Transportation Management Best Practices Cut Cycle Times, Reduce Total Delivered Costs & Improve Customer Satisfaction.

BOSTON -- Carrier collaboration, universal information access, and 360-degree scorecarding all emerging as best practices, according to a new AberdeenGroup research report

A new set of transportation best practices is now emerging to meet today's realities of freight capacity constraints, rising transportation costs, and an increasing demand for transportation information from other corporate departments and customers, according to a new Aberdeen best practices report.

To identify today's success strategies, Aberdeen researched the domestic transportation practices of a variety of large and mid-size companies, ultimately identifying seven best practice leaders. The case studies, all featured in Aberdeen's new report, "Best Practices in Transportation Management," outline leading companies' business challenges, transportation strategies, technology deployments, process and organizational enhancements, lessons learned, and business results.

"The best transportation organizations are now in transformation. They're moving away from being the last step in a sequential, waterfall fulfillment process to becoming an information and activity synchronization hub for their enterprises and their suppliers and customers," says Beth Enslow, Aberdeen's vice president of enterprise research and report author. "This helps companies cut cycle times, reduce total delivered costs, improve customer trust and satisfaction, and, in some cases, increase revenue."

Centralizing the transportation management organization, automating order consolidation, taking greater control of inbound freight, and self-invoicing continue to drive value for companies. However, three new best practices have emerged: carrier collaboration, universal information access, and 360-degree scorecarding.

"Leading transportation organizations are implementing aggressive continuous improvement programs," Enslow adds, "enabling them to drive increased value from transportation activities and information while keeping freight cost and capacity issues in check." As a result, "Best Practices in Transportation Management" features a best practice checklist that companies can use to verify that their transportation roadmap reflects these emerging best practices.

To download a complimentary copy of the report, follow this link: http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/RA_GlobalTrade_BE.asp

About AberdeenGroup, Inc.

AberdeenGroup provides fact-based research and insights focused on the global, technology-driven value chain. Aberdeen's benchmarking, market and solution assessments, sales acceleration programs, and conferences support Global 5000 value chain and technology executives -- and the solution providers who serve them. For more information, visit www.aberdeen.com or call 617-723-7890.