TMS: Time to Ditch the Spreadsheets
Outdated tools can’t keep up with today’s global supply chain demands. A modern transportation management system (TMS) turns complexity into clarity, cuts costs, improves service, and transforms shipping from a manual chore into a strategic advantage.
Even in 2025, many companies still manage their complex supply chains with an array of spreadsheets, outdated systems, or home-grown solutions. Given the volatility of pricing, capacity, and competition, a transportation management system (TMS) helps companies make more informed decisions that reduce costs while boosting efficiency and service delivery.
In the past, shippers adopted early TMS solutions for limited functionality, such as rate shopping or shipment tracking. In recent years, however, TMS solutions have evolved to allow shippers to integrate them as an extension of their supply chain that touches all areas of transportation.
“About seven out of 10 shippers use a TMS, and those that don’t ship primarily parcels and some LTL freight—smaller shippers who don’t need the sophistication of rate and routing tools,” says Allan J. Miner, CEO of freight audit and payment provider CT Logistics. “For more sophisticated shippers, a TMS pays for itself.”
Transportation management systems have evolved into comprehensive solutions that impact all parts of the supply chain. A modern TMS not only improves pricing and service, but it also provides the business intelligence necessary to thrive.
A TMS has become an indispensable tool for any business that wants to streamline logistics, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. Its core functions include consolidating shipments, shopping for rates, and confirming loads with carriers.
Beyond Table Stakes
Integrating TMS solutions with warehouse management systems ensures real-time visibility and coordination between shipping and inventory operations. This leads to faster, more accurate order fulfillment, fewer manual errors, and streamlined logistics processes.
Those basic functions are table stakes in the TMS marketplace today. Beyond that, shippers value increased visibility across cargo types, access to dynamic rates, and AI-assisted decision-making and predictive analytics. As technology evolves and market demands shift, even the most reliable systems can be left behind. Employing a cutting-edge TMS is critical to staying competitive in a fast-paced global market.
With a TMS, shippers can optimize shipments by comparing carriers, transit times, and rates to understand cost vs. service trade-offs.
Evolving capabilities, such as predictive analytics, help shippers make more informed tactical decisions while providing insights to a business intelligence suite, which enhances efficiency and cost management. Artificial intelligence (AI) models are becoming increasingly sophisticated for dynamic routing and predictive analytics. AI also plays a larger role behind the scenes, providing analytic insights and taking over repetitive tasks.
Robust TMS solutions offer additional tools to help shippers and carriers adapt pricing strategies in an environment of volume and rate volatility. Capabilities to handle spot auctions and automated bidding provide deeper visibility into and management of rapidly changing rates.
Given ongoing disruptions and geopolitical issues, supply chain agility is critical to respond to volatile circumstances. Each supply chain has its individual challenges, from regional disruptions to regulatory requirements. A TMS must be flexible and adaptable to ensure a seamless workflow.
An increasingly critical function of a modern TMS is shipment consolidation. A TMS takes a stream of orders from multiple sources and builds the most effective and efficient loads. The TMS can determine, for instance, whether to place orders for multiple ocean shipments or a single airfreight shipment. The system can coordinate the moves based on the optimal routing and loading/unloading sequence.
In addition to enhanced visibility and informed decision-making, a TMS is the foundation for robust, efficient regulatory compliance.
A TMS not only collects data but also processes and analyzes input. Based on the developers’ institutional knowledge and experience, it adds value through reports and analytics to empower decision-making.
Finally, a TMS serves as the hub of a company’s supply chain network, linking providers, suppliers, and other partners. It provides data in real time to streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve delivery schedules. Supplier compliance has emerged as a critical capability of a TMS, serving as the linchpin for operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and customer satisfaction.
Internally, a TMS should connect with enterprise resource planning systems, warehouse management systems, and other supply chain management tools, as well as freight bill payment and audit applications.
Here’s an in-depth look at some leading TMS providers whose solutions help shippers adapt to ongoing supply chain challenges and create opportunities to drive efficiency gains, reduce costs, and enhance service delivery.
CT Logistics: Pooled Buying Power
“We show clients options to save money—such as choosing a $200 second-day delivery over a pricier one-day option. They can decide based on cost and timing, knowing exactly what the premium is.”
