What is freight broker software?

It’s a type of transportation management software designed to streamline operations for freight brokers by allowing them to easily enter loads, source/qualify carriers, handle dispatch, monitor deliveries, invoice customers, and pay carriers.

Freight broker software help manage all brokerage-related processes within a single platform. These solutions are typically cloud-based, which means they offer secure storage, a high degree of reliability, and can be quickly updated by the vendor who created it. Plus, today’s leading freight broker software solutions can greatly reduce manual processes, which will help save time and money.

Freight broker software will help automate an array of tasks like carrier rate acceptance, dispatching, and EDI. Additionally, follow-up tasks like accounting, invoicing, and reporting should be easier because the company’s data is stored within a single online system.

Top-rated freight broker software should have an intuitive design that’s quick and easy for employees to learn and adopt and doesn’t require advanced training. It should also be scalable, adding users, accounts and data quickly and easily. Most importantly, a TMS should be hosted in the cloud – meaning it’s hosted and managed completely online by the TMS provider rather than on equipment or servers onsite at your location. With a cloud-based solution, all the software as well as the company’s data is stored securely on your TMS vendor’s servers, backed up automatically, and available to you 24x7. By using a cloud-based TMS, any product enhancements or bug fixes made by the solution provider will be available almost immediately.

ii. While the term “TMS” is often used as a catch-all phrase to describe carrier dispatch systems, shipper transportation solutions, and freight brokerage solutions, the purpose and functionality is actually quite different for each type of software. Brokerage TMS solutions are built specifically to streamline brokerage operations and offer features/functions critical to freight brokers. For example, a traditional shipper TMS typically only addresses confirmed orders, and doesn’t have the functionality needed to provide customers with quotes for freight services. Nor will it contain the quote and rate history needed to estimate revenue and costs for freight transactions. The workflow of a broker-focused TMS is also quite different from a shipper-focused TMS workflow. The best way to get the exact functionality needed as a broker – and the best return on investment in a TMS – is to purchase freight brokerage software.