Electronic consignment note, a step towards the digitalization of transport

In the coming years, transportation will undergo an unstoppable digitalization process. With this process, logistics and transport companies will be in a position to take advantage of the ability of new technologies to boost the competitiveness of transport activities and generate cost savings. The electronic consignment note or eCMR is one of the first steps in the digitization of transport.

The companies that best know how to take advantage of the opportunities offered by technology will be able to face an irreversible change in transportation, a sector that is moving towards the provision of high value-added activities for its customers.

In this sense, digital transformation will allow those companies that have incorporated innovations more naturally and intensely to have a series of competitive advantages that will translate into greater competitiveness.

However, digital transformation is a complex process, with implications in many different areas, including an important cultural change in which the staff must be involved.

That is why it is crucial to choose appropriate technology providersThe company’s main goal is to offer its services to those with a high level of specialization in the sector, with the capacity to accompany companies at all times on a decisive path for their future and with products capable of adapting to the reality of each company as if they were a glove.

Perhaps the most obvious of all the implications of digitization for transportation has to do with the elimination of paper documentation.

How the electronic consignment note helps the digitization of transportation

The electronic consignment note has effects on transport companies that focus on cost savings and efficiency gains.

On the one hand, in terms of cost savings:

• The elimination of paper means savings and a boost to sustainability, an area of special relevance for a sector that is fully aware of the need to reduce polluting emissions.
• In addition to paper savings, administration costs can be reduced and invoice processing can be streamlined, since electronic documentation is easier to integrate into customers’ IT systems.
• It must be taken into account that digitalization is advancing by leaps and bounds and that the computerized processing of invoices and delivery notes is becoming more and more common, something that can be extended to the waybill, as an essential document for transportation. In this sense, the company that is not adapted to digitization is doomed to suffer great difficulties as the progress in digital transformation narrows its ability to reach the market.

On the other hand, in terms of efficiency improvements:

• The use of electronic documentation facilitates the collation of information, as well as its storage, eliminating the need to keep large quantities of paper that take up space and whose management requires a parallel computer system.
• The use of information in digital format is an essential step towards facilitating traceability of goods throughout the supply chainAs a result, this functionality is an element that is increasingly valued by transport customers in their carrier contracting processes, to the point that it is a crucial element in the contractual clauses of more and more ‘….tenders’..

The use of eCMR provides greater adaptability to a changing market and has legal validity in the event of any type of roadside inspection.

This is because its content is digitally recorded with date and place of execution, which also provides extra security for documenting logistics and transport operations and improving both communication and coordination between the different links in the chain.

In short, the use of electronic documentation in transportation is evolving at great speed and allows for improvements that affect business management, customer relations and the competitiveness of each company.

Implementation of electronic waybills

Another great advantage of the electronic waybill is that it is a functionality whose implementation does not require a great technological development.

In FIELDEAS we have a specific module that is integrated in the company’s databases and in the business management system to be implemented.

Once up and running, this program builds the entire system necessary to be able to use the electronic waybill immediately, taking advantage of the information that is automatically entered into the system and generating all the documentation for the transport.

This ease of integration removes any possible technological barriers that may exist and facilitates a simple and seamless use of eCMR.

FIELDEAS Track and Trace, far beyond the bill of lading

FIELDEAS Track and Trace has an electronic waybill functionality that allows 100% digital transport operations, from a single device, paperless and with full legal guarantee.

The platform allows customers to be placed at the center of the operation, providing real-time information on the status of the transport, its exact location in real time and the real-time arrival forecast.

FIELDEAS Track and Trace offers maximum security, greater document control and guarantees for customers based on a platform that provides relevant information in real time and with a visual presentation that makes it possible to convert all the information flow produced by the goods into actions to improve operations.

Document templates

Configuration of corporate templates in PDF format.

Documentary traceability

Generation of versions linked to changes in the status of the expedition, accessible from the route detail.

Multichannel signature

• Acceptance registration by different modes.
• Simple signature (screen capture of the network)
• Biometric signature (graph capture with associated biometric data and digital sealing of the document)
• Contactless signature (via email, sms or QR link through the recipient’s device)

The digital present of your company is in your hands