5 Signs Your Freight Forwarding Business Has Outgrown Spreadsheets
Has your freight forwarding business outgrown spreadsheets?
For small freight forwarding businesses, an easy way to keep track of shipments, customers, cargo, billing and other important information are through spreadsheets because they are familiar, simple to use and easy to update.
However, things may change as the business grows. You’re now handling more shipments, customers are asking for more updates, and your team has more documents and information to prepare. The spreadsheet that once kept everything organised can start creating more work.
Here are five signs to know when it’s time to move beyond spreadsheets:
1. Your Team Is Entering the Same Information More Than Once
The first sign your freight forwarding business has outgrown spreadsheets is when you are entering the same data into multiple sheets. As shipment volumes increase, so does the amount of information your team has to handle. Shipment details may be entered into one tab for manifests, another for documents, then another for billing and again for reports.
Repeating the same work across different files takes a lot of time and increases the chance of information being entered incorrectly or not being updated everywhere.
When you spend less time repeating information on multiple platforms, your team can focus more on tracking shipments and satisfying customers.
2. It Takes Too Long to Find Shipment Information
As your freight operation grows, information can quickly spread across spreadsheets, emails, folders and different files. You know it’s time to ditch the spreadsheets for your freight forwarding operations when finding details of the latest shipment takes longer than it should. Not to mention when the team member who normally handles the information is unavailable.
Having operational information in one place makes it easier for your team to access what they need to monitor shipments.
This gives your team more time to focus on customers and daily freight operations instead of searching through files.
3. Your Freight Documentation Team Spends Too Much Time Fixing Mistakes
Mistakes happen, but when your team spends too much time correcting them, they can start affecting daily operations.
Changes to shipment details, container numbers, documents or even charges can become difficult for your team to keep track of when information is stored across multiple spreadsheets and documents.
By reducing unnecessary manual work and keeping your information organised, your team can spend less time correcting unnecessary errors.
4. Your Freight Forwarding Business Is Growing
As your business grows, there is more to keep track of. If you’re constantly adding spreadsheets and manual steps, your current system may be struggling to keep up.
Processes that once worked well when the operation was smaller may not be practical as shipment volumes increase.
Instead of continually adding more files and manual processes, your freight forwarding business may need a system that can support your operation as it grows.
5. Too Much Information Depends on One Person
When one person becomes responsible for knowing where everything is, the rest of the team can become too dependent on them.
While this may work for a small team, it quickly becomes a challenge when a team member is away or changes roles. Important information should not depend on one person’s spreadsheet or memory.
Having a shared system for accessing operational information can reduce the need to rely on individual filing systems and make important information more accessible to the wider team.
If no spreadsheets, then what?
Spreadsheets have their place, but when your team spends more time updating files, searching for information and correcting mistakes, it may be a sign that your freight forwarding business needs a more suitable system.
As the operations grow, a freight management system gives your team one place to handle the information and tasks that keep the operation moving.
From manifests and documents to billing, shipment tracking and reports, having these activities in one system can make every day work easier. It also means your team spends less time searching for information or repeating tasks and more time keeping shipments and customers on track.
Are You Ready to Move Beyond Spreadsheets?
For freight forwarders looking to move beyond spreadsheets, ADVANTUM Freight provides a dedicated freight management system designed specifically for your freight forwarding operations.
ADVANTUM Freight supports both sea and air cargo and brings key freight activities together in one system. From preparing manifests and documents to handling import and export bookings, billing, shipment tracking and notifications and pulling all the reports you need, it gives your team one place to handle your day-to-day operations.
ADVANTUM Freight also supports Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), allowing your business to exchange information with other systems and partners like Customs using formats such as CSV, XML, ANSI X12 and EDIFACT.
As shipment volumes increase, a dedicated system can help you keep things organised without relying on more spreadsheets and manual processes.
If your current processes are becoming harder to manage as your business grows, it may be time to consider a dedicated freight management system.
As your freight business grows, your systems should be able to grow with it.