New Convoy offering meshes online TL booking platform and TMS

Seattle-based digital freight network Convoy said this week that it has introduced a new online platform that meshes its Shipper Platform, an on-demand truckload capacity offering, and its Convoy Connect transportation management system (TMS).

Convoy said that this pairing equips shippers with “comprehensive freight management capabilities while ensuring the privacy of sensitive data with a sandboxed routing guide,” adding that “[s]hippers using the new platform have been able to cut their tendering time in half and reduce freight spend by automating and standardizing their bid processes.”

It added that through this offering, shippers are able to easier work with their existing carriers and brokers and get access to more than 300,000 trucks from the company’s vetted carrier network and subsequently get on-demand coverage quickly, in a matter of minutes. And Convoy also noted that when a shipment is booked, a shipper’s transportation team gets visibility into a truck’s location and ETA through online GPS tracking, as well as automated notifications. Convoy also said that through its built-in TMS capabilities, shippers are able to adopt a centralized routing guide and streamlined workflows for sourcing quotes, tendering shipments, and evaluating broker and carrier performance.

“Many shippers still manage their freight using email, spreadsheets, and paper,” said Ziad Ismail, Chief Product Officer at Convoy, in a statement. “This manual approach reduces the efficiency of every shipping process, from getting coverage and tracking loads to benchmarking carriers and making data-driven procurement decisions. The future of freight is built around solutions that combine TMS, capacity booking, shipment visibility, and analytics. Today’s launch is the next natural step in this evolution, and the response has been overwhelming. Over the last few months, hundreds of customers have already adopted our new online platform.”

A Convoy spokesperson provided LM with additional information about this integration, which follows below:

LM: What drove the need for this integration that brings together Convoy's Shipper Platform and the Convoy Connect TMS? 

Convoy: We integrated our shipper technologies based on customer feedback and on the growing adoption of freight management technology among logistics teams. Since the initial launch of our shipper platform in 2016, and the subsequent release of our TMS in 2019, many of our customers have adopted both solutions. Bringing them together simplifies the user experience. Specifically, customers can now use a single online solution to manage their carrier relationships and also access Convoy’s network of more than 300,000 dry vans and reefers.

In addition, the volatility of the last few years—brought on by the pandemic, extreme weather events, and trade wars—has accelerated the trend toward supply chain digitization. Transportation teams are increasingly looking to automation and machine learning technology to get better visibility into their freight and respond more quickly to unexpected events. By combining routing guide management, capacity booking, load tracking, and analytics into a single solution, we’re making it easier for shippers to digitize their operations while also benefiting from the more than 50 machine learning models built into our technology platform.

LM: What are the main benefits of this for your customers i.e. for shippers and carriers/3PLs etc?

Convoy: Feedback from our customers has focused on the time savings, pricing, and visibility benefits of our online platform. 

For example, Encore Glass has streamlined their tendering process with Convoy. By transitioning from email and phone calls to a centralized routing guide, they estimate that they’ve cut their tendering time in half. In a time-based business like freight, using technology to improve team productivity can have a substantial impact on the bottom line.

Almo Corporation began using Convoy to automate the manual process they’d been using to get spot quotes. By putting their quotes out to bid, they were able to get market-competitive rates and reduce their transportation costs. 

To help customers like Almo understand the competitiveness of the rates they’re paying, we’ve included a spot quote benchmarking tool in our online platform. The tool references industry pricing indices and historical quote data from the thousands of loads that move through Convoy’s network every day. Based on this data, the tool indicates whether a given spot rate is lower, about the same, or higher than prevailing market rates. 

Another benefit of the online platform is the visibility it provides into shipments booked with Convoy. Because the vast majority of drivers in our network are connected through the Convoy app during each shipment, transportation teams can see the precise location of each truck on a map, get estimated time of arrival, and use shareable tracking links to give their customers updates on shipment status

LM: What are the competitive benefits, or advantages, of this integration from a Convoy perspective? 

Convoy: By integrating our shipper platform and TMS products, our engineering team can innovate on a single codebase, providing transportation teams with a broader set of capabilities more quickly. 

And as more shippers adopt our online platform to book their contract and spot freight, the more we’re able to create a network effect that benefits both shippers and carriers. Specifically, the more shipments in our network, the more we can match headhauls and backhauls, creating more lucrative opportunities for carriers. The more lucrative the opportunity for carriers, the more capacity they provide to our network. The more capacity in our network, the more efficiently we source trucks. And the more efficiently we source trucks, the more we can reduce costs for shippers.