Managing parcel deliveries has never been more complex. With rising customer expectations, booming e-commerce, and an unpredictable supply chain landscape, the pressure to provide accurate, real-time tracking and seamless deliveries is mounting. From incorrect parcel labels to unreliable last-mile carriers, parcel management challenges can cost both time and money—and become the source of customer frustration and missed growth potential down the road.
Enter the transportation management system (TMS), a platform that transforms end-to-end parcel logistics for a smoother, more transparent, and strategic shipping experience. By centralizing documentation, automating key processes, and providing actionable analytics, a TMS empowers businesses to tackle the most common parcel pain points head-on.
Remove barriers to carrier diversification and simplify labeling
When shippers lean on a carrier-provided manifesting system such as UPS WorldShip or FedEx Ship Manager, they can find themselves unequipped to incorporate many diverse parcel carriers into their supply chains. These platforms are often unable to integrate with other supply chain systems, which limits information sharing within an organization and limits their ability to diversify their carrier pool. It can even complicate parcel labeling processes and stand in the way of quick pivots to different carriers when disruptions hit.
A centralized system like CTSI-Global’s Honeybee TMS integrates carrier management into one cohesive platform, allowing them to work with a wide range of partners more seamlessly than before. The TMS gives shippers access to a pre-vetted pool of carriers, allowing them to select a reliable partner that meets their price, equipment, or custom requirements for each job. Logistics teams can print accurate, carrier-compliant parcel labels for a wide range of partners and lean on the solution to validate shipping addresses through access to global directories—reducing the risk of misdeliveries, delays, and incorrect address fees.
Meet global regulatory requirements without missing a beat
For global shippers, complying with regulatory requirements is a constant challenge—especially as new standards continually shift the compliance landscape. Each time an organization enters a new market, it must take steps to understand and meet the new country or region’s specific regulatory and tax requirements. A TMS’s parcel management features help to limit a shipper’s exposure to noncompliance penalties and fines by automating shipment execution processes and centralizing parcel records.
TMS platforms provide a hub for managing transportation information—including contracts, order forms, invoices, and strategic data on carrier performance, lost opportunities, and expected-versus-actual costs. With crucial information about shipments in one place, logistics teams can easily monitor progress toward compliance milestones and adherence to specific contract terms.
What’s more, by standardizing routine processes across all shipping locations—such as carrier selections and load tendering—logistics teams can ensure that every parcel delivery follows the same compliant, thorough procedures. For example, shippers can establish consistent routing rules to reduce incidents of rogue spending at disparate global warehouses. Meanwhile, real-time tracking ensures that no shipment detail falls through the cracks.
Conduct cost-effective contract negotiations
Carrier contract negotiations play an outsized role in the timeliness and cost-efficiency of parcel deliveries. Unfortunately, they also represent one of the most complex aspects of contract management. When information on pricing metrics and carrier performance lies scattered across different storage platforms, shippers too often lack the oversight and analysis capabilities they need to make informed negotiation decisions.
A third-party transportation management system streamlines and optimizes the process in several ways:
- A diverse, tier-one carrier pool: Access to a wide pool of ready carriers allows teams to negotiate only with partners that have the service capabilities to meet their specific parcel needs. For example, Honeybee TMS comes with access to a carrier network more than 20,000 strong, each pre-vetted to high performance standards.
- Benchmarking: The ability to benchmark rates and pricing structures gives shippers the data and insights to make more strategic contract decisions and negotiate more favorable pricing structures.
- Modeling: Advanced modeling technology makes it easy to compare and analyze every aspect of a carrier’s contract proposal then make key changes to the terms.
High-powered tech makes parcel management challenges melt away
As shippers scramble to adapt omni-channel strategies and infrastructure in a shifting shipping landscape, TMS technology empowers them to take on the most prevalent issues in parcel management and elevate their logistics workflows. CTSI-Global’s Honeybee TMS combines advanced analytics and modeling capabilities, real-time visibility, and simplified labeling to smooth every parcel delivery and generate long-term savings.
Make everyday parcel management challenges a thing of the past. Contact CTSI-Global to see how we can help you overcome parcel hiccups before they impact your business.
