Aug 07, 2023
Ocean freight shipments are measured in weeks and days, Air freight shipments and customs clearances are measured in hours and minutes. Why is it then that some payables automation projects take months to deploy?
BravoTran doesn't talk in months or weeks. Customers deploy BravoTran in as little as 48 hours. Our implementation time from contract signing to processing invoices in a live production environment averages under four weeks.
Speed to deployment is important for freight forwarders for both generating value and mitigating risk.
The relationship between speed to deployment and value is straightforward. If a freight forwarder is counting on saving $5 per invoice and manually processes 100,000 invoices per year, a one-year implementation (which is not uncommon) creates an opportunity cost of $500,000, which can never be regained.
The relationship between risk and speed to deployment is even more important. We see many freight forwarders that invest considerable time and resources over lengthy implementation timelines, only to conclude a year later that their selected automation system doesn’t work. By this point it is costly and psychologically difficult to double back and start over. Of course, the situation is even worse if the freight forwarder has signed a contract binding them over time.
With BravoTran you know within days if the system works for your business. There are six interlocking reasons BravoTran is able to achieve this fast turn around:
Every freight forwarder has distinct business requirements. In most cases, automation systems need to be customized to handle these requirements. Customization typically takes a long time. In other cases, the systems are rigid and freight forwarders need to change their process to conform. This process change typically takes even longer. In contrast, BravoTran is highly configurable. We have a wide variety of settings that can be instantly adjusted to support freight forwarders’ unique and varied needs.
The integration with freight forwarders’ freight management system is critical. Many integrations are custom and need to be designed and built on the fly. Our integrations with leading freight management systems are pre-built, ready to go and extremely robust. And in cases where we need to connect to a freight forwarder’s middleware, our integration team has deep experience.
Our proprietary ML models already know what invoices and supporting documents look like and how to extract and map their data in a detailed and accurate way. Other systems need to ingest weeks or months of data and manually map invoice line item descriptions to charge codes.
When automation systems are complicated and rigid, training and onboarding operators and accounting teams can be challenging and lengthy. Training and onboarding gets even more difficult when the automation provider’s process is disorganized and their documentation lacking. At BravoTran we focus only on payables automation and we take pride in ensuring that our product is flexible, simple and easy to use. We supplement this with a concise, high-touch onboarding process that gives our customers the confidence to go live quickly and effectively.
Plain and simple, BravoTran works and competitive systems often do not. It takes a lot less time to implement a system that works the way it’s supposed to versus a system that is buggy and deficient.
Finally, to quote Mike Tyson “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” When unanticipated wrinkles come up, our team is experienced, smart and ready.
A lot of freight forwarders have deep scars from various tech deployments and gird themselves for trouble with every new project. But we like to say that BravoTran is not an IT project. BravoTran is not plugging in a toaster, but it’s as close as you can get for a real automation system. The best tech is tech that is easy, reliable and works in the background and that’s what we promise with BravoTran and why we can connect you with any of our over 100 payables customers for a testimonial.
Contact BravoTran for a demo and to learn more today.
