Bridging the Gap Between Shippers and Vendors for Integrated Supply Chain Services

The only way to obtain integrated supply chain services for your clients is by bridging the gap between shippers and vendors.

But what’s the actual gap?

It’s no secret that relationships between shippers, vendors, carriers and all the parties involved in the supply chain process are, in many cases, strained.  

Three reasons why relationships are strained

The lack of visibility, tools, and communication are the most significant reasons these relationships are strained, short-lived and primarily transactional. Let’s dive deeper into a few.

• No visibility or transparency

One of the essential capabilities you must have for integrated supply chain services is providing your clients with all the information they require about their shipment quickly. Sadly, this is not possible for some companies, not because they don’t want to give the information but because they do not have the required tools. This leads us to the following major reason for strained relationships.   

• Lack of tools

The main reason why companies can’t provide visibility and transparency is that they don’t have the required tools to do so. Handling this type of information involves implementing software within your company’s processes. Many companies are yet to start their software implementation process, and therefore, are not able to provide the transparency clients require. 

• Miscommunication 

Tied with not having the right tools is the issue of miscommunication. For companies to be completely aligned with each other, especially in an industry like ours that has so many moving parts, it’s critical to have open and transparent communication between the parties involved in the process. If there are no proper channels of communication, or if there are too many, important information will be lost, causing many inefficiencies in the entire process.   

For instance, if you don’t provide the correct information, shipping times can be miscalculated, warehousing issues will arise, and in the end, the customer will not receive their shipment when they expected it, causing bad customer service and strained relationships.   

Even though these are big reasons why business relationships are strained, the good news is that there are many strategies to overcome these issues that will allow companies to provide efficient and integrated supply chain services.   

Bridging the gap between shippers and vendors for integrated supply chain services 

Businesses need to find ways to create better relationships with their partners, and it’s not as complicated as it seems. There are two vital elements to this transformation: communication and technology.   

By utilizing software like Kingsgate Compass, companies will be able to tackle each of the challenges within shipper, vendor, carrier and customer relationships. Kingsgate published a whitepaper this past December about the benefits of using sophisticated technology to improve supplier relationships.

Compass is a customer-facing portal tailored to each of our clients’ needs that provides visibility to their shipments and incredible insight into the entire process.     

Benefits of Kingsgate’s Compass 

Let's discuss some of the benefits you’ll obtain with Compass.

1. Visibility

With a platform like Compass, you’ll be able to have the information on-hand that your clients require. Implementing sophisticated software will allow your business to integrate shipment information and provide your clients with data and analytics to help them in their processes. This type of information will help your clients make better decisions, provide accurate information and enhance their overall productivity.

2. Flexibility

Compass connects through APIs, EDI, FTP and even automatically manages some data through email, which brings incredible value for slow adaptors since it allows them to integrate with the platform seamlessly.  

As many companies haven’t started their technology implementation process, it’s essential to give them this flexibility. This allows them to have a streamlined implementation process, starting from small changes to larger ones.

3. Increased engagement

Through the Compass platform, all the parties involved can communicate seamlessly. Within Compass is our PO Module, a proprietary tool that captures visibility earlier into the supply chain. This new layer of visibility drastically improves communication with procurement and transportation teams since it provides valuable data that can produce better results for their businesses.

4. Transformational relationships

Providing high-quality services for customers and tackling their specific needs through platforms like Compass allows Kingsgate to ensure we maintain transformational relationships with our customers. An essential part of the entire process is to build long-lasting relationships. At Kingsgate, we prioritize giving customers the best service possible and strive to add value to their business. It's why we've been in business for over 35 years.

Understanding why shippers and vendors have strained relationships will allow you to create strategies to tackle each of these challenges. The most efficient way to do so is by implementing technology into your processes for you to be able to provide complete visibility, enhance communications, improve engagement and transform the entire relationship.