Beyond the Tender: Why your enterprise TMS needs a dedicated freight rate management engine.
Key Takeaways: Why Decouple Freight Rate Management?
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Eliminate Manual Data Entry: Stop the “Excel Hell” of manually uploading rates into SAP or Oracle.
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Single Source of Truth: Manage complex multi-modal rates in one agnostic freight rate management engine via API.
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Automated Accuracy: Real-time fuel surcharge and regional logic updates delivered instantly to your TMS.
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Operational Agility: Sync master data nightly or query live on every shipment for total financial precision.
In global logistics, the “Procurement Event” often gets the most attention. Teams spend months tendering and negotiating contracts to lock in savings. However, once the ink is dry, the real challenge begins: Freight Rate Management.
For many organizations, the post-procurement phase is where the process breaks down. Rates are often trapped in complex Excel files, and fuel surcharges are ignored or calculated manually. Most critically, even the most advanced Transportation Management Systems (TMS) – the ones in the Gartner Magic Quadrant – struggle to keep up with the dynamic nature of these agreements.
This is where Proxio Freight Rate Management provides the missing link. Proxio is not a procurement platform; it is a specialized Freight Rate Management solution designed to store, maintain, and automate your contracted rates across your entire enterprise architecture.
The Problem: The “Execution Gap” in Tier 1 TMS
Whether you use SAP, Oracle (OTM), or Blue Yonder, these systems are built for execution—planning routes, tendering loads, and tracking shipments. However, managing the underlying “rate logic” within them is often rigid and time-consuming.
Most companies struggle with:
Limited resources: Updating the rate changes in the TMS is an ongoing task that requires valuable time from your competent team.
Data Integrity: Manually keying rates from a tender spreadsheet into a TMS leads to human error.
Latency: By the time a new fuel surcharge or regional zone adjustment is updated in the TMS, the data is already outdated.
Multi-Modal Complexity: Native TMS modules often struggle with the nuances of sea-to-rail-to-road transitions that Proxio handles natively.
Two Paths to Integration: Real-Time vs. Master Data Sync
Proxio is built with an API-first philosophy. This allows companies to integrate their rates into their business processes in the way that best fits their IT strategy.
1. The “Live Query” Model (The Intelligent Rate Engine)
In this scenario, your TMS remains lean. Every time it needs to calculate a shipment cost, it sends a real-time request to Proxio’s API. Proxio acts as the “Brain”, performing complex calculations (including current fuel indices and regional taxes) and returning a 100% accurate, all-in price. This ensures that the TMS is always using the most current data without needing to store a single rate line locally.
2. The “Master Data Sync” Model (Powering Local Tables)
For many large-scale enterprises, the TMS optimization engine requires rates to be stored locally for high-speed simulation and planning. Proxio supports this by acting as the Source of Truth for Master Data.
How it Works: On a regular schedule (typically a nightly batch), your TMS initiates a request to the Proxio API to fetch all your validated, contracted rates.
The Workflow: Proxio provides a well-defined, structured API response. The TMS then parses this data to update its internal rate tables automatically.
The Benefit: Your logistics team manages the rates in Proxio’s user-friendly interface, while your TMS planning engine runs on high-quality, synchronized data. Thiseliminates the need for manual uploads and Excel workarounds.
Top 10 TMS Platforms Proxio Enhances
Proxio’s agnostic API is designed to support the complex data needs of the world’s leading transportation platforms:
SAP (Transportation Management)
Oracle (OTM)
Blue Yonder
Manhattan Associates
MercuryGate
e2open (formerly BluJay Solutions)
Alpega Group
Descartes
Kuebix (Trimble)
Shipwell
Why “Advanced Business Needs” Require More Than a Spreadsheet
If your logistics operation involves multi-modal legs, variable pricing models, or extensive regional support, manual management is no longer an option.
Mastering Multi-Modal & Regional Logic
Proxio is built specifically for the “advanced” needs that standard modules often miss. It manages tiered pricing, volume-based discounts, and complex regional zone logic. It also automates Dynamic Fuel Surcharges, ensuring that your systems—whether they query Proxio live or sync nightly—always reflect the true market cost.
The 4PL & LLP Advantage
For Lead Logistics Providers (LLPs) and 4PLs, Proxio serves as a Searchable Routing Guide. You can provide your customers with a white-labeled web portal where they can search and find their contracted rates instantly, reducing administrative overhead and increasing transparency.
Conclusion: Turning Rates into a Strategic Asset
In the modern supply chain, data integrity is a competitive edge. By decoupling your rate management from your execution system, you gain the flexibility to adapt to market changes in real-time.
Stop wrestling with “Excel Hell” and start leveraging Proxio Freight Rate Management as your automated “Rate Engine.” Whether you query our API on every shipment or use us to power your local TMS master data, Proxio ensures your organization is always moving freight at the right price.
