Why You Need Visibility and Centralized Data in Healthcare and Life Sciences Supply Chains

Centralized data is a major driver in obtaining absolute visibility into your supply chain, something only 6% of supply chains have. Visibility becomes more critical when people’s well-being depends on your shipments. Healthcare and life sciences companies need to be able to globally ship a multitude of varying product lines that have extreme shipping regulations and requirements. 

Having centralized data for all shipping activities and products, not just one product line, delivers the visibility you need to elevate your Transportation Spend Management, grow your global reach, increase cost reductions, and much more. 

We at Trax will walk you through the benefits of centralizing supply chain data and increasing visibility in healthcare and life sciences Transportation Spend Management. 

Benefits of Centralized Data in Supply Chains 

Data pours in from various sources, which can easily create disjointed chaos.

Customize analytics

Centralizing this data, however, makes it possible to produce high-quality, comprehensive analytics reporting that cover all aspects of your Transportation Spend Management. This enhanced reporting gives you the opportunity to constantly review and update datasets so you gain greater insight into your transportation spend.

Furthermore, centralizing your data means you can customize reports to meet specific objectives, giving your teams the information they need. Your teams won't need to waste time hunting down information from different departments, as it’s all available in one centralized, easily accessible location. With this kind of data mine and a partner like Trax to help optimize your data management, you have better budgeting, planning, forecasting, and strategic decision-making capabilities. 

Benchmark accessorials and elevate carriers 

Bringing all into one, central location also makes it easier to benchmark accessorials and evaluate carriers and transportation issues in real-time. For products that are more susceptible to expiries and damages, 20% of all cold chain products are damaged during shipping. This visibility into carrier performance becomes crucial to saving your products from going to waste. 

For example, you ship temperature-sensitive drugs to NGOs in a country with tedious customs clearance measures, and your shipments are delayed at port. This delay could damage your products so they can’t help the end-users. 

Carrier scorecards, with customized KPIs that align with your healthcare and life sciences needs, deliver a constant influx of performance data so you always select the right carrier for the job. At Trax, our Transportation Spend Management database strategy helps you navigate around specific challenges and identify the carriers best suited for avoiding them.

Identify root issues

Centralized data aids in figuring out the root of the problem, whether it’s mistakes in the freight audit process, BOLs, or a customs issue. You’d see all of the data to find the red flag—before it even happened, once you optimize your Transportation Spend Management—and create a permanent root-cause solution. 

Trax helps healthcare and life sciences supply chains overcome challenges, such as these, by normalizing and optimizing your data management and centralizing your data. Our Freight Audit Services deliver high-quality data and analytics. Our Carrier Management Services builds upon freight audit and works directly with your carriers to rectify the root cause of issues and helps you to develop a strong, symbiotic relationship with your carriers.

Importance of Visibility in Healthcare and Life Sciences Supply Chains 

As many as 40% of global supply chain leaders expect to improve their real-time visibility by the end of 2021. Visibility in healthcare and life sciences supply chains literally can mean lives rest in your hands. Ensuring your shipments reach their destination in good shape and on time are critical for end-users, as well as for your budget. Keeping your supply chain profitable ensures your sustainability, which ensures those in need can keep receiving your life-saving products.

Simplify global complexities

Unblemished visibility simplifies the complexity of global, multi-carrier, multi-mode logistics networks and offers a clear view of performance and cost. This elevated insight allows you to address gaps in performance, cost centers, and missed opportunities, eventually enhancing your risk mitigation. Once you have complete visibility, you can accurately forecast transportation spend and precisely plan shipments, even for complex, multi-modal transportation within the strict environmental controls of cold chain shipping.

Spur course corrections 

Real-time visibility also allows you to course-correct quickly, such as in the case of disruptions. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on global logistics with container shortages, border closures, a shift in buyer expectations, and much more. Real-time visibility makes it possible to be proactive when the unexpected happens, whether it’s diverting shipments, changing modes, assessing orders, contacting clients, or otherwise.

Select the best carrier contracts 

Enhanced visibility also allows you to better track, analyze, and assess carrier performance through data-driven analytics, making it easier to select the right carriers. But part of finding the right carrier also means obtaining the best carrier contracts. Carrier contract management can make or break your bottom line, which is why it’s critical to follow best practices and tools that deliver real-time visibility into current and past carrier rates, RFP enablement, robust forecasting, and more so you can mitigate risks and grow your market share. 

Our Rate Manager tool at Trax gives enhanced visibility into rates, be it contractual or spot quotes, and early visibility for accrual management, cost allocation, and better data. And our RFx Manager helps you create customized, comprehensive, and relevant RFPs that match your needs and highlight specific services to carriers, ensuring you get the best performance for the best value.

Control spend 

Astutely controlling your transportation spend is nearly impossible without seeing what and where you spend your budget. A whopping 80% of professionals reported an increase in cold chain costs during the pandemic. Being able to control your spending is even more critical when the unexpected happens. Having visibility makes this possible, as well as aligning your transportation budget with your forecast to maintain your profit margin and strategically plan for future growth.

Trax's Transportation Spend Management Maturity Model is a framework that provides a roadmap for large, global enterprises to shift from a lack of visibility and control to a fully optimized and accurate data-based transportation supply chain—for all modes and geographies. It provides unparalleled, end-to-end visibility so you can optimize processes, expand your reach to help more people around the world, and become a leader in the market.

Data-driven Visibility is Vital to Supply Chains 

Centralizing your data and gaining enhanced visibility is key to optimizing your supply chain management and ability to journey through the Trax Transportation Spend Management Maturity Model. Optimizing your transportation spend, operations, financial activities, and more positions your company to lead the market and go after new opportunities to make the world healthier. 

To know more about centralizing your data and boosting your supply chain’s visibility with Trax’s Transportation Spend Management Maturity Model, contact Trax today.