freight payment services continue to evolve - Journal of Commerce

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF

THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

NEW

PARADIGM

FREIGHT

PAYMENT

SERVICES

CONTINUE

TO EVOLVE

52 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com

JUNE 24.2013

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FREIGHT PAYMENT

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

It’s not just about freight payment

anymore. Historically, freight

payment firms were retained

by shippers for the twin purposes

of auditing transportation invoices

and making timely remittance for

legitimate freight bills. However, a

changing logistics landscape has forced

traditional freight payers to significantly

expand their service horizons.

“We’re really in the data business,”

Denise Lawien, COO, Trans International,

said. “Using the data we capture through

the processing function, we build and

provide robust, ERP-compatible reporting

tools for accruals, sales and operations

planning and for financial reporting.” Trans

International also provides management

of multimodal routing, monitoring of

carrier capabilities and capacity, carrier

negotiations and communications, request

for proposals and contract management.

Astute analysis of this information

is critical to managing transportation

expenses and remaining competitive, said

Tom Zygmunt, manager of marketing and

business development, Cass Information

Systems. “Business intelligence and

analytics have become the most important

benefit of freight audit and payment

services.” In addition to customized data

feeds into internal systems, Cass provides

Web-based delivery of information to help

companies manage their transportation

expenses and create opportunities to

significantly reduce them, he said.

International sourcing and elongated

supply chains have generated increased

customer demand for support worldwide,

and traditional freight payment firms

have seen a dramatic expansion in their

geography. “Our core service provides

global freight audit, payment and logistics

By John Powers

information management to multinational

corporations seeking a single, global data

warehouse, said Keith Snavely, nVision

Global Technology Solutions’ senior vice

president, global sales and marketing.

This includes state-of-the-art, Webbased

analytical tools that allow them to

streamline and optimize their supply chains.

CT Logistics does a great deal of

international work, and President Allan

J. Miner emphasized its freight cost

validation, allocation and reporting. These

services are rolled into its larger logistics

offering, encompassing “… freight bill

pre-audit and payment services, post audit,

enterprise class software for transportation

pricing and freight execution capabilities,

full-service 3PL, LTL shipping cooperative,

www.joc.com THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE 53

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FREIGHT PAYMENT

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supply chain consulting and truckload

freight services,” he said.

Helping customers reduce

transportation as a portion of total

delivered cost is top priority for most

freight payers. “By understanding our

customer’s critical transportation and

accounting processes, we provide

customized business intelligence

solutions that help create a competitive

advantage through reduced costs,

increased efficiency and better decisionmaking

capability,” Zygmunt explained.

At Syncada from Visa, close scrutiny

equals savings. “Customers save

money by reducing payment errors

and automating manual processes.

According to the Aberdeen Group,

the average organization only audits

51 percent of its invoices. This means

errors go unrecognized, and the ones

Helping customers reduce

transportation as a portion of total

delivered cost is a top priority.

that are caught are typically after

the invoice has been paid, making

it difficult to retrieve funds. Syncada

provides 100 percent pre-payment

audit,” said Rick Erickson, global

transportation product director.

“Processing complex invoices and

conducting manual audits are not our

customers’ core competencies; they

don’t need to be freight payment

experts. We take those things off their

plates so they can focus on what

makes them unique in the marketplace

and drives their revenue,” he added.

At Trans International, the process

begins with the development of a

set of specific guidelines that govern

interactions with carriers and freight

payment partners. Savings come from

the precise comparison of invoices

received against these protocols, to

ensure compliance with everything from

contracted rates to accessorial charges

to schedule-versus-actual delivery.

“We eliminate duplicate payments,

which happens more often than you

THE LEADER IN FREIGHT BILL AUDITING,

PAYMENT AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

In business since 1906, and providing

freight payment services since 1956,

Cass offers stability, security and expertise

in freight audit, payment and business

intelligence services to improve your

transportation and financial management

processes and reduce your expenses.

