Most companies view freight audit and payment primarily as a financial control. Before payment is approved, carrier invoices must be reviewed for billing errors, duplicate charges, incorrect rates, unsupported accessorial fees, and other discrepancies. Because these errors are relatively common, companies with high monthly freight volumes across multiple carriers, modes, or locations can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in transportation costs.
However, within this steady flow of freight invoices is a wealth of information that remains largely untapped. When the information from thousands of shipments is cleaned, normalized, consolidated, and organized, it can provide a much clearer picture of how global transportation is being managed across the organization.
During nearly 40 years managing global transportation operations for several companies, Deb Bell has used this information to evaluate costs, identify problems, support decisions, and understand what was happening across the transportation network.
Bell first encountered nVision Global, then known as TSI Logistics, in the late 1990s while working for 3Com, a global manufacturer of networking equipment. That initial exposure developed into a working relationship spanning approximately 18 years and several companies.
“Partnering with them has saved the companies I have worked for hundreds of thousands, probably millions of dollars over the past 18 years,” says Bell.
Over the years, a series of acquisitions and corporate transitions significantly changed the scope and complexity of the operation.
“Each time, the existing systems had to be evaluated, disparate processes consolidated, and new requirements incorporated without disrupting ongoing operations,” explains Bell. “They have always been transparent, accountable, always willing to go the extra mile.”
The Data Behind the Invoice
Underlying Bell’s trust in the freight audit process is another factor that has become increasingly important as transportation operations have grown more complex: the quality of the data.
At nVision Global much of the freight audit process is automated. Rate tables, contracts, and pricing agreements are loaded into the system, while auditors review the invoices and exceptions to ensure the charges remain consistent with the negotiated agreements.
However, freight invoices are rarely straightforward. Depending on the shipment, a single invoice can contain origin and destination charges, export fees, duties, taxes, fuel surcharges and numerous other line items. Without an effective audit process, determining whether those charges comply with negotiated agreements can be extremely difficult.
“Carriers don’t make billing easy,” says Bell. “It is not a straightforward invoice.”
However, collecting the information is not the same as making it usable. Before the information can be compared, it must be normalized and organized into a consistent format. She says the data she receives from nVision Global is “always clean… and that is a very, very hard in this industry to do.”
Once the information is presented, any problems become immediately apparent. The data exposes the pattern and gives the transportation manager a starting point to determine what is causing it and what needs to change.
This is the foundation of Transportation Financial Intelligence, an unexpected and powerful source of information that can reshape how goods are moved across the organization.