How to Break Up with Your Freight Tracking Spreadsheet

Many companies continue to rely on spreadsheets for tracking freight and managing other essential aspects of their supply chain and logistics networks, but this approach is increasingly outdated and inefficient.

The past few years have highlighted the need for more resilient supply chains, driven by constant disruptions such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other significant global events. On-demand access to reliable data is essential to improving resilience, and these challenges are prompting companies to prioritize supply chain digitization and automation initiatives. In fact, according to a G2 report 45% of businesses see automation as crucial for supply chain resilience.

The problem with tracking spreadsheets

Freight tracking spreadsheets are cumbersome to update and poorly equipped to handle the complexities and demands of modern supply chains. They present several issues:

Reliance on manual updates: Spreadsheets typically rely on human operators to collect data from tracking portals and make updates, a time-consuming process that is prone to errors. With spreadsheets, freight visibility is only as good as your ability to keep the spreadsheet updated. Given the dependence on operators, critical updates can easily be missed, leading to inaccuracies or incomplete data.

Lack of scalability: Spreadsheets become unmanageable as shipment volumes increase. While they may work for businesses that are just starting out, mid-market companies will likely struggle to keep accurate records and analyze historical supply chain performance using spreadsheets alone.

Poor external collaboration: Spreadsheets lack features for seamless sharing and collaboration with warehouses, customers and other supply chain stakeholders, meaning supply chain and logistics operators have to take responsibility for disseminating updates to impacted stakeholders.

To overcome these challenges, businesses need an intelligent, automated, and centralized system to consolidate data, provide on-demand visibility to everyone who needs it and enable retrospective analysis of carrier, forwarder and route reliability. 

The benefits of automated freight tracking platforms

Automated freight tracking platforms (like Beacon) offer a transformative alternative to traditional spreadsheet-based methods. These platforms bring together the latest ETAs and freight tracking milestones from all carriers, forwarders and modes in a single dashboard. In doing so, they provide complete real-time visibility and on-demand insight into all your freight.

Single Source of Truth: A centralized data collection platform connects a broad network of supply chain actors and data providers, automatically collecting, organizing, and storing data in one place. This eliminates the risks and errors associated with manual data entry, ensuring data consistency and reliability across all supply chain processes. With a single, shareable source of truth, all stakeholders have access to the same real-time information, enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency.

Streamlined Workflows: Centralized tracking platforms streamline logistics operations by alerting operators to delays and disruptions. Instead of spending time collecting freight tracking data, operators can focus their time and energy on controlling the impact of disruptions.

Improved Analytics: Automated freight tracking platforms offer enhanced supply chain analytics capabilities, allowing companies to analyze historical freight tracking data and gain insights into lead times, carrier and route reliability that can be used to improve supply chain planning.

Scalability: Automated tracking platforms scale effortlessly as a company's freight volume grows, handling increased data and operational demands without additional manual effort. This scalability allows companies to focus on strategic growth and innovation rather than logistical challenges.

Implementing automated freight tracking in your organization

Transitioning from spreadsheets to automated freight tracking platforms requires planning and execution. Here are the key steps to successfully implement an automated freight tracking solution in your organization:

Assess Current Practices: Begin by evaluating your existing freight tracking methods and identifying specific challenges. Understand where spreadsheets are used, how they are updated and how they are used in workflows. This will help determine the scope of the automation project.

Select the Right Platform: Research and choose a platform that best suits your requirements. Be sure to ask questions about supported carriers and modes, as some providers offer only partial coverage (e.g. ocean only visibility). You'll also want to conider compatibility with existing systems and evaluate factors like data security, vendor reliability, and ongoing support. Ease of use is also essential to driving user adoption.

Plan the Implementation: Outline the steps, timelines, and resources required. Assign responsibilities and establish a governance structure to oversee the implementation. Effective communication is crucial, so keep all stakeholders informed and engaged.

Data Migration: Work with your freight tracking platform provider to transfer data from existing spreadsheets and systems to the new dashboard. Ensure data is cleaned and validated to prevent inaccuracies. Collaboration with IT and data management teams may be helpful, depending on the scope and scale of your migration.

Training and Change Management: Provide training to all users, addressing concerns and resistance to change. Highlight the benefits of automation and how it will improve their day to day. Continuous support and training will help users leverage the platform's full capabilities.

By following these steps, companies can transition from manual spreadsheets to efficient, accurate, and scalable automated freight tracking systems. This transition enhances visibility, operational efficiency, and cost savings, ultimately driving better decision-making and competitiveness in the supply chain.

Ready to ditch your freight tracking spreadsheets?

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