CUSTOMIZED SOLUTIONS

Cass has the most industry experience

in implementing complex processing

systems that meet the unique requirements

of large companies. We do not fit companies

into a “standardized” system. Cass

prides itself on providing system solutions

that companies are unable to develop

internally or with other service providers.

By understanding our customer’s critical

transportation and accounting processes,

we provide customized processing and

information solutions that help create a

competitive advantage through reduced

costs, increased efficiency and better decision-making

capability. The goal is to not

just duplicate existing systems but provide

enhancements to freight processing systems

that will help maximize a customer’s

global supply chain efficiency.

FINANCIAL SECURITY AND STABILITY

Cass Information Systems is a bank

holding company. We are publicly held

and traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market

(CASS). We furnish our financial information

and projections to the Securities and

Exchange Commission and the NASDAQ on

a regular basis.

We comply with the

provisions of Sarbanes-

Oxley and make our

Statement on Standards for

Attestation Engagements

(SSAE) No. 16 report available to our

customers and prospective customers.

EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE

We substantially invest in personnel and

leading-edge technology to ensure that

we provide superior customer support and

service in our relationships. With Cass you

receive “best practice” business processing

solutions. Our customer service team

includes an assigned account manager who

manages the customer relationship with

representatives from systems, operations and

carrier relations. This level of customer support

provides the highest echelon of quality

services and the most extensive customeroriented

focus in our industry. n

Contact Cass to learn more about the

freight audit, payment and information solutions

that you can count on today and into

the future. For more information, call us at

314-506-5500, or e-mail cass@cassinfo.com.

Visit our Web site at www.cassinfo.com.

54 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com JUNE 24.2013

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FREIGHT PAYMENT

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

might think if shippers aren’t using

match-to-pay protocol. Second,

there are 15 different elements of

freight expense that need to be

audited against client-specific rules.

Third, we greatly reduce the cost of

processing and paying freight bills, as

compared to the cost of processing

in-house,” Lawien said. Like its peers,

Trans International proactively reports

exceptions to a set of “business rules,”

and these must be client-approved

prior to further processing.

In-house processing of a single

freight bill costs an average of $15 from

receipt through processing to mailing a

check, Trans International reports. They

can perform the same function for less

than a dollar per invoice.

NVISION GLOBAL: OUR WORLDWIDE WEB

GETS WIDER EVERY DAY

One of the fastest-growing global freight

audit, payment and logistics management

solutions providers is nVision Global

Technology Solutions. With locations in

the Americas, Europe and Asia, our staff is

fluent in more than 25 languages, and we

process and pay freight invoices from more

than 190 countries worldwide.

nVision Global began as a North

American regional service provider and

has quickly grown into a leading global

provider of freight audit and payment

solutions. Our success has come from

a single business philosophy: to

view our customers as partners in

business.

Our customers have come to

rely upon our prompt, accurate

and Sarbanes-Oxley-compliant

freight payment services and

logistics management solutions to

help them manage their overall supply

chain costs. We provide modern

technology, flexible processes and

unparalleled customer service. Our

leading-edge information-management

analytical tools include global mapping,

Close scrutiny

equals savings.

“There are obvious hard dollar

savings associated with comprehensive

rate and service validation,” Miner

said. CT Logistics’ clients can count on

audit-related savings of 3 to 7 percent

of their annualized transportation

spend. “It’s not just the rate audit, it’s

a service-level audit, a duplicate audit

— duplicate services performed by

multiple providers in the supply chain

to determine if it’s a client’s liability

and responsibility to pay,” he said.

