Anyone old enough to remember dial-up modems remembers that connecting to the internet and conducting business online was slow — often painfully slow. The advent of high-speed wireless connections enabled us to do more in less time. But it also helped change customer expectations. We now live in a want-it-now world. That affects nearly everyone in nearly every profession — including freight brokerage.
Shippers today aren’t going to wait for a less-than-truckload (LTL) rate quote. Answer a rate request with, “Let me run some numbers and I’ll get back to you,” and you might hear crickets — or a dial tone if anyone still uses a landline.
Instant LTL quoting gives freight brokers the competitive edge essential in today’s world. Without it, your business could go the way of the modem.
‘We’ve Always Done It This Way’
Antiquated processes slow you down when time is of the essence. “We’ve always done it this way” doesn’t cut it when immediacy is required.
“Innovation doesn’t die because of bad ideas. It dies because of six simple words: ‘We’ve always done it this way,’” according to Against, a consultancy that says it helps “build rebellious organizations brave enough to go against the status quo.”
“It’s a phrase that signals comfort over progress, routine over reinvention. And in a fast-moving world, sticking to what worked yesterday is often the fastest way to fall behind.”
“We’ve always done it this way” is even a dangerous mindset, Against charges, one that “prioritizes familiarity over effectiveness. Just because something has worked before doesn’t mean it’s the best solution now.”
Investment in In-House Technology Isn’t the Answer
The same boss who says, “We’ve always done it this way,” likely thinks the homegrown transportation management system (TMS) pieced together in the late ’90s still gets the job done. It doesn’t.
Deep down, the boss probably knows the business needs help with technology, but there’s no budget to put a new TMS in place. Thankfully, the incredible advancements in technology allow freight brokerages to innovate without investing millions of dollars.
“The old way: Want to be more tech-enabled? Change your TMS. Painful, expensive, and at the end of the day, your people are still wishing they were in the old system. The new way: Keep your TMS. Add AI that makes it actually work the way it was sold to you,” says Drumkit CEO Dhruv Gupta.
Gupta gives a real-world example: “A broker used AI to analyze their TMS data and discovered they were leaving $400,000 annually on the table by not using their contracted rates properly. The AI implementation cost? $40,000.”
It’s a paradigm shift, Gupta says. “Stop thinking, ‘AI costs $X on top of everything else.’ Start thinking, ‘AI helps me get 3x more value from the $200,000 I’m already spending on TMS systems with unused features, load boards I’m not searching efficiently, tracking systems generating data I’m not analyzing, and rate tools I’m not optimizing.’”
Let Drumkit Be Your Partner for Instant LTL Quoting
Drumkit’s innovative freight broker software provides instant integration with existing TMS platforms. Our stellar solutions include a Quick Quote feature, AI-driven rate optimization, and seamless email quoting integration.
With Drumkit, quoting LTL freight doesn’t mean switching between multiple tabs or platforms. Our smart quoting tool is accessible from any browser, tab, or window — right when and where you need it. You can respond to quote requests faster, boost your win rates, and streamline your workflow — all without leaving your current screen.
That’s the way it’s done today.
How We Do Business Today
We don’t march into your freight brokerage and direct you to replace your technology. At Drumkit, we help you fix what’s broken to gain a competitive edge. And our freight broker software integrates with existing technology.
We help freight brokerages determine how automation will be the most effective for them with the DRUMS framework:
- Define Automation Priorities. Recognize repetitive, error-prone, time-consuming tasks that drain productivity, including document processing, email management, and data entry.
- Rethink Workflows and Data. Identify where information gets stuck or requires manual intervention — and where errors are made.
- Understand Team Concerns. Provide proper training that focuses on how AI can augment freight brokers’ skills and help them reduce errors.
- Monitor Performance Metrics. Track time savings, error reduction rates, and user satisfaction.
- Scale What Works. The magic of AI is that, if incorporated correctly, its use will naturally expand across the enterprise.
Our mission is to transform the freight brokerage industry through intelligent automation, empowering teams to work smarter and eliminate avoidable errors. We do that, in part, with our industry-leading tools, which include:
- AI-Powered Smart Autoreplies that drastically reduce response time.
- Automated Load Building 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.
- Automatic Status Updates that keep all parties informed from the time a shipment is scheduled until it is delivered.
Book an introductory call to learn more about Drumkit.
