Trade Tech speeds rate quote engine for NVOs

   The logistics software developer Trade Tech on Wednesday released an update to its Trade Rates Pricing Suite, with the new version aimed at accelerating the quote response time for non-vessel-operating common carriers.
   Trade Tech said the updated platform generates rate quotes in 90 seconds or less.
   “Both experienced sales people and first-time users can very quickly produce an accurate quote on any type of shipment,” Trade Tech Chief Executive Officer Bryn Heimbeck said in a statement. “We are helping NVOs accelerate their sales process, and close more business, through easy rate management in this ever-changing and challenging global market.”
   Trade Tech said the speed and ease-of-use of the updated Trade Rates platform are due to the “application’s single-page architecture and its use of intuitive software wizards.”
   Software wizards lead users through the process via selections presented in a sequence of dialog boxes. NVOs looking for a rate, for example, are guided through various preferences and options to obtain a quote. The systems is designed so that users never have to scroll through pages or wait for new pages to load because the single-page architecture loads “virtual pages” instantly, without a trip back to the server.
   “The global freight market today is moving faster than ever and our customers’ sales people need to be on the street and moving quickly to win new business while keeping their current customers,” Heimbeck said.
   Trade Tech said it set out to design a solution that was intuitive and easy to use, like Facebook, and that would require no training, Heimbeck added.
   Trade Rates is just the start of what Heimbeck said will be a major trend of single-page, easy-to-navigate software for the logistics industry. Trade Tech plans to release a suite of products with the new user interface that will include purchase order management, finance, and security modules, he said.
   The company also offers enterprise resource planning systems for the freight forwarding and NVO industry. – Eric Johnson