Not having to dedicate staff to

perform these functions in-house is

graphing, benchmarking, modeling and

network optimization analysis.

nVision is equipped to provide a true

single-source global solution with the

flexibility to meet your current needs and

the foresight to anticipate future desires.

nVision Global’s products and services

provide consistent savings that go directly

to your bottom line! n

another savings. “Our clients … only

have one weekly payable for freight,”

Miner said. “We also help them to

better manage their cash flow by

aging each invoice until its appropriate

credit terms, while providing them

visibility to these outstanding liabilities

via accrual type reporting. Finally,

for freight charge backs and general

ledger account distributions, (we) can

charge freight to very detailed levels,

including SKU levels for clients that

require this level of granularity.” On

average, CT clients save more than $7

for every invoice processed.

When it comes to client base,

there are some differences among

providers. All of them target Fortune

100 firms, and some feel that a

prospective customer must have a

certain critical mass of transportation

transactions to realize the full benefit

of their services. Higher supply chain

complexity is another predictor of a

potential client.

Trans International lists large shippers

among its customers but is also open to

working with smaller enterprises. “We

don’t have a ‘typical client.’ We serve

clients from Fortune 100 to mid-market

and even smaller companies. If there is a

need for savings on freight expense and

payables processing, we can tailor an

offering suitable to any size client,” CEO

Jaime Syring said.

So why would a firm, particularly

a large international player, opt for an

outside partner versus handling the

freight payment process in house? For

the same reasons a firm uses a CPA or

administrative services organization or

an outside attorney:

— Economies of scale.

— Access to specific expertise.

— Lower processing cost with a

dedicated specialist.

— Ability to remain abreast of the

current state of the industry.

— Independent process oversight.

— Most importantly, freedom to

focus on core, revenue-generating

activities.

56 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com JUNE 24.2013

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FREIGHT PAYMENT

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“With our structure and expertise,

we provide unrivaled financial

responsibility,” Erickson said. “As a

joint venture between two respected

financial brands, Visa and U.S. Bank,

Syncada is a trusted partner that goes

beyond the basic SOX and SSAE 16

Type II certification to meet the rigorous

regulation, audit and compliance

requirements of the financial industry.

“We deliver a truly global platform

that provides organizations one

freight audit and payment solution

for all transportation modes. It gives

global visibility across multiple stores,

channels, geographies, organization

levels, etc. Syncada has customer

support centers in North America,

Europe and Asia to meet global needs

while addressing local challenges.

With thousands of carriers already

on the system, shippers benefit from

quick implementation,” he said.

Global presence is an important

arrow in nVision’s marketing quiver.

The company operates “on a single,

global platform from our four corporateowned,

full-service, processing centers

on three continents, providing our

customers with a single, global data

warehouse from which to analyze their

data,” Snavely said.

Trans International’s technology

allows the company to process, audit

and capture data more efficiently and

effectively than their largest clients’

in-house accounts payable and IT

departments, Lewien said.

Most firms that outsource freight

payment fall in the medium-to-verylarge

shipper range. Given their

resources, the potential to develop

in-house technology to handle data

collection and reporting internally

seems tempting. So, why are increasing

numbers of companies handing off

these chores?

It’s an issue of personnel and

overhead costs, Zygmunt said. Whether

developed internally or purchased, there

are costs to maintain the internal process

of an in-house system. As needs change

in a dynamic business environment,

modifications to the systems may take

awhile to implement.

CT Logistics manages its freight

analytics using its proprietary FreitRater

system, the same product they sell to

shippers and transportation firms. “Due

to the sheer scope of client invoices

that have been processed on the

system, there are not many scenarios

we cannot handle effectively. We feel

our technology, delivered by a team

of domain experts, is advantageous

versus other in-house software that a

shipper can use,” Miner said, noting

In-house processing of a single freight bill

costs an average of $15 from receipt through

processing to mailing a check.

the complications of other variables,

such as overhead of software purchases,

management of various applications,

and having teams of technical and

non-technical individuals running and

maintaining the software.

Other technology drivers for

outsourcing are ease of access and

reporting flexibility. With the number

of report iterations virtually limitless,

the ability to deliver information in

a concise format is critical. “We’ve

introduced a whole new way of looking

at data,” Syring said. “We’ve rolled out

a much more usable format for some

of the most common elements of the

transportation process.”