ALLAN J. MINER
CEO, CT Logistics
CT Logistics offers transportation management systems for both truckload and less-than-truckload shippers, building on a 102-year history as a logistics services provider. Its LTL platform is a co-op program known as TranSaver, which helps smaller shippers leverage volume to secure premium discounts and services from core carriers, offering shipment cost and transit time comparisons. CT Logistics negotiates pricing based on the group’s buying power, and all members have access to the lower pricing.
The system also provides real-time tracking and billing functionalities, building on CT Logistics’ services as a freight bill audit and payment company.
TranSaver allows users to make informed decisions based on their needs. Clients have the flexibility to choose between expedited or cost-effective delivery options. The system shows not only cost but also delivery days and the associated rate options for a two-day vs. a four-day delivery window, for example.
“We show clients options to save money—such as choosing a $200 second-day delivery over a pricier one-day option,” says Allan J. Miner, CEO of CT Logistics. “They can decide based on cost and timing, knowing exactly what the premium is.”
Once the shipper selects the carrier and transit time, the platform creates the bill of lading and tenders the load to optimize efficiency.
Data Behind the Scenes
Shippers can select the best rates and delivery schedules with the click of a few buttons. But behind the scenes are terabytes of data that date back many years. Each shipment record can contain up to 1,000 data elements that create insights for data-driven decision-making.
“We crunch the numbers and project rates and schedules so our clients can understand what the marketplace had been, what it is now, and where it may be in the future. They can make informed decisions based upon the analytics we do for them,” Miner says.
Most TranSaver users are clients of CT Logistics’ freight audit and payment services, although the TMS is also available on a transactional basis.
“Freight audit and payment customers have access to a suite of analytical services and historical data. Having a full suite of services is the value-added proposition,” Miner says. “The TMS alone is a per-load service that includes pricing information but not the analytics and historical data of year-to-date and year-over-year comparisons.”
Carriers can sign up to participate in TranSaver to secure business that’s a good fit for their network. They can also access data, review volumes and weights in their lanes, and obtain information about the customers and loads.
“A carrier can see, for example, that one million pounds moves from Cleveland to Chicago every week,” Miner says. “They also can see the number of shipments, and the weight and class, so they can micromanage the bid and get specific with their pricing. It’s premium freight because it’s under the CT TranSaver umbrella, and carriers see all the historical activity in their niche area.”
CTSI-Global: Integration Is the Buzzword
“The Honeybee TMS provides daily countdown reports showing when ocean shipping is still viable before costs jump 10 to 20 times with air freight. With the right planning, companies can build a much more efficient supply chain.”
KEVIN BEALL
CTO, CTSI-GLOBAL
While the baseline function of a transportation management system is to find the right carrier to create the right load, Honeybee TMS from CTSI-Global delivers a wide range of additional benefits.
Honeybee TMS offers a few enhancements over a plain vanilla TMS. It’s integrated with CTSI-Global’s freight audit and payment service, leveraging historical data to drive Honeybee TMS rate engines and predictive analytics. The TMS consolidates orders, shops for rates, and tracks shipments, offering dynamic routing and multi-leg shipment capabilities.
“Our TMS connects anyone who needs to move goods with the appropriate carriers,” says Kevin Beall, chief technology officer with CTSI-Global. “Whether they want to ship via ocean, LTL, or truckload, they input the shipment characteristics, and the system navigates through to the available carriers, along with the best price.”
The combination of freight audit and payment management and Honeybee TMS provides shippers with insights based on historical rate data.
“We leverage some aspects of our freight audit and pay to support the rate engine, which allows our TMS to be a single place for vendors or outbound shippers to tender shipments from an order into a load and then track it until delivery,” Beall says.
Honeybee TMS integrates with various carriers and supports global operations, handling different currencies and units. The system also includes a business intelligence suite for data analysis and predictive analytics, enhancing efficiency and cost management.
AI is used for dynamic routing and predictive analytics, and its performance is continuously refined.
The Price Is Right
The CTSI-Global rate engine uses millions of calculations based on freight pay data and routing guides to find the best mix of carriers, routing, and rates. The technology is built to anticipate the cost—based on a rate table—and find the best pricing, then compare available pricing in the open market.
