Perhaps you’ve encountered the following situation:
You’ve negotiated the best conditions with your carriers, but you’re still paying too much for your transport services. And might we presume that you are not able to fully verify the freight cost invoices that you perhaps still receive in paper form from your carriers?
Why not approach the situation from a different angle: Keep the invoice-related conditions from your carefully negotiated agreements in an electronic freight commissioning and invoicing system, such as the SupplyOn Transportation Management. This SupplyOn solution allows for Web access, but it can also use EDI messaging to fully integrate into your systems and, if desired, into the carrier’s systems.
Now you can place an order with the carrier directly through the system. And it doesn’t matter whether these are shipments from your supplier to you, or from you to your customer, or whether the goods are shipped by land, sea or air.
The transport order simultaneously serves as the calculation base for the carrier. Experience has shown that carriers initially still check the information on their side but start accepting the information calculated by the system without reviewing it before too long.
Depending on the agreement made with the carrier, even additional incidental, unplanned costs, such as for excessive storage periods, can be claimed through the system, which then only require your approval. In any case, you are actively ensuring that the invoicing data is correct without needing to check every detail, much less take it as a given fact.
Freight cost invoicing: integrate your suppliers in the process
In addition, you can integrate your suppliers in the process right away so they can confirm the timely supply of the goods in the system – because having the carrier arrive only to find that the goods are not ready for transport is something you certainly want to avoid. And if the supplier sends you an advance shipping notification in the system once the goods are despatched, the transport invoice data can be updated and you have to pay only the loading meters actually used.
Finally, the system generates a list of freight costs after approval, which can be used as the basis for invoicing or for the self-billing process. The system incorporates different currencies, exchange rates, units of measurements and value-added tax rates.
Another benefit for you: The data form a valuable basis for future contract negotiations, since you finally have real transparency about which services you actually use. In your next conversation with your carrier, you can then concede those items that you hardly use anyway.
