As a business leader, you have customers who expect results. In order to keep those customers happy, you need to meet or exceed their expectations. One way to do this is by providing updates about their cargo with precision. Of course, you can’t do this unless you have a great tracking system in place from the ground, up. With the right technology, however, you can immediately notify your partners and customers when problems arise. This enables you to keep everyone apprised of unexpected situations and gives you the ability to work on solutions as soon as possible, ensuring the shipments are delivered as timely and complaint-free as possible before anything escalates further.
Today, the shipping industry relies on technological tools to get the job done right. When you’re able to identify early warning signs of issues, you’ll have a competitive advantage over others in your industry because you’ll be able to offer your customers superior service that comes complete with real-time information that’s built for the supply chain.
What is Real-Time Container Tracking?
Real-time container tracking involves a sequence of technology tools that enable clients, shippers, carriers, and freighters to view the most current status updates on shipments. Current technology is successful, no matter where you are, what route the cargo needs to take, or how many people are available to work the job.
Still not convinced that container tracking is necessary for today’s shipping processes? Let’s explore some benefits of these tools.
1. Reduction in Detention and Demurrage Fees
Demurrage and detention costs can add up quickly, but you’ll likely see a drastic decrease in these expenses when you implement a container-tracking system.
The reason for this? When you have alerts that are timely, they’ll tell you when your shipments have arrived or been delayed, you’ll be able to handle the situation right then and there.
Before this type of technology was available, you might have to wait days (or longer) to learn the status of a shipment. During this time, you’d just assume it was on its way and on time, and by the time it got to its destination, you would have incurred demurrage fees and other detention expenses. Now that modern technology exists for the shipping industry, you can trim off as much as a day from the lag time before you receive notification that your cargo has arrived.
It’s true! You could have real-time tracking reports so your team is available the moment the cargo ship docks.
2. Elimination of Many Manual Processes
Manual processes are incredibly inefficient and resource-consuming. Not only that, but they leave you susceptible to human errors that won’t occur if you put the right technological tools in place.
When you use an electronic data interchange (EDI), you’ll be able to reduce duplication, errors, and other waste. EDIs remove the requirement to manually inspect all carrier sites to see if your cargo’s status is where it’s expected to be. This technology centralizes all shipment information so it’s easy to access and process, thereby improving your decision-making strategies.
When a status changes, you’ll receive a notification so you can activate appropriate protocols to make sure you have the best delivery schedule possible in place.
3. Improvement of Customer Satisfaction and Communication Efficiency
Your customers will appreciate knowing where their cargo is at a moment’s notice. If their shipments will be on time, that’s fantastic, but if they’ll be delayed, you can put the proper communication channels in place to notify them as soon as possible and make contingency plans where needed.
You might be surprised at how understanding your customers will be when you’re able to give them a little heads up notice about a delayed shipment, rather than making them find out last minute that their cargo is running late.
When your customers can view all the information related to their cargo, it provides an extra layer of reassurance. A great container-tracking system enables you to communicate with several customers all at once electronically so you don’t waste time calling each one individually to confirm information.
4. Better Managed Landed Costs
Landed costs can be distributed to any inbound shipment. You can spread these expenses across an entire shipment (like brokerage fees), or apply them to particular line items (such as customs duties).
5. Consolidated Shipping Information
You can organize shipping information into single, centralized data records so they’re more accessible. This streamlines the bulk transaction process and helps cut administration fees.
6. Multi-Currency Support
If shipping to multiple countries causes your company headaches, NetSuite’s Container Tracking tool can take those troubles away. With the simple click of a drop-down, you can easily determine the currency in which you want your shipment to be tracked.
7. Editable and Importable Data
Technology gives you the ability to forego spreadsheets and sticky notes in favor of a platform that lets you edit on-the-go. If you have bulk data that needs to be imported or fixed, you can easily do that via a .CSV document and load it right into the system.
Learn More About NetSuite Container Tracking
With NetSuite you can achieve all of the benefits listed above. NetSuite container tracking lets companies define and track containers of goods as they make their way from supplier to destination. Inbound shipment records track critical information, such as expected delivery dates, items in the shipment, quantity to be received and links to documentation and transactions. Assign items from multiple purchase orders to the shipment and then receive, bill and transfer them from the newly created record.
Click here to watch our NetSuite Container Tracking demo.
If you’re ready to learn the benefits of container tracking hands on, we’re ready to show you a personalized demo. Contact us to schedule a time that works for your schedule today!
