Ever wondered if your current freight forwarding software is the best option you could have chosen? Or maybe your company is looking to start using this type of logistic solution soon, and you want to make sure you’re starting with the right foot forward. Either way, getting a sense of what an excellent freight forwarding solution should be able to offer will help inform your decision. Here are some of the marks of a good freight forwarding solution.

1 - Flexibility

Many software companies will use “flexibility” as a buzzword, so you’ll want to make sure the solution you’re considering actually delivers on that promise. Freight forwarding software that offers little to no customization options out of the box can be useful, but it lacks the flexibility needed to adapt to your workflow and demands. The result will likely be that your company will have to change in order to match what the software can do. A customizable solution, on the other hand, can be adapted to fit into your company’s existing structures and procedures.

On the other hand, you also don’t want a tool that is so customizable that you basically have to code it and build it yourself. The best solution is a middle ground between the two — look for a freight forwarding software that offers a solid base with room for customization and improvement, be it through modular upgrades to the base tool, through integration with other tools, or both.

2 - Room for growth

Scalability is important for any company with growth plans. While a lot of softwares market themselves as scalable, it can be useful to look under the hood to see for yourself.  When it comes to software, scalable doesn’t just mean digital. Scalable also means detailed logs and permissions management for every user, the capacity to find, update, manage, and visualize millions of records easily, and an efficient user experience for end users AND administrators.  This allows your company to expand while sticking with the same tool, which saves time and money on employee training while eliminating the hassle of having to move data between different software solutions in another long implementation process.

3 - Reliability

When it comes to reliability, the company behind the software is as important as the software itself. Make sure you’re getting a tool from a company that has a solid track record in the market, and preferably one that has a track record of impressive clients.

It’s also wise to understand their customer support during and after implementation.  Is support provided internally by the company, or through 3rd party consultants? Does your implementation team become your customer support team after go-live, or must you work with a new support team that may not be up to speed with your implementation.  These are good questions to ask so you can gauge both their response time and how helpful and customer focused they are. Things can and will get bumpy when complex software meets complex real-life situations, and when that happens, access to quality customer support can be a big help.

4 - Automation options

From directing shipments to sending out notifications to relevant staff members, proper freight software automation can make many steps of the process faster and easier. And while it is nice when this type of software gives you plenty of automation options out of the box, keep an eye out for freight forwarding software that lets you and your team put together your own sets of automated rules, conditions, and triggers.

Being able to set these yourself can make life a lot easier, especially when your company is dealing with a situation that the software’s designers may not have foreseen.