Beyond the Freight Bill Audit
CASS INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC. Expense Management Expertise Cass Information Systems leverages its more than six decades in the freight audit business to move beyond traditional freight audit and payment and provide transportation spend management. “Audit and paying freight bills remain our foundation, but we also offer other services that can help both shippers and carriers,” says Jeff Carlson, vice president of global sales and marketing. An example is the Cass Financial Suite ® , which offers unique working cap- ital programs to bene t both shippers and carriers. Through the Cass Trade Finance Network ™ , in which Cass acts as an inter- mediary between shippers and carriers, shippers can support a low-cost early payment program to help carriers opti- mize cash ow in the wake of payment terms extensions. While other quick payment solu- tions can be found, they typically don’t involve the shipper and are expensive for the carriers, says Melia Cothran, director of marketing. Each year, Cass’s 1,300-plus employ- ees manage more than $90 billion in disbursements, and process and pay 50 million invoices covering transactions that span 185 countries and 114 curren- cies. “A major differentiator for us is the fact that we’re global across all modes,” Carlson says. One Cass client is a shipper operating in 100 countries and producing 300,000 products. Management needed to roll up the company’s global, multi-modal freight data into one platform to gain global visi- bility to freight movement and costs. “It was a monumental undertaking
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Acknowledging that no single team can master the full operations of a vast shipper, we’ve embraced advancements in computerized intelligence. Our proprietary machine learning algorithms are engineered with an acute sensitivity, designed to spot even the slightest deviations in massive datasets, ensuring comprehensive oversight for even the most extensive shippers. But data alone doesn’t tell the entire story. The vastness of many shippers’ transportation networks means variations are par for the course. Here, the true magic happens when industry expertise marries technological innovation. At Intelligent Audit, this union is our cornerstone. By intertwining our machine learning prowess with decades of FBAP experience, we confidently discern any dataset variations that raise red flags. Our proactive approach goes beyond mere detection. We prioritize alerting our shippers about these anomalies at lightning speed, allowing them swift rectification. A testament to our capability is our detection of a discrepancy where shipment weights were erroneously logged in a European format, preventing a client from incurring substantial unwarranted charges. Yet, our commitment is holistic. Leveraging our advanced platform and unmatched expertise in data normalization, coupled with our innovative analytics and visualization tools, we ensure shippers are primed for rapid, results-driven decision-making.
and other information. It has also been able to execute master global freight rate agreements, further driving savings and simplifying rate management. Securing Transactions Cass Commercial Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary, offers Cass clients con dence that their payment transactions are secure, audited, and regulated. As a public com- pany, Cass’s nancial and corporate information is readily available and ship- pers can be con dent Cass employs the controls needed to protect their funds. Its sophisticated nancial exchange capabil- ities provide additional bene ts, such as precisely timed payments to carriers. And, the team at Cass continues to drive forward. It’s investing heavily in arti- cial intelligence and machine learning. “It makes us more ef cient and smarter, which in turn makes our shippers and car- riers more ef cient and smarter,” Carlson says. “We’re seeing growth because we’re evolving with our customers,” he adds.
because they had been very decentralized and had numerous other ERP and TMS systems to integrate with,” Cothran says. Working with Cass, the company rolled out a global freight payment program by region. Cass handled the onboarding of ocean, air, and parcel carriers. Since going live, the company has enjoyed savings of 1 to 5% of its trans- portation costs; the exact rate varies with the transportation mode, the carrier, and the region of the world. The com- pany has gained global and regional views of its shipments, costs, carriers,
“A major differentiator for us is the fact that we’re global across all modes. We’re seeing growth because we’re evolving with our customers.” Jeff Carlson
VP Global Sales and Marketing Cass Information Systems Inc.
80 Inbound Logistics • September 2023
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