Introducing: Today’s Data Dose

If the events over the past couple of years have shown shippers anything, it’s that transportation spend and paperwork can no longer be relegated to the back office. To prepare for seasonality and future black swan events, logistics teams must invest and reinvest in data and analytics tools, instead of relying solely on gut checks and spreadsheets. 

Today’s Data Dose is an original Transfix series that helps shippers identify the key metrics they should track to get the most out of their supply chain, plan strategically, and thrive in volatility.

It’s unrealistic, however, for one person to aggregate and analyze all available data, so we created this series to help decision makers take action. Which data measurements should an organization prioritize, considering their unique pain points, network, and goals?

We’ve got answers. We’ve got experts. 

Metric 1: Total shipments over a given time period

Having an accurate measure of weekly, monthly, and yearly shipment patterns is vital to understanding and predicting budget needs throughout the year. It’s also a metric that’s easy to find, but often not consolidated in one dashboard. However, gaining access to this metric provides visibility to shipping patterns, information that can strengthen carrier relationships. 

“With this shipment data in hand, a shipper can more successfully forecast to carriers,” said Rob Case, enterprise account executive at Transfix. “Accurate volume commitments to carriers promote more competitive pricing and increased KPI metrics such as OTP/OTD and tender acceptance. Carriers are simply able to plan out their business more proactively.” 

J.P. Morgan and Bank of America analysts are casting concern over today’s market, as U.S. imports are declining due to shifts in consumer spending and China lockdowns. The truckload market is absorbing those downstream effects, so shippers that measure volumes over time are bound to help carrier partners run a more efficient business model, in which everyone – shipper, carrier, consumer, and the environment – benefits.