Technology

McLeod Software debuts load-matching solution for brokerage and logistics customers

April 10, 2019

TopMatch is an element of the company’s “PowerBroker” digital freight matching solution for brokers.

McLeod Software chose the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) annual conference, in Orlando, FL, to officially debut its new technology for brokerage and logistics customers. Called TopMatch, the new software combines multiple carrier search criteria into one comprehensive search, developed to find the best carrier match for every load.

TopMatch is an element of the company’s “PowerBroker” digital freight matching solution for brokers. With TopMatch, PowerBroker users can define a carrier profile with multiple search factors and assign different weights to each factor based upon what they believe is the importance of that parameter in the search.

Search results provide a list of carriers sorted and scored according to those weighted factors. The goal is to give the broker a prioritized list of carriers. Based upon the system, those at the top of the list are more likely to be the best candidates for the load and the carriers to which brokers may want to offer the load first.

According to the company, this approach represents a more effective way to improve carrier search results than the common practice of looking individually at specific characteristics, such as carriers with the lowest historical rates in a lane, carriers that have hauled the load in the past, carriers that have historically worked in the lane, and carriers with equipment available in the vicinity of the pickup point.

TopMatch also feeds the best-ranked carriers into PowerBroker’s automated “Waterfall Tendering” to automate the freight matching process by getting the system to offer the load to the right carriers and get it covered without human intervention. Using the TopMatch machine learning technology helps take the guesswork out of knowing which carriers to offer the order to first, notes McLeod.

McLeod is a platinum sponsor of the 2019 TIA conference. According to TIA, Ben Barnes, chief information security officer for McLeod Software will also be speaking at the conference. Barnes joined McLeod in 1995 and his leadership guides the company’s IT initiatives and solutions. He is a frequent speaker on cybercrime and systems security.

The global third-party logistics (3PL) market was valued at $869 billion in 2017, and is projected to reach $1,513 billion by 2025, according to Allied Market Research. “The market for 3 PL service is expected to witness significant growth, due to development of the e-commerce industry,” the report summary notes. “Moreover, the demand for this service is expected to escalate in the near future, due to increase in focus of manufacturers and retailers on their core business (known as core competencies) and subcontracting activities, such as logistics where they have less expertise.”

About the Author

Wendy Leavitt

Wendy Leavitt joined Fleet Owner in 1998 after serving as editor-in-chief of Trucking Technology magazine for four years.

She began her career in the trucking industry at Kenworth Truck Company in Kirkland, WA where she spent 16 years—the first five years as safety and compliance manager in the engineering department and more than a decade as the company’s manager of advertising and public relations. She has also worked as a book editor, guided authors through the self-publishing process and operated her own marketing and public relations business.

Wendy has a Masters Degree in English and Art History from Western Washington University, where, as a graduate student, she also taught writing.