Solutions should not be more complicated than the problems they are trying to solve!

In an age of financial instability and accounting irregularities shippers and consignees, with their large freight transportation budgets, have begun to rely less upon third parties to process audit and pay freight bills and have instead begun to regain control and take their freight bill audit processes and payments back in-house.

When transportation was still regulated, it made good business sense to outsource the freight bill audit and payment process as firms with this specialty audited freight bills using standardized published tariffs.  However, since deregulation, freight bill charges have their basis in diverse, shipper or shipment specific contracts resulting from telephone calls using pieces of scrap paper that may have recorded a spot rate, and separate rate agreements and contracts for each carrier and each move.

Most audit bureaus now specialize in service to a small client base because there is no commonality among shippers or carriers, and the cost for acquiring the knowledge base to compete in a larger environment of unlimited variables has grown beyond the level of practicality.  Many shippers have begun to realize that the cost and risks of engaging an external audit service is far greater than conducting the audit and generating payments internally.

In recent months TransportGistics has seen a dramatic increase in the number of new customers signing up for its InsourceAudit web-based application.  InsourceAudit is a freight bill management, shipment information and cost control portal that enables users to manage freight bills and carrier performance, effect payments, collaborate, and generate reports on the web.  According to Stuart Miller, Vice President of TransportGistics, “Payers of freight charges require a tool that enables and empowers them to properly address, manage, and control this potentially vulnerable cost center.”  

According to Miller, “TransportGistics worked closely with companies large and small and concluded that shippers, and those concerned with validity and veracity of their carrier performance didn’t require a third party firm to audit and pay their freight bills but did require a freight bill management, shipment information and cost control portal that enabled them with continuously refreshed information, 24/7/365 to make educated decisions and improve internal and external collaboration.”

TransportGistics is a global, multi-product and services company that provides market leading, simple, incremental solutions for transportation management and logistics functions within the supply chain. The company’s handpicked team of transportation and logistics experts has roots that reach into all aspects of the supply chain. It specializes in helping companies manage transportation services and customer satisfaction. In addition to InsourceAudit, TransportGistics other products include RoutingGuides, BLGen, FreightTracing and LBP Services.