Whether privately or in a company: we all buy products or services on a regular basis. Most of us unconsciously go through a similar process. We think about what we need: quantity, price and quality, and by when. We get information from newspapers, magazines and the Internet, and ask friends for recommendations.
For larger purchases, we summarize all the factors on a sheet of paper or in a table so that we can compare different options. There are also many softer criteria: How did I like the market stand and the product presentation, how understandable was the offer? And above all: how likeable did I find the consultant? Social relationships also play a big role in decisions.
This process is similar when purchasing transport services. It is important for shippers that their goods reach the customer undamaged, on time and at the right cost. Together with the softer criteria such as the relationship between shippers and logistics service providers, it quickly becomes clear why it is not so easy to compare offers. This is why a certain degree of standardization helps.
The inquiry process begins with basic preliminary considerations: What information and specifications should be sent to the service provider when making a transport inquiry? Important key points include the type of package and goods, dimensions, weights, Incoterm, dangerous goods, security, routing, loading information, currencies, and pickup and delivery times. Added to this are stackability, temperature control, value of goods, special requirements and very general information such as transport volume, shipment structure or departure or departure frequency. A structured, checklist-like process with validation of the entered values can already be a guide and save buyers and service providers a lot of unnecessary communication.
Once the required parameters have been defined and the enquiries have been sent, shippers receive offers from their freight forwarders. Usually as a PDF or Excel file, email text or by telephone. These offers are difficult for many shippers to compare, or require a great deal of specialist knowledge.
Given the multitude of factors that influence the price, it is understandable that offers contain a lot of information and that one has to deal with them thoroughly. Simplifying them too much would not adequately reflect the services actually involved and would therefore lead to incorrect award decisions. Nevertheless, even given the complexity and need for explanation of transport offers, it is possible to give offers a basic structure that makes them comparable. This structure should be understood as a kind of mediator that at the same time leaves room for differentiation and individuality.
Communication via too many mailboxes, distributed storage locations and people is inefficient and no longer up to date.
Purchasing transport services involves a lot of communication. Firstly in advance and when coordinating the services to be offered, then when comparing and selecting the offers or making the award decision. On the shipper side, several people or teams from the areas of logistics, shipping, purchasing or export/sales are usually involved. If the communication in this process is distributed across several mailboxes, people, storage locations (Excel, folders or similar) and even departments and locations, it very quickly becomes inefficient and is actually no longer up to date.
When creating offers, teams from the internal sales department, the field sales department, the scheduling department and the operational department work together on the service provider side. They can often already create their individual offers from their own systems. If these teams process requests together via a central system, this certainly means a change for them and in many cases probably also a small additional effort, which is to be acknowledged.
Therefore, a number of factors are important to support their collaboration: The technical operation and input in a central system must be simple. In concrete terms, this means that they do not have to struggle through a desert of forms, collaborative work is possible and no installation or registration is required. In addition, there must be no costs. It is also important that, despite structural standardization, it remains possible to create individual and flexible offers. This also includes the option of presenting your individual offer document.
Direct personal contact remains important for shippers as buyers and for logistics service providers on the supplier side. Shippers need and want it because they want safe, reliable and cost-effective transport. Logistics service providers also want to explain their services in the best possible way in conversation. Therefore, there is an important difference between solutions that moderate the process on the one hand and marketplaces, freight exchanges and platforms on the other. The latter change existing social relationships more strongly, for example by suggesting new contacts or actively intervening in the matching and awarding of contracts.
Purchasing transport services as a process is so complex that the use of software solutions is sensible and timely. They offer added value because they implement the process in a very streamlined manner and optimize it with checklist characteristics. In addition, they create good comparability of services with a high degree of individualization. An application should be easy to implement and enable collaboration across teams, departments, locations and national companies. Shippers thus bring structure and traceability to the transport procurement process and secure relevant process know-how.
In addition to the software, direct, personal exchange and the intact social relationship between shipper and logistics service provider remain important. IT support creates more freedom for all parties involved to exchange information about content services and further operational optimizations in the supply chain. The process becomes better for both sides. (loe)
first published at: https://www.dvz.de/rubriken/digitalisierung/detail/news/software-veraendert-die-beziehungen-im-verkauf.html
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