- Company incorporates key digital freight productivity tool into flagship TMS platform.
- Enables 24-hour automated load booking, removes booking delays and errors, simplifies workflow for brokers and truckload operators
- Leverages widely adopted Trucker Tools mobile driver app to expand real-time access to truckload capacity; improves carrier engagement
RESTON, VA and CARY, NC – May 11, 2021 – Trucker Tools and MecuryGate® International today announced that Trucker Tools Book It Now® automated load-booking is now live within MecuryGate’s flagship transportation management software platform and available for customer use.
Cary, North Carolina-based MercuryGate is a recognized leader in transportation management software solutions with a deep portfolio of expertise and capabilities that deliver productivity, reliability, and market advantage to the industry’s most successful shippers, 3PLs, freight forwarders, brokers, and carriers. Its platform and products are utilized to manage transportation operations by thousands of users in North America.
Reston, Virginia-based Trucker Tools provides the truckload community of brokers, small-fleet carriers, and independent owner-operators with the Smart Capacity suite of predictive digital freight-matching, automated booking, real-time shipment visibility and digital document management tools, as well as the Trucker Tools Mobile Driver app. The most popular independent, multi-party smartphone app for truckers in the transportation industry, the multi-functional Trucker Tools driver app has been downloaded by more than 1.2 million truckers and provides 17 of the most sought-after features and functions truckers use to manage their business on the road.
“Our clients expect us to constantly improve our solutions, creating cost-saving opportunities and introducing digital process advancements that increase utility and efficiency – and ultimately the value of their investment with us,” said Jeffrey Varon, MercuryGate chief strategy officer. “Integrating Trucker Tools Book It Now® accomplishes those objectives. It’s an example of how MercuryGate innovates with key partners to build out continuous competitive advantage.”
Varon explained that the integration of Book It Now® enables MercuryGate customers to employ a highly automated process that significantly cuts the time to locate and book available truckload carriers, while improving load-match accuracy and reducing stale data.
Using Book It Now®, the broker or shipper, working within the MercuryGate application, can select available shipments and populate those in the Trucker Tools Mobile Driver app, where they are visible to approved and available truckers as a Book It Now® load on their smartphone. No toggling between screens is necessary. The trucker can then choose the desired load, and with one click, accept the load and within seconds, receive a confirmation and start planning the pickup.
Previously, brokers typically would spend time on the phone with truckers and carriers to find out who was available where and when, assign loads, and then enter the booking in the system. By incorporating Trucker Tools Book It Now® manual interactions are eliminated, and the MercuryGate software is automatically updated. Brokers capture significant savings in costs to cover loads, reduce data errors, and become more efficient, able to book more loads in a day, and gain time to handle more complex or higher-value tasks.
Prasad Gollapalli, founder, and chief executive of Trucker Tools, cited three primary value cases that MercuryGate customers gain from the integration:
24-hour automated load booking. Brokers typically work an eight-to-ten-hour day, leaving some 16 hours unused. Now, brokers can select batches of shipments available today, tomorrow or the next day, drop them into the Book It Now® app, and enable trucking partners to review and accept loads at their convenience day or night, without additional broker interaction.
More efficient repeat lane and load booking. Brokers can now take “repeatable” freight, that which moves in specific, consistent lanes on a regular basis with a core group of carriers, drop those into Book It Now®, and let those carriers self-select and book on their own. Again, broker time once spent to physically call and book the same lanes with the same carriers is eliminated, saving time and expense for the broker, and downtime for the trucker.
Reduced booking delays. At the end of the day, brokers often have shipments that have not been matched with a carrier. Rather than let those sit overnight, the broker can drop those loads into Book It Now® where they are immediately available to the trucker, who can accept the load with one click of the Book It Now® button, and if the load remains available, receive an automated confirmation. Loads no longer have to languish overnight to the next day.
Some 90 percent of truckload market carriers are independent owner-operators and small fleets of 10 trucks or less. The multi-functional, GPS-enabled multi-party mobile app is available for both Android- and Apple-powered smartphones and is provided free of charge to independent truckers and small fleets.
About Trucker Tools: Trucker Tools, based in Reston, Va., is the leading provider of trip planning, shipment visibility, predictive freight matching and automated booking solutions for the transportation industry. Its ground-breaking Smart Capacity platform uses accurate, real-time data and powerful algorithms to optimally match freight by predicting when and where capacity will become available, days in advance. The company’s popular driver smartphone app has been downloaded by some 900,000 owner operators and small-carrier fleets to access information and services conveniently while on the road. Included in the smartphone app is Book it Now®, the industry’s first digital load booking app that automates and streamlines the load search and booking process for drivers and brokers, saving time and money. Trucker Tools load tracking solution is a robust feature in the app that connects drivers with carriers and freight brokers, automating the provision and collection of real-time shipment tracking and eliminating manual check calls. Visit Trucker Tools at www.truckertools.com or contact us directly at: sales@truckertools.com.
Media Contact: Gary Frantz, Trucker Tools, (925) 594-1434. gary@gnfcomms.com
About MercuryGate: MercuryGate provides powerful transportation management solutions proven to be a competitive advantage for today’s most successful shippers, 3PLs, freight forwarders, brokers, and carriers. MercuryGate’s solutions are unique in their native support of all modes of transportation on a single platform including Parcel, LTL, Truckload, Air, Ocean, Rail, and Intermodal. All modes may be executed in a fully autonomous solution that is even capable of automatically adapting to disruptions as they occur. Through the continued release of innovative, results-driven technology and a commitment to making customers successful, MercuryGate delivers exceptional value for TMS users through improved productivity and operational efficiency. MercuryGate offers business intelligence to reduce costs including the cost of delivery, improve transportation processes, increase customer satisfaction and drive growth. Find out why MercuryGate has set the industry standard for the most adaptable, comprehensive transportation solutions suite in the industry at www.mercurygate.com or on Twitter at @MercuryGate.
