Transportation spend management unleashed: accelerate savings across your supply chain

You hit your freight savings goal. Cue the high fives. But just as quickly, fuel surcharges spike, capacity evaporates and your carefully planned budget crumbles.

Sound familiar?

Transportation spend management often feels like wrestling an octopus in a hurricane; fix one tentacle and seven others whip you in the face.

Sure, your TMS handles the basics well. But some supply chain leaders have cracked a different code. They use modern transportation management systems to turn freight data into a financial sixth sense; spotting savings others miss and defending budgets through market chaos.

With the right TMS, they seize savings while others execute standard operations. They catch carrier billing "mistakes" that result in overpayments. They know which lanes bleed money and which customer demands deserve premium pricing.

In this article, we’ll share the real-world tactics top performers use to extract maximum value from every freight dollar, without sacrificing service or sanity.

 

The secret to smarter freight spend: visibility + automation

Transportation costs spiraling out of control? You're not alone.

When transportation costs spiral out of control, savvy logistics teams rely on a proven powerful combination to fight back:

Enhanced visibility into every shipment dollar paired with strategic automation.

These complementary strategies deliver a balanced approach that flips the script – both in the long and short term - on transportation spend, transforming it from something that controls you into something you control.

 

The power of end-to-end visibility in transportation spend management

With end-to-end visibility and real-time tracking, your transportation spend transforms from a black hole into a treasure map. You can:

• Cut costs by 20%
• Spot inefficient routes instantly
• Reduce inventory carrying costs by 25%
• Improve on-time deliveries by 30%

You can cut costs by 20%, spot inefficient routes, reduce inventory carrying costs by 25% and improve on-time deliveries by 30%. Who knew simply watching your stuff could save so much cash?

Pair that with proactive data analytics and you go from reacting to crises to preventing them. Companies using AI-driven visibility platforms are seeing:

• 35–40% reductions in direct costs
• 25–45% cuts in indirect expenses

Bottlenecks that once drained your budget become a thing of the past. visibility turns chaos into clarity

 

Leverage automation for cost savings

Want to stop your transportation dollars from vanishing? Automate.

AI-powered route optimization puts you back in control by:

• Slashing transport costs by 10%
• Shrinking fuel bills by 20%
• Improving on-time deliveries by 40%
• Increasing truck efficiency by 25%

Add automated document handling to reduce labor costs by up to 30% and eliminate invoice errors that quietly drain your budget. No more mystery charges or endless hours reconciling freight bills.

Digital freight marketplaces take your savings even deeper. No more marathon phone calls hunting for carriers. Rates fall as carriers compete for your business in real time, cutting transportation spend by up to 20%. That's money directly impacting your bottom line.

Those empty miles that devoured 40% of your budget? Problem solved.

With automation, your team works smarter, not harder.

Carrier relationships flourish. Customer inquiries about missing shipments vanish. The transportation budget battles are finally over — and you've won.

 

Visibility + automation: the recipe for transportation spend success

Trying to manage spend without both visibility and automation is like baking without a recipe. You guess. You hope. You get inconsistent results.

But with both ingredients baked into your TMS, it’s a different game:

• Carrier selection becomes data-driven.
• Route planning is precise.
• Every freight dollar is tracked, measured and optimized.

A modern TMS doesn’t justify its cost, it turns your team into budget heroes.

 

5 best practices to lower transportation costs

Shipping costs eat away at your bottom line faster than a pothole damages truck suspension. But here's the good news: you don't need to sacrifice service quality to save money.

Every company ships differently, but regardless of business size, these proven strategies help reduce costs while keeping customers happy:

• Strengthen Carrier Relationships 
  Carriers aren’t just vendors, they’re partners. Communicate often, pay on time and treat them with respect. Strong relationships lead to better rates, priority during shortages and fewer surprise service failures.
• Master Shipment Consolidation 
  Stop shipping air. Combine smaller shipments heading to the same region. It takes planning, but the savings are real and your customers likely won’t mind a slight delay if it means avoiding a price hike.
• Leverage TMS Technology 
  A good TMS pays for itself. Automate quote comparisons, optimize routes and track performance with real data. It’s not just software, it’s your competitive edge.
• Implement Rigorous Freight Auditing 
  Freight invoices are messy. Catch billing errors, overcharges and accessorial charges before they drain your budget. Use automated tools or dedicate a team member to keep carriers honest.
• Let Data Drive Decisions
  Use your historical shipping data to pinpoint inefficiencies. Spot costly lanes, unnecessary expedited shipments and seasonal trends. Insight today prevents overspending tomorrow.

Turn transportation spend from burden to advantage

Yes, freight costs can be painful, but they don’t have to stay that way.

Top logistics leaders didn’t get there by accident. They embraced visibility, leaned on automation and invested in the right tools and relationships.

The result?

A transportation budget that works for them, not against them.

At Infios, we engineered transportation spend management into the core of our TMS. Our platform doesn’t just track freight, it exposes hidden costs, flags billing “mistakes” and turns complex data into clear, actionable insights.

With multimodal management, dynamic rate optimization, predictive analytics and automated freight auditing, we help companies cut costs and elevate service levels at the same time.

Ready to take control of your transportation budget? 

Schedule your demo today and see how smarter spend starts here.