Enterprise TMS: How to Determine If Your Business Is Ready

Enterprise TMS | How to Determine If Your Business Is Ready

The global transportation management system (TMS) market continues to expand, highlighting the ability of an enterprise TMS to deliver ROI across the business landscape. 

According to Globe News Wire, the overall TMS market will attain more than $4.3308 billion USD by 2024. That represents a jump of nearly $2 billion USD in five short years.

And experts arrived at that projected growth before COVID-19 tackled the global logistics marketplace. In turn, more businesses have found themselves racing against the clock to move freight, lower costs, and meet customer demands. 

Unfortunately, those without an enterprise-ready solution are likely running behind. The only way to move forward is to recognize when it’s time to invest in an enterprise TMS to unlock supply chain optimization. To simplify things, look for these signs that signify that your business is ready for an enterprise TMS.

1. Finding Available Drivers or Carriers Continues to Grow Difficult

Trouble securing capacity stands out as the leading problem among shippers and freight management parties without an enterprise TMS. As capacity grows strained, organizations will begin to experience significant challenges in covering basic freight needs. Additionally, increased trouble securing affordable rates and capacity further indicate it is time to invest in an enterprise solution.

2. Freight Spend Continues to Trend Upward and Does Not Reflect Actual Market Conditions

As freight spend increases, it marks an increase in total landed costs and operating expenses for businesses. This is a simple business principle. However, increasing freight spend during times of severe disruption, much like the current pandemic, will also indicate increased use of spot rates to secure available capacity. For that reason, it may be necessary to onboard additional carriers, drivers, lanes, or other service providers, to meet demands. Unfortunately, they all add up to increases in freight spend. As freight spend increases to more than 40% of total operating costs, it is time to entertain an enterprise solution.

3. Frontline Workers Must Navigate Multiple Systems to Manage Basic Freight Processes Simply

There was a time when using multiple systems to manage freight was a minor issue. However, this is the digital age. And working across various systems may add 5 to 20 minutes to a typical freight interaction. While that may not seem like a significant shift in labor efficiency, consider the implications if the entire process was fully automated. Using a single system could bring that time down to a minute or two for each shipment tendered. Using 14 minutes as a base example, a decrease of 12 minutes is equivalent to increasing the number of loads that an individual employee could address by 700%. That is a marked advantage.

4. System Updates Continually Cause Disruption and Delays in Managing Freight

Another standard indicator that it is time to invest in an enterprise TMS revolves around system updates and maintenance. Traditional, on-site solutions, residing within individual terminals, may require extended downtime for routine updates. However, advancements in an enterprise TMS platform can eliminate this issue using a software-as-a-service architecture that eliminates the need to maintain the software on an individual computer. Any device with a stable Internet connection could be used to manage freight. This allows a company to enable remote management and the ability to always have the latest system version in operation.

Start Building the Enterprise TMS Business Case When Any Indicator Appears

Investing in an enterprise TMS can sound overwhelming and unnecessary. However, an enterprise TMS is not a solution designed solely for Fortune 500 companies. Instead, it merely refers to a solution that can be applied across multiple locations and allow for continuous scalability and flexibility within the supply chain. The MercuryGate platform has that distinction and advantage.
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John Martin
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