Priority1 Enables Growth with HubTran

“Trust the process and the results will follow,” is written on paper stuck to the wall of Financial Assurance Manager Troy Lampley’s office. But, Troy and company Controller, Nate Hastings knew Priority1’s process for managing their back-office needed to evolve with their fast-paced, thriving organization.

Little Rock based third-party logistics company, Priority1, has been in growth mode for years. As a company that continues to see an average growth of 37% annually, it can be difficult to keep up with expansion from an operational standpoint, especially with growth coming from so many parts of their business including truckload, less-than-truckload, and warehousing.

Priority1 determined that technology could have the biggest positive impact in less-than-truckload billing. “Business was great, and we continue to set new sales records every month,” says Nate. “But our back-office process was not scalable for how fast we were expanding. Our key metric, DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) was better than industry average, but could still be improved.

Looking to take the challenge head on, Priority1 chose HubTran to be part of the solution.

It turns out HubTran was a great choice.

The result according to Troy, “Our DSO has shrunk by 4 days, going from 30.83 to 26.58. This is a great improvement for our business.”

Priority1 had been stuck in the same routine as most other 3PLs – assuming the pain of invoicing LTL customers was just part of doing business. With HubTran, this process became virtually effortless.

Back-office operations don’t have to slow growth.

“Improving our process for getting invoices out the door was never just about cost savings. It is about using people’s time better and HubTran has enabled us to do that.” says Troy.

“Our biggest struggle was the time it took to go out to each carrier’s website and get the paperwork necessary to invoice, like BOLs and PODs. We also maintained a big master list because each customer’s requirements are different,” continues Troy.

Invoicing now happens automatically.

With HubTran, Priority1 has a simple process for batching and reviewing invoices each day. Invoices are then automatically sent to customers with their exact backup requirements – whether it be a link the customer can click to see their invoices and back up, or a consolidated email with all the correct documents attached.

Nate adds, “It can be time consuming getting and sending documentation. We never knew when emails and their attached files were rejected from servers – every customer’s email size restrictions are different. HubTran has allowed us to streamline this entire process.”

Priority1 is saving money in other ways.

Troy points out, “All but a small amount of time spent preparing hard copies of invoices is gone. We save $1,400 on postage costs alone each month. Our once ‘high-tech’ envelope inserting machine is now just a big paper weight.”

“HubTran also allows us to easily assign all costs to the right carrier invoice, while ensuring we do not pass on any of the costs we cannot contractually bill for,” adds Troy.

TMS integration was easy.

The magic happens each night when HubTran accesses carrier websites to pull down the required backup. Those documents then automatically attach to their matching loads in Priority1’s TMS, MercuryGate.

Then, with the correct rates and invoices validated, the data flows back to HubTran where custom invoice packets are created for each customer.

“HubTran provides a seamless integration with MercuryGate, and provides a lot of additional back office and accounting functionality,” says Nate.

There are advancements with collections, too.

“Collections are easier because objections are eliminated by always having what customers need instantly available. When there’s a dispute, it’s simple to point the customer online where they can see all the supporting documentation,” mentions Troy.

With HubTran, Priority1 can even track which customers have viewed invoice emails or if an email has bounced.

Not to be overlooked is how simple it was to get started.

“HubTran worked with us during the implementation to customize certain workflows and starting up was easy.” Troy continues, “There was minimal training required and zero ongoing IT support. Every new customer we add gets set up fast, with all their preferences captured in HubTran.”

The challenges of managing back office operations that Priority1 dealt with were not unique. Troy and Nate were successful thanks to a spot-on approach and choosing their partner wisely. Reaching their goals started with a recognition of the problem and a resolve to put the right process in place to get the results they wanted.

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