Visibility is often heralded as the most important aspect of today’s supply chain, and automated solutions dominate today’s market. Most of the real-time tracking tools on the market provide automation updates in optimal conditions. When things go wrong, however, these products tend to require human intervention to get back on track.
Trucker Tools’ new approach – waterfall tracking – is designed to solve that problem.
“Waterfall tracking” means that a visibility provider, like Trucker Tools, automatically assigns the best available tracking method to each individual load based on information provided when the track was created and what the company already knows about the carrier.
“We want to meet them where they are. This benefits the broker because they don’t have to figure out how to best track a given driver,” Trucker Tools Product Manager Jarret Stowe. “We will automatically try ELD tracking, app tracking and then our new Text to Track method without any broker interaction required.”
This approach to tracking is designed to create higher compliance scores and keep automated location updates flowing, therefore reducing check calls and decreasing fraud risk.
While existing visibility models provide hands-off tracking under ideal conditions, Text to Track opens up a whole new level of automation. The new solution solves for common hurdles – incorrect ELD truck numbers, interrupted track and driver download refusals – without involving the broker.
“When a driver refuses to download a mobile app, Text to Track allows us to pull their location on a customizable cadence from their default web browser, such as Safari or Google Chrome,” Stowe said. “When a track is interrupted for some reason, Text to Track can be used to bridge the gap and provide visibility where typically a phone call to the driver may have been required.”
The new Text to Track solution builds on Trucker Tools’ long-term truckload visibility vision in a myriad of ways.
The industry-wide emphasis on automation is expected to continue growing as brokerages push to haul freight with a lower headcount. By reducing the percentage of loads that require check calls, Trucker Tools’ automated waterfall visibility ultimately reduces the headcount required to move a load.
Beyond automation, Text to Track can be used alongside Trucker Tools’ WhatsApp integration to reshape what tracking can look like in Mexico.
“We think this is extremely important for the logistics industry with the strong push for nearshoring across industries,” Stowe said. “We believe this could be the solution for cross-border tracks that are currently still managed largely by check calls.”
Finally, Text to Track can help reduce fraud. With this new solution, brokers can be certain that the driver is where they say they are with real-time location updates pulled directly from their device. Brokers can also be sure any required documents were uploaded on location since they are all geocoded and timestamped.
Trucker Tools has historically been associated with its convenient, easy-to-use solutions and integrations. Text to Track is no exception, making it simple for brokers to utilize the new offering.
“All of the location updates, status updates, document uploads, and driver comments will feed directly into your TMS through the existing integrations that exist with Trucker Tools, meaning there should be no additional lift required from the broker or the TMS,” Stowe said.
