Global freight transportation and logistics services provider XPO Logistics announced today that it has rolled out XPO Connect, a cloud-based digital freight marketplace.
XPO said this new offering provides shippers with what it called a single point of entry for visibility across various transportation modes in real time, which, in turn, helps shippers identify both time- and cost-saving opportunities. And it also noted that XPO Connect enables shippers to gain access to usable business intelligence that can be leveraged to more efficiently purchase transportation in various ways, including:
“We’re tireless when it comes to finding new ways to make supply chains more efficient,” said Mario Harik, chief information officer of XPO Logistics, in a statement. “XPO Connect gives customers direct access to our transportation network and the predictive data that powers it. The platform provides a new level of visibility that informs better decision-making under all market conditions.”
An XPO spokesman told LM that the company is investing more than $450 million in technology annually across its global organization to bring value to its customers, and to their customers, adding that XPO Connect joins a list of major advances the company has introduced to automate key supply chain services.
“Shippers can use XPO Connect to purchase transportation more efficiently. They can see fluctuations in capacity, compare spot rates from carriers, assign loads and track their freight,” he said. “Carriers are using the same XPO Connect technology to locate loads by geography, bid on freight and reduce empty miles. There’s also an electronic proof of delivery feature.”
As for how XPO Connect works, the spokesman said it is a four-part process, which includes: logging in to view assigned loads and the current shipment status; viewing historic lane level freight spends; getting quotes for an order (If the contract rate is in the system, then no need for a quote and straight to order); and converting quotes to secure capacity.
And as multiple modes are added, the XPO spokesman said customers will have more choices to automatically secure the best fit capacity and mode. XPO Connect will initially begin with brokerage and expand across all modes from there, including intermodal and last mile, among others.
On a related note, the XPO spokesman said that with XPO Connect the company is building on its proprietary Freight Optimizer system that matches trucks to loads by leveraging machine learning.
“We've taken that to the road with our mobile Drive XPO app for carriers,” he said. “We also have a proprietary Rail Optimizer system that gives us deep visibility into the intermodal marketplace. Now, we've designed XPO Connect to integrate all modes of transportation.”
XPO Connect was in pilot mode beginning in January prior to this week’s formal rollout.