistics managers and their customers.
Prasad Gollapalli, founder and chief executive of Trucker Tools, noted that the integration embeds Smart Capacity into Teknowlogi’s platform so brokers can seamlessly access its real-time capacity data.
“As a broker working to cover a load, you can click on the Smart Capacity icon in the Teknowlogi booking screen, and it will pull up all available trucks today, by the hour, in the area,” Gollapalli said. “Available trucks are ranked with the best match on top, incorporating machine learning and collective intelligence that considers history, driver/carrier preferences, equipment type, service need and other factors.”
Teknowlogi is also gearing up to launch Trucker Tool’s Book it Now tool this month. Book it Now allows drivers and brokers to automate and streamline workflow. Carriers can find, select, accept and book loads with brokers and 3PLs with the tool.