The ability to electronically connect

all players in the shipping cycle is a

powerful enticement at nVision. The

company has developed a variety

of e-invoicing options allowing

transportation providers to submit their

invoices via e-mail, eliminating the

need for paper, postage and slow mail

delivery.

The shipping cycle begins with

an arsenal of tools to assist the

transportation design process. “We

provide shippers with pre-planning

through a variety of methods, including

Web-based routing guides as well as a

global, least-cost-carrier application that

takes into consideration service level,

transit time and potential accessorials

and taxes, among other selection

criteria,” Snavely said.

CT Logistics has several tools and

services to optimize the pre-planning

process. From a budgeting perspective,

its professional staff will mine their

data warehouse and perform various

benchmarking studies to determine the

market competitiveness of client rates

for negations and budgetary processes.

CT offers various levels of online

rating and routing for pre-shipment

execution. These applications allow its

clients to enter shipment characteristics,

and the system “shops” their carrier

base for all the carriers that have rates in

that lane, returning the costs for each,

along with levels of service. Clients use

this data to develop the appropriate

routing while performing the tender

and execution in a different system, or

they can actually create the bill of lading

from the CT Web site, Miner said.

Beyond rate verification and

payment, freight payers offer an array

of after-shipment analytical tools

to evaluate, confirm and adjust the

transportation plan and their individual

“shipment rules.”

Shippers gain the ability to dissect

each transaction to the micro level.

“Our reporting capabilities allow easy

access to multiple views of actionable

data across a client’s entire global

enterprise, empowering employees to

easily identify trends or analyze precise

58 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com JUNE 24.2013

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CT LOGISTICS: COMMITMENT TO QUALITY SOLUTIONS

CONFIDENCE

90 years of experience have allowed us to

create a broad range of freight cost validation,

allocation and reporting solutions — all

tailored to meet your company’s unique

requirements. CT Logistics, one of the preeminent

providers of freight payment services

and transportation management solutions,

provides you with a foundation of confidence.

CT will work with you by creating

customized business solutions so that you

can focus on your firm’s core competencies

— ensuring a quality, efficient, effective and

robust supply chain management system for

your global needs.

TRUST

Firms of all sizes, including Fortune 100

corporations across the country and around

the globe, have relied on CT Logistics to assist

them in making solid, informed decisions

regarding their freight audit, payment and

business intelligence needs. Our team of

professionals has been instrumental in assisting

our clients in leveraging expertise, technology

and best-in-class processes to maximize return

on the client’s investment. SOC II and ISO

9001:2008 certified processes ensure stringent

controls, safety of client funds, and trusted

payments and cash disbursements to your

transportation partners.

LEADERSHIP

CT Logistics is a leader in the freight payment

and transportation management services

industry. With FreitRater — the industry’s

first choice for freight management and TMS

software — and our customized solutions

for your global freight payment systems, our

AuditPay and TranSaver solutions will exceed

your expectations.

We create customized solutions that will

keep your company focused and in control of

the ever-changing needs of global business,

allowing your firm to focus and maintain a

competitive advantage, remaining a step

ahead of your competition to ensure your lead

in the marketplace.

CONFIDENCE, TRUST AND LEADERSHIP

… TRADITIONS SINCE 1923

All of these attributes are woven into our

corporate philosophy, which is the foundation

and tradition that our clients have relied on for

90 years. But just as important is the future that

the CT Logistics team will help you build. Our

services and software are evolving to provide

you with the latest leading-edge applications

and systems that will enable you to better

manage and reduce supply chain costs while

adding more visibility and control to your

organization, positively impacting your bottom

line; that’s our commitment to you. n

Visit www.ctlogistics.com for more

information about our products and services,

or call 216-267-2000, ext. 2190.

FREIGHT PAYMENT

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

Net Difference

CT Logistics helps

capture the details for

winning profitability.

