FREIGHT AUDIT & PAY\\\
Issue 6 2015 - Freight Business Journal
19 FAP services come of age
Freight audit and pay services may have begun as an import from North America – widely viewed with suspicion in the UK and Europe - but the concept is coming of age on this side of the Pond. Service providers have learned to adapt their products to local conditions, putting a great deal more emphasis on the audit side of the equation.
Global firms drive Cass Europe growth
Cass Europe managing director in the EU, Kees de Jongh, says that he is continuing to see increased interest in freight audit and pay services in the UK and Europe, “especially for the air, ocean and parcels sectors,” where shippers increasingly tend to source globally. “A consequence is that the
freight audit and payment (FAP) services get being sourced globally as well,” he explains. “Hence we see the continuous increase of outsourced freight audit and payment activities in the UK and Europe.” Although not yet at the same
level as in North America, the FAP concept is now well known in Europe, he argues. Most mid- sized and larger logistics service providers have at least some experience with FAP providers through their clients. Cass Europe focuses on freight and
audit payment services
which, as Kees de Jongh says, “is a clear proposition. As part of our audit activities, we do put a lot of focus on checking the freight rate agreements that we receive from our clients. We ensure rates and related business rules are complete and accurate, not leaving any room for multiple interpretations (items such as
calculation method or currency conversion are oſten not well defined). Having those freight rates well under control, it reduces invoice errors before the invoice gets produced.” Unlike North America, there is
no standard in invoicing formats in Europe. However, carriers do have the capability of providing invoice data in electronic format. It then becomes a matter of transforming such data into a standard format enabling automated processing and Cass Europe has built a data gateway to manage this. For
the on future, information will
emphasis remain
important, says Kees de Jongh. “Providing full visibility based upon reliable,
factual shipment
and cost data, allows shippers to identify further improvement potential and continuously improve their supply chain. But we also see the growing need for independent control, ensuring compliance. Cass Information Systems operates under a level of regulatory scrutiny that puts it in a unique position to offer the transparency required. With the growing need and interest in optimising financial flows, we expect further interest in managing payments and related financial services.”
Asia beckons for CTSI-Global
There has been a big upsurge in interest in freight audit and pay services from Asia, says Donal Brennan, vice president, EMEA operations and global projects at CTSI- Global. While the rate of growth in Europe has perhaps slackened off somewhat, Asian companies are taking an increased interest in the concept, he told Freight Business Journal. Europe’s economic difficulties encouraged
companies to look very closely at their freight costs and processes a few years ago, but now that the economic situation is easing off in most EU countries, , installing FAP systems has perhaps slipped down the priority list somewhat. “The panic has gone out to some extent. People in Europe do still want it, but it has gone down the list a little bit.” In Asia, in contrast, the FAP concept is still
very new. It’s also a much more fragmented market than in Europe and North America, where the big multinationals are more dominant. And while many Asian firms may already outsource back office functions to low cost locations, there is a lot of interest in the sorts of value-added information services that CTSI-Global can provide. CTSI-Global recently moved its Asia
headquarters from China to Singapore, which is the ideal location, says Donal Brennan. “It’s very cosmopolitan, and all the big international companies are headquartered there.” Another growth area for CTSI-Global is
Latin America. Currently this region is being supported out of the US, but there may well come a time when more local representation is needed. The only question is, which countries to choose. Local sensitivities run high in this part of the world, and people in one
country may not always want to do business with an organisation based in a neighbouring one. There is also still a fair amount of red tape in this region, and systems need to be able to cope with the different processes that may be required – for example, payment of local taxes. Needless to say, translation of the soſtware into Spanish and Portuguese is vital. That said, “Europe is still a huge market for
us, the biggest aſter North America. Coming to Europe has allowed us to grow far quicker,” declares Donal Brennan. There is still plenty of momentum in the European market, especially from US-headquartered firms looking to introduce FAP outside their home country.
CTSI Global is rolling out a number of new
products and services, including its transport management solution (TMS). “It’s something we’ve had in the US for 15-20 years but we’re now starting to roll it out elsewhere as well as customising it to automatically update in other languages,” explains Donal Brennan. “This is in fact one of the biggest challenges, but it’s important. While senior managers in most countries will speak English, that becomes much less prevalent when you go down a level; people want to be able to look things up in their own mother tongue.” It’s important that translation is accurate and takes into account regional variations.
local dialects and
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40