As a Beneficial Cargo Owner (BCO), managing your supply chain is already a complex task, but relying on multiple forwarders, each with its own freight forwarding technology, can get even trickier.

On average, most BCOs work with four or more forwarders, and each focuses only on its own logistics activity. Even though each freight forwarder's technology can streamline logistics, BCOs need them integrated with the other freight forwarders' systems, and therein lies the problem.

As a result, the BCO is left with multiple data formats that do not easily fit into their business processes.  Without a cohesive way to make the data actionable, the BCO faces inefficiencies that forwarder technology alone can't fix.

Over the course of 30 years, while building our global TMS explicitly for international shippers and BCOs, we have identified three critical challenges faced by BCOs when dealing with freight forwarding technology.

Contact us to speak with an expert regarding our proprietary Shipment Execution Platform™, or continue reading to gain a better understanding of the limitations of relying solely on forwarder technology and the need for more comprehensive solutions to optimize their supply chain management processes.

3 Challenges in Freight Forwarding Data Management

A previous article detailed why a domestic TMS falls short of meeting a BCO’s needs. Now, let’s focus on freight forwarding technology, which, despite significant strides, still fails to solve three primary obstacles BCOs face when relying on multiple freight forwarders: integrating data from multiple sources, standardizing diverse data formats, and transforming raw data into actionable insights for various corporate functions.

Problem #1: Data Integration

BCOs need to bring data from multiple freight forwarders’ technology into one place. No matter how advanced the forwarder's tech is, it doesn't solve the need for centralizing information across forwarders.

By managing export and import process data through a single dashboard and bringing together multiple data streams from forwarders and internal groups, users can simplify the complexity of modern supply chain processes by streamlining operational functions. When all the data is in one place, it's easy to share product-level trade data among forwarders, customs brokers, and other supply chain partners and create required customized reporting documents.

Problem #2: Data Standardization

Each forwarder will provide the information in different ways, and as a result, the BCO's internal technology will need to normalize this data. Standardizing is a big problem that requires technical expertise and resources.

Indeed, data normalization is crucial for ensuring data integrity, accuracy, and comparability across different systems. By normalizing data, organizations can eliminate redundancies, improve data quality, and facilitate data analysis. This, in turn, enables more effective decision-making, enhanced supply chain visibility, and improved operational efficiency.

Problem #3: Making Data Actionable

Once problems 1 and 2 are resolved, BCOs need to make the data useful within their corporate framework, including purchasing, sales, finance, marketing, supply chain, etc.

By transforming raw data into meaningful insights, businesses can proactively address challenges, identify opportunities, and improve overall performance. Actionable data enables companies to forecast demand, optimize inventory levels, streamline logistics, and mitigate risks.

The Solution: Why BCOs Need a TMS

Using an international TMS for supply chain management enables BCOs to leverage data-driven insights to make informed decisions. By analyzing historical data and real-time information, BCOs can identify opportunities for cost savings, optimize transportation routes, and mitigate risks.

Such a system is able to centralize data from multiple forwarders into a single platform, normalize it, and make it usable across corporate functions.

In addition, many forwarders' technology needs help integrating a BCO's shipment at the SKU level. Still, a TMS can integrate and store this level of detail in a centralized location.

While a freight forwarder's technology is helpful with logistics solutions, it does not offer the breadth and depth of services necessary for the BCO's broader business needs.

Why Freight Forwarder Technology Alone Won't Solve the BCO Problem

Even though freight forwarding technology has continuously evolved over the years, BCOs need more than just better freight forwarding solutions. The forwarder or its technology cannot solve the need to integrate its information with other forwarders or standardize the data and create actionable data for BCOs — it is the BCO's responsibility.

The challenges and intricacies of international trade for BCOs are vast and multifaceted. While many have attempted to address these issues, 3rdwave has identified four fundamental areas that must be tackled in unison: planning capability, standardizing transactional data, integrating product and shipment data, and completing data sets. These elements form the foundation of a successful international supply chain.

To learn how 3rdwave can help you overcome the limitations of freight forwarding technology, contact us for a demo.

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