“The rate engine can look outside the box to determine what the market may be, such as a surplus of trucks in a particular area, so the market rate is lower than your negotiated rate,” Beall says.
Predictive analytics provide insights into how reliable a carrier is in a given lane and forecast expected delays.
“We know at the time of booking if a port of entry has a six-day delay, for instance, so we offer options at that time to select other carriers,” Beall says.
The visibility platform provides insights into cutoff dates for shipment time based on the final delivery window. The system offers the deadline to book an ocean carrier and when that shipment has to convert to air freight to be on time.
“The Honeybee TMS provides daily countdown reports showing when ocean shipping is still viable before costs jump 10 to 20 times with air freight. With the right planning, companies can build a much more efficient supply chain,” Beall says.
Because Honeybee TMS is integrated with the freight audit and pay system, users get a running update of shipments, invoices, and payments and tools that validate invoices for duplicate detection and support cost accounting through the general ledger.
“It’s proven to be helpful for our TMS users to know what their accrual liabilities are for the following month for activity that occurred in the prior month,” Beall notes.
Loadsmart: Next Generation TMS
“From automating routine tasks to simulating complex planning scenarios, AI will transform how shippers operate and plan. At Loadsmart, we see real impact with generative AI models embedded in our TMS to drive smarter, faster decisions.”
GIOVANNI BATTISTELLA
Vice President, ShipperGuide TMS
Loadsmart’s ShipperGuide TMS targets mid-market shippers with $10 to $100 million in freight spend. It offers procurement, planning, execution, freight audit and pay solutions, supporting several transportation modes, including truckload, LTL, intermodal, drayage, and partial volume LTL.
“ShipperGuide TMS differentiates itself with user-friendly interfaces, best-in-class procurement capabilities, quick onboarding, and AI-driven decision-making tools,” says Giovanni Battistella, vice president, ShipperGuide TMS.
The platform emphasizes efficiency and cost savings, with case studies showing a 20% cost reduction in operations for a food and beverage user and an 18% LTL transportation cost reduction for a building materials manufacturer.
ShipperGuide TMS grew out of Loadsmart’s expertise in transportation procurement and execution.
“We started with an enterprise-grade procurement solution, and that evolved to support multi-modal planning and execution,” Battistella says. “More recently, we added our freight audit and pay solution.
“With our deep knowledge of transportation execution through our logistics services division, we expanded that procurement solution to a full-function TMS,” he adds.
Shippers often emphasize operational efficiency as the main driver for adopting a TMS, but other benefits include transportation cost savings.
“You will never justify the return on investment for a TMS if you focus only on operations efficiency,” Battistella says. “The cornerstone for every shipper using a TMS is transportation cost savings.”
One key step in adopting a TMS is the change management process. Employees’ jobs may change as they shift from repetitive, transactional duties to strategic functions, supported by automated planning and execution tools. For one ShipperGuide customer, about 70% of loads move through the system automatically without human intervention.
“When you deploy a TMS, ensure your operators and planners are aligned with you,” Battistella recommends. “If you have a distributed operation, it takes a lot of training at the individual locations, so make sure your TMS vendor has the ability to support that.”
Select a TMS that’s configurable and scalable to your particular industry segment. For instance, a manufacturer’s needs differ from those of a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) company.
Companies with regular origins and destinations, such as CPG, focus on efficiency and service performance, including automated tendering, time-sensitive deliveries, and load consolidation.
Manufacturers with multiple plants and distribution centers require extensive coordination with inbound suppliers. ShipperGuide TMS’s capability to manage supplier and customer profiles allows them to see different versions of the platform based on their roles.
“Make sure the business rules that you have in place for automated flows, such as load consolidation, the routing guide, automated payments and settlement, are flexible enough to cover different use cases,” Battistella says.
Artificial intelligence is helping to unlock insights from the information in the TMS. Loadsmart’s FreightIntelAI, available in ShipperGuide TMS or as a stand-alone service, performs like a senior transportation analyst for strategic reasoning and scenario simulation to produce tailored observations and actionable recommendations.
“It runs on historical data, looking for opportunities and suggesting mode selection, spot/contract mix, carrier allocation, and cost and service scenario comparisons to provide an optimized shipment plan,” Battistella says.
nVision Global: Optimize, Automate, Impact TMS
“The ability to identify and react to change is not just an advantage; it’s essential for survival and growth. A TMS provides the visibility needed to transform a supply chain from a series of discrete steps into a connected, efficient process.”
