Improve Your Supply Chain with Microsoft D365 Transportation Management

Introduction

Today, most businesses are starting to realize that managing their supply chain effectively improves customer service, reduces costs and increases profit margins. But with increased workforce challenges and constantly changing data, the logistics involved means it can still be a complicated process. For most companies, the answer is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, which has been designed to improve your business’s supply chain, transportation management and overall efficiency. With Microsoft D365, you can streamline operations, consolidate data and gain greater visibility into crucial business details that matter most, giving you more time to focus on your customers.

The importance of transportation management in any business

Transportation management is proving increasingly important for businesses of all sizes. Supply chain planning is increasingly focusing its local perspective on global strategy, so companies will need to keep up. For this, businesses will need access to modern tools and resources, and that means looking beyond the traditional processes, excel sheets and email notifications. Next-generation transportation management solutions offer the flexibility and – more importantly – scalability that businesses today need to help them grow without being hampered by outdated systems. If you’re genuinely interested in moving away from an older legacy system, you want something with the ability to go beyond your everyday operational needs, something that offers increased visibility of sales, distribution, and customer service departments, giving you a full scope view of all your company’s operations.

How your business can benefit from using Microsoft D365 for transportation management

Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps businesses improve their transportation management by offering ways to access inventory management, customer service, and more – all in real-time. Microsoft Dynamics 365 is flexible and scalable enough for day-to-day operations to meet the demands of any size business. The transportation planning solution helps you understand where products are going and how to better manage your supply chain. This kind of solution also helps you better meet customer service needs and increase sales with greater visibility on distribution, service, marketing, and more. With Dynamics 365 and the right partner you can get up and running quickly, letting you take advantage of these features right away.

Transportation management in Microsoft D365

Microsoft has included several transportation features in Dynamics 365 that make it easy to see your fleet and track important metrics like fuel usage, mileage, driver hours, and total miles. Plus, you can always keep an eye on things like vendors and routes, as well as the status of your fleet by tracking maintenance updates and scheduling jobs like oil changes. Information is available from any device at the click of a button, giving you the flexibility to look at things whenever and wherever you want. And because Dynamics 365 has been built to be flexible and scalable, you get full access to the benefits without having to worry about limitations or overspending. When you decide on Microsoft Dynamics 365 as your transportation management system, data will be stored in one place, so everything stays organized.

Figure 1: Use of Dynamics 365 with Respective Departments in Transport Management

When it comes to planning, Dynamics helps you:

1. 1.Plan inbound and outbound shipments more effectively with the help of D365, which provides visibility into pending orders for easier scheduling.
2. 2.Manage costs better with detailed shipment cost reports and freight quotes for each shipment to help you find the best rates and save money.
3. 3.Get accurate, up-to-the minute information on trucks with mobile access to the latest truck location, letting you know exactly where it is, how much gas is left, who is driving, etc., enabling you to give immediate feedback as needed to streamline business processes.

For inventory control, Dynamics gives you:

1. 1.Real-time visibility into your inventory, with on-screen alerts if something needs attention.
2. 2.Better forecasting thanks to more precise insights gained through analyzing historical demand patterns, weather forecasts, and other data sets.
3. 3.More automation across sales channels including eCommerce sites so you have fewer manual transactions to manage and less risk of human error.
4. 4.The ability to sell online without worrying about whether your back-end systems can accommodate new customers and orders coming in constantly. You’ll also get notifications via email and text message every time there’s a new order or product alert, eliminating the need for constant phone calls with vendors.

For customer service, Dynamics offers:

1. 1.A single view of customer history so you don’t have to search between different systems trying to find what you’re looking for; saving time and making it simpler than ever before.
2. 2.Improved customer satisfaction with proactive and reactive strategies to reach out to your customers before they reach out to you.
3. 3.Improved billing and collections, with the ability to charge interest if payment is not received within a specified period, plus the option of adding late fees and penalty charges.

Who is it for?

Dynamics 365 is an excellent product for companies whose supply chains are critical to their business. Really, any company that manages their inventory in bulk or has a fleet of trucks and drivers on the road will benefit from using Dynamics 365.

For a company that wants to improve its transportation management, Dynamics 365 is flexible and scalable enough for day-to-day operations with greater visibility of your entire supply chain.

Dynamics 365 can be used for any kind of business that uses transportation management in their daily operations. The flexibility of Dynamics 365 means it can grow alongside your business, so you don’t need to worry about change as your company grows. Microsoft D365 allows you to use data analytics to help make better decisions when operating your business, tracking all aspects of your supply chain by integrating with other applications like Office 365, Power BI or SharePoint Online. This lets you automate workflows and create reports with ease, which helps your entire supply chain run much more efficiently.

Next Steps

Understanding the basic features included in D365’s Transportation Management is obviously only the first step. This is the point where you need to identify your specific transportation management needs and how Microsoft D365 can help you meet them, including which of the different modules available will work best for you – from distribution and customer service to sales and marketing, and more. This is the perfect time to speak to your Dynamics 365 partner who can help walk through what it will take to integrate these into your business and make sure that all bases are covered.

Contact us today to find out how we can help your business grow.