In today’s volatile global marketplace you need every tool

available to stay ahead of the game. At CT Logistics, we have

been creating and refining money-saving innovations for over

90 years. Our clients include small, medium and Fortune 100

companies who plan, track, audit, and account for freight

transactions worth billions each year. Our FreitRater software

is exclusive, our solutions are customizable, and our reputation

is unsurpassed. Call 216-267-2000, x2190 today, and see

why we're your best bet for Pre-Audit, Post-Audit and proven

TMS software solutions.

ctlogistics.com

Confidence Trust Leadership since 1923.

www.joc.com THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE 59

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FREIGHT PAYMENT

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

figures to improve overall business

performance,” Erickson said. “We

provide a robust set of data analysis tools

that offer multiple reporting options

spanning payment processing, including

prompted reports, performance and

analysis reports, query/ad-hoc reports

and the ability to group data into cubes

for more multidimensional data analysis

and graphical representation.”

Web-based reporting tools and

business intelligence analytics are

all accessible to Trans International

clients 24/7 via a proprietary log-on.

This allows its clients to view actual

costs, accessorial charges, exceptions,

fuel surcharges, mileage and more,

as well as generate reports using the

data captured and placed in their

customized database.

A Rate and Route Analysis audits

GAIN CONTROL OVER YOUR

FREIGHT SPEND MANAGEMENT

Transportation invoices are complicated,

detailed, and often involve complex

freight audit requirements. Syncada from Visa

helps logistics professionals manage global

freight payment and audit for all transportation

modes with a single solution — uncovering

cost savings, increasing control and

delivering greater visibility.

Shippers and carriers connect online with

Syncada Freight to invoice, process, pay and

quickly resolve exceptions, with real-time visibility

of invoice and payment status. As a leading

global freight audit and payment provider,

Syncada Freight enables corporate and government

clients to improve control over their freight

expense, regardless of language or currency.

Syncada delivers standardized invoice processing,

100 percent pre-payment audit, and payment

coupled with integrated financing.

Customers count on Syncada’s unrivaled

financial responsibility. As a joint

venture between two respected

financial brands, Visa and U.S.

Bank, Syncada is a trusted partner,

enabling complete visibility to

carrier invoices, then rates the shipment

against all other approved and

recommended carriers for potential

future savings for nVision customers.

And its iFocus Dashboard allows the

user to “slice and dice their shipment

activity from the highest level to drilling

down into their data to identify areas

of consolidation, service level, budgets,

carrier performance and various other

activity,” Snavely said.

CT clients have two post-shipment

reporting options. Its Business

Intelligence application will automatically

push pre-designed reports to needto-know

parties. Additionally, the firm

offers accessibility via its Web site to its

data warehouse, allowing customers to

perform shipment evaluations on an ad

hoc basis.

“We provide clients with the ability

all funds received and disbursed. Syncada is

backed by Visa, leveraging extensive experience

managing a global payment network. The

Syncada model runs without float, instead paying

carriers as soon as the invoice is approved

and consolidating those payments into one

convenient monthly payment for the shipper.

With a single global platform, customers

gain global visibility across different business

units and geographies for greater efficiency

and savings. Using its software-as-a-service

—SaaS — solution, supply chain professionals

leverage Syncada to find the data needed for

strategic business decisions.

Syncada processes invoices for hundreds

of shippers and makes payments to tens of

thousands of carriers around the world. In

2012, Syncada processed more than

$21 billion in payments and millions of

invoices and trade documents. n

to report on data from numerous areas

of our internal system, not just paid

historical information. They can access

data from various queues to get total

visibility to all invoices. Our clients also

have the ability to query from the actual

rating engine and develop reports that

pull data from our in-house developed

platform. This has proved to be very

helpful as clients prepare to go out to

bid or perform advanced modeling,”

Miner said. CT also provides a toolset

that allows a user to change an element

of an invoice that has already been

processed and re-rate that single invoice

or query an entire block of data at one

time. All of its client-facing technology

are real-time applications.

