Ditch the Limits: Imagine New Possibilities with a Global FAP Provider

When looking at the global supply chain through a macro lens, growth is generally seen as a positive. The truth for many companies is that growth frequently stretches systems and processes to maximum capacities. Pieces that were once streamlined suddenly become cumbersome and time-consuming.

One area in particular that becomes increasingly complicated as you enter the global market is freight audit and payment processes. On-time payments are essential to keeping freight moving and customers happy. Freight audit and payment is also key for making sense of data and informing strategy.

As your company grows, you may find FAP providers stacking up in each region like Lego bricks. Layer after layer adds complexity, resulting in inefficiencies.

The solution? Choosing a global FAP provider to handle the entire freight audit and payment process.

Trax helps enterprises simplify the complex freight and audit payment process, helping businesses like yours gain full control over transportation costs. By removing unnecessary layers, large-scale companies are able to eliminate inefficiencies and ensure that money isn’t left on the table.

Regional vs. Global FAP Provider

Let’s take a step back for a moment and assume that you are just entering the global market and starting your FAP journey. You have two choices – choose a set of regional providers OR go with a global FAP provider that services all modes and regions.

On the surface, a regional strategy offers expertise in each individual marketplace, making it seem like the logical choice. But the effectiveness of that legacy strategy is in question. Regions like Asia Pacific (APAC) have become increasingly complex and, on the whole, global economies are streamlining due to technology.

Technology in the supply chain has evolved at break-neck speeds in the last five years. Rich data collected through cloud-based solutions has opened the door to deeper insights and more efficient processes.

Allowing your freight data to remain localized makes it ill-formatted for contributing to big-picture strategies. Each provider may use a different platform to collect and share information, undermining standardization and integration. Over time, the process of seeing supply chain operations on a global level becomes labor-intensive, even manual, and efficiency is out the door.

With a global FAP provider, data collection is streamlined, and it all matches up perfectly. The result is trifold: better management and control of global transportation costs, improved data quality, and management optimization.

5 Signs You Need a Global Freight Audit and Payment Provider

As transportation costs continue to rise, putting processes in place to streamline cost management is paramount. Centralized oversight, comprehensive data, and improved visibility are more important than ever. The challenge for most organizations is knowing when to make a shift to a global freight audit and payment provider.

Here are five indicators that can help you along your journey.

Your Data is Incomplete or Hard to Read

Imagine putting together a puzzle with no reference. You might be able to get the sides completed but the bulk of the picture is obscured. This is what it is like when you have incomplete freight data.

This problem is all too common for organizations that don’t adopt a global FAP strategy. When each provider leverages its own platform, data is sent in from multiple sources, resulting in fragmented information that lacks complete visibility.

Your Systems Don't Sync

It may be 2023, but interoperability issues remain a challenge for large-scale organizations. Multi-sourced data may not always play nice, resulting in inefficiencies. Inefficiencies introduce the possibility of mistakes, causing the entire process to slow down.

If your organization relies on multiple systems to yield data around payments, there is a good chance that those inefficiencies cost your company time and money. If your team is constantly merging and scrubbing data, real-time insights quickly become a pipedream.

Regional Perspectives are Limiting Your Growth

Regional programs prioritize regional considerations. They are focused on their unique challenges and problems, rather than the bigger picture and how they fit into your organization.

Taking control of the process through control towers is all about visibility. The more you see, the more you can improve. Control towers create a centralized hub of operations where information and data are aggregated for better decision-making.

Speed to Insights is Problematic

Think back on your last decision. Chances are, you based that decision on empirical data. But how fast did you receive the information you needed? Was it reliable? Getting the right information fast isn’t a luxury for supply chain leaders – it is essential.

Working with too many disparate systems means delays in gaining insights. As volatile as the supply chain is, any delay can cause a ripple effect that impacts your business’ bottom line.

You Live with Blind Spots

Change is hard. Because change is hard, many organizations willingly accept that they will have blind spots in the business. Blind spots can take on many forms, but within the FAP process, they result in inevitable gaps in information.

Blind spots complicate the process and will only grow as your business scales. Identifying blind spots starts with a critical evaluation of your internal processes, and can only be eliminated through a single-source global provider of your most critical technology.

Adopting a global freight audit and payment program can be a major catalyst for growth. As the global leader in transportation spend management, our industry-leading and cloud-based technology solutions help enterprises centralize processes and take control of transportation spend.

Connect with our team to learn more about our solutions and schedule a consultation.

Considering a new freight audit and payment solution in 2023? Make sure to check out this resource from the Trax team.