As your customers’ needs evolve it’s up to you to evolve with them
Customer base evolution takes many forms – greater numbers of customers, larger customers, more diverse customers – and it will impact how goods move to and from their locations. Delivering an exceptional customer experience will depend entirely on the ability to meet those expanding needs.
Manufacturers, Distributors, & Retailers
When you begin serving more customers, volumes will increase and your capacity to move goods will have to increase along with it. That means not only having adequate resources in your warehouses, but access to adequate transportation capacity, too. It may even involve adding additional modes, and more efficient use of each cubic foot of trailer space. Larger customers will also have additional requirements when it comes to accepting your shipments. Similarly, diversifying the customer base brings with equally diverse customer expectations: wholesale customers may care about use of preferred freight carriers while consumers just want it fast. The important thing is to have a single software suite that can handle these changes in real-time and be ready for the changes lurking around the corner.
Freight Brokers & 3PLs
Scaling a logistics business is all about capacity – not just transportation capacity, but the capacity to serve all customers’ needs at the level each expects. The right TMS is the first step in expanding that capacity. But the right TMS does more: it evolves as you do. Expansion may involve new lines of business, too. Some TL brokers will move into LTL, and then managed services. And many a 3PL will see a strategic need to source spot market capacity or manage parcel shipping. Any new TMS should not only meet today’s needs immediately, but be adaptable to tomorrow’s, whether predictable or not.