STEWART DUNSMORE
Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Services, nVision Global
Given the complexity of the supply chain landscape, one critical element for success is an adaptable and flexible TMS platform. nVision Global’s Impact TMS was built with the concept of configurability across all functions and capabilities.
“The application is developed in a modular format to allow users to add and remove functionality with minimum interruption to everyday business processing,” says Stewart Dunsmore, senior vice president, supply chain services for nVision Global, a global freight management solutions and services company. “Impact TMS is a highly configurable and customizable solution that optimizes the overall supply chain process.”
Impact TMS continues to evolve to keep pace with customer requirements and advancing technology. Integrating AI solutions, Impact TMS supports the concept of global freight management with applications that incorporate cost management, freight audit, business intelligence, claims, and other key areas.
“Our tools change how shippers manage their transportation networks,” Dunsmore says. “Instead of focusing on moving freight from A to B, integrated software provides a strategic view for cargo management, orders, inventory, forecasting, and business intelligence.”
Impact TMS supports “least cost” ratings for single and multiple services and cargo types that help balance cost and service expectations.
Impact TMS manages currency localization for companies managing an international supply chain to meet corporate requirements for cost control and budgeting. Each movement can be managed in the local currency, while global supply chain data can be viewed in the home country’s currency.
In-depth visibility into pricing across cargo types allows shippers to adapt to dynamic rates across all cargo types. AI solutions help analyze pricing to manage freight spend. Automated bidding and global and regional spot auction tools give more precise rate information, especially in LTL and specialty segments.
The international auction tool allows for controlled auctions to the customer’s selected transportation providers and the ability to compare those auction results to their contracted rates for any given shipment.
“As costs change, shippers and carriers must have flexibility in their pricing strategies, and they need tools to match those needs,” Dunsmore says.
Impact TMS users have experienced increased accuracy upon execution, improved workflow management and exception handling. Additional savings stem from tactical and strategic carrier sourcing and load consolidation.
Impact TMS has adapted to a changing customer base, adding medical, retail, and food to the industrial, oil and gas, and technology sectors. Impact TMS is configured for each customer so that it can be tailored to various business practices. nVision’s global resources ensure a control tower is available in each region to support a customer’s suppliers.
The globally diversified customer base provides freight data across all lanes and cargo types as starting points for better forecasting and predictability. “We use broad, deep information from across our operations to suggest ways clients can optimize further,” Dunsmore says.
Shippers using Impact TMS have improved transportation planning and optimization capabilities. In addition to boosting accuracy and streamlining workflow management and exception handling, they report further savings due to tactical and strategic carrier sourcing and load consolidation.
“nVision Global emphasizes understanding the specific challenges that a business faces and cultivating solutions around those challenges,” Dunsmore says.
TransportGistics: Compliance-Focused TMS
“Compliance features in a TMS automate supplier performance monitoring and deliver real-time insights for continuous improvement. In today’s world of transparency and accountability, a TMS that ensures supplier compliance is essential.”
ALAN MILLER
President, TransportGistics
Customer expectations continue to elevate, with shorter delivery windows and real-time updates throughout the shipment process. Transportation management systems are critical to help businesses plan, execute, and optimize the movement of goods to ensure that goods flow in the manner customers expect.
The foundation of an effective TMS is trading partner compliance to ensure enhanced operational efficiency, improved transparency and accountability, and risk reduction, says Alan Miller, president of TransportGistics, a provider of global software solutions based in Mount Sinai, New York.
By implementing TransportGistics’ TMS solution (TGI-TMS), businesses can standardize processes, reduce variability, and achieve consistent and reliable outcomes. This oversight leads to improved order handling, reduced shipping costs, and enhanced customer satisfaction.
TransportGistics’ TGI-TMS not only orchestrates the standard TMS functions but also ensures that every workflow, from order entry and shipment scheduling to documentation and billing, is executed according to defined standards.
“We’re transforming the landscape of transportation management by embedding standardized, audit-ready processes into every facet of the supply chain,” Miller adds. “This approach not only helps companies steer through complex trading partner frameworks but also enhances operational integrity and transparency.”