By all reports, the freight payment

industry is in very good shape. Growth

was definitely the standard in 2012.

— Cass Information Systems:

Up 4.7 percent.

— CT Logistics: Up slightly from

2011, the first growth year in

several years.

— nVision Global: Continuing

year-over-year growth driven by

expanded volumes with existing

customers in the European and

Asian markets.

— Trans International: Slow

growth year, but with 2013 off

to a “booming” start.

— Syncada from Visa: Mirroring

customer growth in a rebounding

economy … $21 billion in

payments in 2012.

Looking forward, Lawien said, “We

are developing and implementing an

aggressive growth plan that we have

every intention of achieving within

three years. We will be rolling out

groundbreaking Web-based tools and

cloud-based SaaS offerings. The biggest

challenges will be controlling our

growth and adding qualified staff so our

current clients continue to receive the

service they have come to expect. Our

client relationships are more important

to us than growth only for the sake of

growth — our first client is still with us.”

60 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com JUNE 24.2013

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FREIGHT PAYMENT

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

While the total numbers remain

unresolved, there is little doubt the

shortfall in Trendset Information System’s

freight payment accounts constitutes a

huge number, and continues to climb.

Following an involuntary bankruptcy filing

in April by three of its larger shipper customers,

reports emerged indicating that

the total shortage from just five former

clients exceeds $25 million. One pattern of

embezzlement has

been unearthed, but

the total effect of

TRENDSET TREMORS

➠

that case is under $1

million.

When such

irregularities occur,

the repercussions for

industry peers can be

significant. The question now is, how will they

address skittish customers and prospects?

Freight payment firms agree that financial

stability, accessibility and clear visibility are

critical considerations for shippers who utilize

outsourcing.

“The impact of service providers going

into bankruptcy should highlight the need for

companies to understand the importance of

partnering with a financially secure and stable

institution. This includes having full transparency

to the company’s financial records from

qualified auditing firms. As a public company,

our financials are public record. As a financial

holding company, we are also subject to

Federal Reserve regulations,” Cass Information

Systems’ Tom Zygmunt said.

CT Logistics adds external oversight and

rigid internal standards to the mix. “We

believe the Trendset bankruptcy has caused a

great many shippers to more closely examine

the systems, policies, processes and controls

that their partner has in place, and they are

absolutely right in doing so. Many of our

current clients have inquired to reaffirm the

processes that CT has in place to prevent

such fraudulent activity from occurring,”

President Allan Miner said.

“(Our) processes are sound and have

been verified by numerous independent firms

— we have accreditations of SOC II compliance

as well as ISO 9001:2008, in addition

to passing numerous extensive on-site client

audits year after year. CT’s internal controls

are stringent and include critical items,

such as separation of duties on numerous

levels, including the freight payment system

and freight audit system being maintained

separately.”

Trans International sees a silver lining in

this dilemma. “The unfortunate situation

with Trendset has

provided us an

opportunity to talk

about our customized

service offerings.

What we do is not

adequately described

by the old, stale

term ‘freight audit

pay.’ We offer ‘FAIR and Square’ (operations):

Freight Audit and Information Reporting and

square dealing. Although we do provide carrier

payment service, it is not necessary that

we pay freight bills for our clients. We collect

data and audit charges — we save our clients

money and provide robust, custom ERP compatible

financial reporting — freight payment

is simply another service that we offer, but do

not require,” CEO Jaime Syring said.

“We offer six different options for carrier

funding. Our financials and our processes are

open for review by our clients. Because of the

strength of our internal controls, we are able

to carry significant bond protection for the client

funds entrusted to us,” Trans International

COO Denise Lawien said.

