Freight brokers have driven the growth of automation in logistics out of the need for operational efficiencies. Drumkit has grown from their user-driven feedback.
“We started to cobble ideas together that we were getting from folks and realized this worked as an ecosystem-type product,” Drumkit founder and CEO Dhruv Gupta told Andrew Silver during an episode of The Freight Pod. “Let us give you a single-pane view of all the actions you have without you even having to worry about what’s going on behind the scenes.”
Gupta believes that “technology adoption and SOP adoption go hand in hand and are a progression. You’ll start with: ‘We’re just getting off the ground, do whatever you can to win freight, get it out the door, and let’s make some money.’ Then you start realizing, ‘OK, I need to have a process around here’s where our quotes get logged and everybody keeps track of wins and whatnot.’”
He explained that “as your business matures, you kind of go up this ladder of getting more and more specialized in the process and more and more specialized in the software.”
Where We Were
Before freight brokers started climbing the technology ladder, their operations were hindered by manual processes, fragmented communication, and, often, homebuilt transportation management systems with limited capabilities.
Freight brokers groused about all the time-eating, mind-numbing tasks they had to fit into every day — things like data entry, load checks, and email responses. While freight brokers wanted more time to focus on scaling their businesses, they most certainly didn’t want their jobs to disappear entirely.
Gupta stresses that freight brokerages shouldn’t be thinking about replacing people with AI. They should be thinking about the opportunities freight brokers will have to grow their books of business when they are freed of menial tasks.
“The smartest brokerages we’ve seen aren’t removing humans. They’re giving them more leverage — less tab-hopping, fewer portals, fewer just circling back emails, more time selling, more time solving, more time building relationships that actually grow the business,” Gupta said.
Where We Are
With Drumkit’s help, freight brokers are realizing that automation and AI can reshape the industry without eliminating the vital human piece of the business.
“AI doesn’t replace people — it helps all of your hires perform like your best ones,” Gupta wrote on LinkedIn.
“The old model: Hire an ops rep, pray they figure it out in 6-12 months, watch 60% wash out before they become profitable. The new model: Hire an ops rep, give them AI tools that encode your top performer’s decision-making, watch them contribute meaningfully in week 2.”
Before AI, a $40 million Atlanta brokerage saw:
- Four to six months to rep productivity.
- New ops reps avoiding complex loads.
- Senior team members constantly putting out fires.
- 40% turnover in reps’ first year.
Gupta said after implementing AI, the freight brokerage reported:
- Two to three weeks to “meaningful contribution — new hires confidently handling lanes they’d never seen.”
- AI suggesting the same carriers top performers would choose.
- Senior team “focusing on growth, not babysitting.”
“Here’s the kicker,” Gupta said. “Their AI spend ($45K annually) is less than the cost of replacing two ops reps ($60K+ in recruiting, training, and lost productivity). The paradigm shift isn’t AI vs. humans — it’s AI + humans vs. the competition still doing everything manually.”
Drumkit’s freight broker software is customized to suit humans’ specific needs, automating manual processes to streamline workflows, improve visibility, and enhance decision-making.
Where We’re Going
Truck & Trade Trends blog writer Bhavya Vashisht expects self-driving trucks to someday reshape the logistics industry again.
“The role of a broker today is to secure capacity, but what happens when autonomous fleets operate on AI-driven scheduling systems?” Vashisht wrote. “Carriers will no longer rely on human dispatchers for load assignments. AI-driven fleet optimization will dynamically allocate shipments without brokers. Autonomous trucks will be programmed to accept loads directly from shippers based on real-time supply chain data.”
While the freight brokerages of the future will look different than they do today, Vashisht believes they can remain viable by embracing technology and adapting to new ways of delivering value to their customers. And, importantly, freight brokerages that “integrate automation while maintaining a human touch in relationship management will remain competitive.”
Take the Automation Journey with Drumkit
At Drumkit, we’re not in the self-driving truck business, but we’re also helping reshape the logistics industry with automation and AI. And we work closely with our customers to help them integrate automation without losing the human touch.
We help freight brokers today with:
- AI-Powered Smart Autoreplies that drastically reduce response time.
- Quick Quotes to win loads fast.
- Automated Load Building, which eliminates manual data entry errors.
- Load Matching to enable quick and accurate carrier selection.
- Intelligent Sidebar to empower brokers to see all load information across platforms in one place.
- Real-Time Shipment Updates enable AI-powered tracking without constant manual check-ins.
Learn how we can ready your freight brokerage for whatever the future brings. Book an introductory call.