Lack of compliance throughout the process can lead to costly inefficiencies and a lack of transparency into supplier performance. Negotiated rates, performance, and processes must be monitored to ensure supplier compliance.
“Just because you have negotiated, executed, and implemented new transportation rates and contracts does not guarantee the delivery of the anticipated cost savings,” Miller says. “A lack of compliance and ad-hoc business processes that arise can cost companies millions of dollars each year in excessive transportation and handling expense.”
Compliance amongst all trading partners—carriers, vendors, or customers—managed through TGI-TMS, fosters consistency across operations and minimizes the likelihood of errors, ensuring that every process is accountable and auditable.
This system inherently boosts trust among internal teams, carriers, and trading partners while safeguarding the organization against the risks associated with noncompliance.
It’s a valuable tool, fostering clarity and alignment of micro logistics and macro logistics supply chains. It ensures that all parties mutually understand and adhere to their expectations and responsibilities.
Enhancing Operations
In addition to compliance management, TGI-TMS offers a range of advanced features that enhance operational quality and reliability, such as automated workflow management, real-time monitoring and reporting, and seamless data integration.
The centralized reporting and real-time dashboards empower management with actionable insights. Whether for internal audits or regulatory reviews, every process has been recorded and verified, ensuring clear lines of accountability.
Automating routine processes helps eliminate redundant tasks and maximize human resources for strategic initiatives, which accelerates the entire transportation process to focus on critical decision-making.
“Operational efficiencies translate into lower labor costs, reduced risk liabilities, and ultimately, better financial performance,” Miller says.
Ultimately, the operational discipline of using a compliance-based TMS transforms abstract compliance requirements into actionable and measurable steps that every trading partner can follow.
“By standardizing shipment procedures and streamlining communication, TGI-TMS creates harmony between different stakeholders, ensuring your supply chain runs like a well-oiled machine,” Miller says.
TMS Suppliers Guide
In the market for a transportation management system? These leading providers are a good place to start your search.
CT Logistics
www.ctlogistics.com
CT Logistics’ web-based transportation management system helps companies—from manufacturers, distributors, and ecommerce companies to logistics service providers—plan, execute, and optimize the physical movement of incoming and outgoing goods, providing configurable supplier access and electronic interface options. Ensuring shipments are compliant and proper documentation is available, the CT TMS provides shipment planning, day-to-day execution with event tracking, spot quote management, and carrier performance reporting and analytics.
CTSI-Global
ctsi-global.com/tms
Honeybee TMS by CTSI-Global streamlines transportation execution from order to payment. Connecting data from disparate enterprise systems and transportation service providers, the TMS provides simple, cost-effective transportation management solutions. Its capabilities include order management, shipment execution, claims management, and event management. Users gain significant, sustainable savings via load optimization, carrier selection, invoice processing, supply chain management, and reduced manual tasks.
Loadsmart
loadsmart.com/shipper/shipperguide
With Loadsmart’s ShipperGuide TMS, companies can discover and manage rates with any provider of choice, tender shipments, and share real-time tracking with their team and with customers. The solution provides end-to-end load visibility, from freight procurement, planning, execution, and analysis. Loadsmart’s FreightIntelAI, available in ShipperGuide TMS or as a stand-alone service, can automatically access data within the TMS and analyze complex datasets, detect patterns, and offer personalized guidance in real time.
nVision Global
corporate.nvisionglobal.com
nVision’s Impact TMS allows shippers to plan, organize, and manage global shipments in one easy-to-use solution. nVision Global refined the TMS for its global customers to ensure it can seamlessly integrate their internal systems, suppliers, and transportation providers into a single application. Providing business intelligence and data analytics, the platform offers KPI reporting and integrated carrier scorecards and can determine the actual cost of each unit shipped.
TransportGistics
transportgistics.com
TransportGistics’ TGI-TMS not only orchestrates standard TMS functions but also ensures that every workflow, from order entry and shipment scheduling to documentation and billing, is executed according to defined standards. The solution lets businesses standardize processes, reduce variability, and achieve consistent and reliable outcomes. It also offers a range of advanced features that enhance operational quality and reliability, such as automated workflow management, real-time monitoring and reporting, and data integration. Centralized reporting and real-time dashboards provide actionable insights.