There’s a full-fledged eCommerce revolution happening in the world at the moment. You may not hear about this silent revolution because of all the COVID19 related news. But, this global health crisis has fueled the transition from brick-and-mortar stores to online selling at a rate never seen before.
This surge in demand for online orders and deliveries has also spotlighted how the transportation systems that oversee the delivery of parcels are managed. In an era of unexpected regulations and social distancing, transportation companies are facing new layers of complexity in a profession that was already pretty complex.
- For many transportation companies, tasks like passing through countless relay points, getting new bills at each fulfillment center, accommodating compliant entries into different distribution zones, etc., are too hard to handle manually. Governments are facing many problems tackling the surge in demand for online orders and deliveries as well.
- In India, revenue loss because of insufficient Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections is compelling the government to borrow $21.7 billion (Rupees 1.58 lakh crore). Transportation companies expect these developments to affect the ways in which they’re expected to report their earnings and GST deposits.
- If you’re running a transportation company or a logistics company in India, expect government agencies to be super-strict about the way you manage the financials of your business in the next decade. If your transport business isn’t perfectly GST-compliant, you may face serious fines.
- The transportation business in India has always been vulnerable to numerous societal, political, and geographical factors. Only technological adaptions have enabled business owners to transform this disorganized and scattered sector into a profitable zone.
For transportation and logistics companies in the country, the need to use the latest and the most advanced transport management software onlinehas never been more urgent. These automated GST-compliant transport management software tools can help business admins effectively manage their financials while staying compliant and productive.
Companies that still use manual transport management systems face issues like –
- Increased Risk of Errors – When you’re manually overseeing the accounting duties of your logistics or transportation departments, the risk of errors s quite high. Erroneous entries/records can lead to disastrous fines for such businesses.
- Time Inefficiency – Manual management of activities in the transportation industry is extremely time-inefficient. For example, the speed at which human accountants make transaction entries, tally records, or abridge reports is very slow. Prompt decision-making is impossible if you have to call up your accountant every time your goods travel from point A to B and there’s a new billing requirement.
- Safety Risks – Old-school manual accounting systems are more prone to theft, hacking, and other forms of damages compared to the latest transport management software tools.
What are Transport Management System Software Tools, and How Can They Help Businesses Remain Compliant?
Transport management system software tools are subsets of supply chain management tools. These Internet-based software tools help transportation and logistics companies plan and execute the movement of their physical goods (stock items). Using this software, companies can –
- Optimize the day to day operations of their transportation fleets
- Automate compliance-related tasks like daily accounting, freight billing, reporting.
- Manage and updated inventory records in real-time.
Transportation companies that found it difficult to manage the financials of their businesses in a way that they remain GST-compliant have benefited a lot from these tools. These tools enable transportation and logistics companies to stay compliant by –
- Streamlining all finance-related information on a unified and easy to access platform. Be it creating GST-compliant invoices or enabling managers to access or manage accounts from anywhere and anytime instantly – these software tools make lives much easier for the people working in the accounting departments of transportation and logistics companies.
- Real-time data syncing eliminates the risk of missed records or double payments. For example, every time a payment is made from a transportation company’s account, the transaction records are automatically updated. Everyone managing the company’s finance is notified of new payments instantly.
- Clients demand transportation and logistics companies to provide them with detailed invoices that are compliant with the latest GST regulations. Advanced transport management software tools help companies create completely tax acquiescent invoices within seconds.
- Transport management systems also enable transportation and logistics companies to prepare their tax returns very efficiently. The software tools ensure that the entire framework of these businesses is run as per the country’s mandatory tax rules. There’s no room for errors in such automated systems. Hence, risks like mis-accounting or failure to pay taxes on time are minimal for transportation and logistics companies.
Overall, a high-quality transport management system software can take over all the manual accounting tasks that transportation and logistics companies often struggle with.
At a time when transportation and logistics companies are facing increasing demands of compliance and efficiency every year, digitizing the way they oversee vital business functions is the best solution.