unlike large fleets with the clout to work directly with
brokers, small fry often need help in finding loads. A load
board vendor’s ability to rapidly “onboard” a smaller carrier will be critical since brokers and carriers can’t afford to
spend two to three hours exchanging paperwork for what
may be a one-off transaction, Moscrip said.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
According to both providers, the near-term advancements in load board technology will focus on improving existing
technology to help facilitate broker-carrier
relationships. McCollister of DAT said the
company rewrote its main program “from
the ground up” to make it Web-enabled
and move it away from the use of clunkier downloadable
software. Updates now happen in real time as opposed
to users waiting for software “refreshes” every 30 to 45
seconds, McCollister said. The software also incorporates
more advanced “browser controls” so users can chat with
each other online and minimize their need for back-and-forth phone calls, he said.
DAT has developed a module enabling brokers to review
and monitor carrier performance; the module is located
on the main page where brokers scout for carrier and lane
availability, McCollister said. DAT was loath to force users
onto a separate query screen because it wanted them “to
find a company they want to work with. We want to make
it easier for them to see their preferred partners,” he said.
Moscrip of Truckstop said the biggest change in its tradi-
tional load matching module is the amount of information
available on the search page. Several years ago, a broker
could only view a list of carriers that were
available to move freight in a lane. Now,
all of the information about the load,
including the price, the best way to move
it, and carrier specifications, sits on the
same page. A user has access to compre-
hensive data from one screen, he said.
As load board technology becomes more
functional and user friendly, vendors see the spot market
evolving into something once quite foreign to it: a strategic
asset that fosters long-term relationships. The long-held
view of the spot market is that it is a purely transactional
option that is used only when all else fails. Yet load boards’
advanced technology will enable brokers and carriers to
behave more rationally, to plan for future circumstances
rather than have the circumstances dictate their behav-
ior, and to build durable broker-carrier relationships that
extend beyond transactional activity, board vendors said.
