The key to success in any shipping business is being able to meet or exceed the customer's expectations in these areas, and the easiest way to ensure this is by implementing the right international shipping software at the heart of your operations.
Compare your Business Model to the Shipping Software Capabilities
Solution requirements vary greatly depending on the industries you serve, the types of product you ship, the attributes of the products you ship, where you ship to (e.g. local, international) and more. There are various shipping solutions available in the market, but the best one for your business must, at the very least, support these major aspects of your operations. If the software you choose fails to meet the needs of any of these characteristics, you may find yourself taking on more of the workload than necessary. The easiest way to ensure none of these factors will be an issue is to choose a completely customizable software that will scale with your business needs.
Your shipping software should simplify your processes, provide you the information you need to make business decisions and help generate increasing returns from your operations.
1. User-Friendly Design and Ease of Personalization - Your shipping software should be easy to use, easy to be understand and easy to modify. An intuitive user interface and layout not only helps speed up the time required to complete tasks, but also reduces the time invested in training.
2. Deployment options - Depending on the technology infrastructure you have already setup in your business location and your payment preferences; you may find that between on-premise software, SAAS (Software-as-a-Service), or a hybrid of the two, there is a better option for you.
3. Centralized or Distributed Architecture - Depending on your operations and the geography in which your business(es) resides, you may find that all your business locations can use the exact same software configuration (centralized), or that the configuration will need vary (distributed).
4. Integration Options - Many factors, and the combination thereof, will determine what kind of integration options will be needed to create the best software configuration for your business. Perhaps you need to integrate your accounting software to properly track the finances associated with each shipment, or maybe you would like to integrate with the systems used by your preferred shipping partners to reduce the need for external communication and data entry.
5. Associated Costs - You may find that the upfront price of a software solution matches the budget you established, but have you considered the additional cost of implementing the customizations you need in order for it to work properly for your business? Have you considered the amount of time needed to train your staff to use it properly and the labor costs associated with this? Who will be training your staff? Many companies charge an additional fee for training and support. Make sure to consider these costs and more before making a final decision.
6. Support Services - It's very rare that you will find a software solution for your business that does not, at some point, require some form of support. Whether this is the training mentioned above, some guidance on using new features in product updates or discussing opportunities for customization and improvement, it's important that the company behind the software be able to meet your needs properly and in a timely fashion.
Are you looking for Shipping Software?
If your answer is YES, then Trueship may be the right choice for you. Our fully functional shipping software can empower your business, save you time, reduce costs, ensure that you are in compliance with local and international trade regulations and more!
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