Syncada by Visa offers a different business

model. “The Trendset bankruptcy is an

unfortunate situation. Syncada is a trusted

financial solution that does not have the risks

of working with private third-party providers

like Trendset. We deliver unrivaled financial

responsibility by enabling complete visibility

to all funds received and disbursed, while

maintaining strict financial controls, including

external and internal audits, and we take every

measure to ensure security for the millions

of dollars of transactions we handle every

day,” said Rick Erickson, global transportation

product director. n

Erickson draws an ambitious target. “In five

years, Syncada will be the leading global platform

for freight audit and payment. As our EU business

continues to gain speed and as our customers

bring us to Latin America and Asia, corporations

and public entities will leverage Syncada’s single

global platform to provide the visibility they need

into their entire organization.”

Miner discussed plans for further global

expansion with more full-service offices in

the EMEA and APAC regions. Over the next

five years, CT Logistics will also add to its

technology platform and offer its clients

more solutions to help manage and control

their transportation, logistics and supply

chain expense, he said, mentioning the

“globalization” of internal software platforms

and tools to enable their use in any country.

“CT is always interested in acquisitions

that fit our culture and corporate footprint

for products and services. Several have been

made over the last few years, and we will

continue to analyze and access all upcoming

opportunities for acquisitions to expand our

capabilities in our global suite of delivery

platforms,” Miner said.

Over the next five years, nVision will focus

on providing customers with “value creating”

technology that will allow them to realize

cost-saving opportunities globally, including

expansion of its global freight audit capabilities,

supply chain services, BI applications and overall

global reach, Snavely said.

Freight payment firms continue to make a

compelling case for the handoff by offering:

— Measurable cost savings in double-digits

versus in-house processing.

— Technologies that are more robust, versatile,

constantly evolving and cost-effective than

in-house options.

— Improved connectivity among all supply

chain players.

— Expanded global reach and access to

regional resources worldwide.

— Dramatically reduced staff overhead.

— Freedom to pursue tasks that drive the

bottom line and retain customers.

Armed with these advantages, there is every

reason to believe that the freight payment sector

is poised to turn its projections into prosperity. n

Contact John Powers at john@bottline.com.

62 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com JUNE 24.2013

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FAIR AND SQUARE SOLUTIONS

Freight Audit & Information Reporting

Since 1975, Trans International has

been providing clients with ‘FAIR

and square’ customized solutions to

their freight bill processing and auditing

and freight bill payment needs.

They also offer advanced reporting, logistics

and supply chain services. With

an emphasis on individually tailored

solutions, as opposed to one-size-fitsall

or off-the-shelf offerings, they are

uniquely suited to exceed the unique

and ever-evolving requirements for

global freight expense management

and reporting. The result? Unparalleled

transparency and measurable bottom

line savings.

who know your needs, who are committed

to your satisfaction and who are empowered

to act on your behalf. To serve our

global clients, they pay in many publicly

traded currencies and have multilingual

client service professionals on staff. TI can

electronically process many international

transactions.

Trans International is a WBENC-certified

Women’s Business Enterprise. TI’s status as a

certified Diversity Supplier presents opportunities

to help you grow your sales. n

For more information on TI’s FAIR & Square

commitment, call 262-253-3500, ext. 1125, or

visit us at www.ticominc.com.

FREIGHT PAYMENT SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION OF THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE

EXPERIENCE THE TRANS

INTERNATIONAL DIFFERENCE

TI serves Fortune 100 companies

along with the Middle Market — both

publicly traded and privately held. They

apply best practices for freight audit,

payment, financial reporting, including

accruals, and offer their own business

intelligence analytics. TI is committed to

providing complete transparency to their

processes and complete transparency to

your actual freight costs.

The TI service model is based upon

reasonable transaction and hourly fees.

When you partner with TI, they do not

charge commissions or mark up rates.

The savings they find for you are yours.

TI works with your carriers based on

your rates and rules. They offer several

secure carrier-funding options and can

age either by carrier or by mode.

All work on your account is performed

at their offices in Menomonee

Falls, WI — TI does not outsource any

portion of their services. Each client is

assigned specific Trans International

team members; as a result, you may

rely on expert service from people

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