How to Choose 3PL Software
Knowing how to select the 3PL software is the first step to making an informed decision. Whether you’re the decision maker or part of the decision making team for your business, you’ll need all the right information before you create a shortlist and ultimately choose a 3PL software.
What is 3PL software?
3PL software stands for third-party logistics software, and is a technological solution used by third-party logistics companies (3PLs) to manage their operations.
3PL software should help 3PLs to streamline their processes, improve their efficiency and simplify their complexities – ultimately allowing them to provide a better service to their clients.
The core features of a 3PL software will include:
- order management
- inventory management
- warehouse management
- billing and invoicing
- reporting and analytics
- integrations to connect to sales channels and shipping partners
Why do small businesses need 3PL software?
3PL software can help small businesses to work smarter and maximise the resources they have to deliver excellent service to their clients, while competing in the market against larger and better resourced 3PL competitors, or 3PL giants.
We’ll further explore the benefits of 3PL software, that small businesses can experience in the next section.
Benefits of 3PL software
Implementing a new software system should result in your business reaping the benefits of automating your processes, some of the benefits of 3PL software you can expect to see include:
1. Increased efficiency
Small businesses can expect to see an instant increase in efficiency when they implement a 3PL software. Processes such as importing orders, booking in stock, arranging shipments and batching orders for picking can all be automated, saving hours of time spent doing administration.
2. Improved accuracy
Alongside the efficiency of implementing 3PL software, businesses can also benefit from improved accuracy. Accuracy improves by automating processes and eliminating the possibility of human error; this improvement can be seen during the order validation process, picking process and shipping process.
3. Cost savings
3PL software can help save money on overheads such as employing additional staff and temporary workers, as well as through automation; for example, 3PL can integrate with multiple carriers and automatically select the most cost effective courier service for every shipment.
4. Sustainable growth
Small businesses are typically growing businesses, and being able to grow without restriction or limitation is a benefit many 3PLs will see from implementing 3PL software. The software gives the ability to onboard new clients, connect to their sales channels and begin processing their orders quickly.
5. Enhanced customer service
3PL software can help improve your customer service by having real-time and transparent views of all of your processes in a single place. One of the key features of 3PL software is reporting and analytics capabilities, so businesses can monitor their performance and additionally, can respond to client queries quickly with accurate real-time data.
How to choose the right 3PL software
It can be difficult to know where to start when you’re looking to implement a new system or replace an existing one, so we’ve put together 5 things you should consider to help you choose the right 3PL software for your business.
1. Business requirements
The first thing we recommend is to spend some time mapping out your software requirements and which processes you’d like to run through your 3PL software. If you already have a system in place, this may be simpler as you’ll already have some processes running through software and can identify any gaps.
Some of the things we encourage you to consider are:
- Which processes will you run through the 3PL software?
- What improvements you’d like to see with a software solution?
- Which integrations you require a connection to?
- Which features are a ‘must-have’ and which are a ‘would like to have’?
You can use this detail to compare your requirements against each software options feature list and specification, to judge whether the solution is a good fit for your business needs.
2. Budget vs ROI
There are two aspects to this – firstly to set yourselves a suitable budget. Some software’s are a monthly subscription and others are charged for annually, so you’ll need to ensure you have funds available if you’re to opt for an annual subscription.
Secondly, when you’re reviewing your 3PL software options, comparing the cost to the potential return on investment you expect to see will help you determine whether each option is cost-efficient. Some typical ways you’ll see a return on investment is money saving through the reduction in errors, cost savings in overheads like over-time or hiring additional staff and, potential increases in revenue due to being able to scale up your operations.
Read our guide to how much 3PL software should cost.
3. Scalability
Depending on your growth plans, it’s likely that you’ll need a 3PL that can scale with your business. One of your key considerations when choosing a software solution is whether the software is scalable in the ways you need. Depending on the software options you’re looking at, you may need to look into whether there are limitations or extra charges associated with the following:
- Users
- Order volumes
- Client numbers
- Integrations
4. Customer service
A key aspect of any service provider is the customer support they offer throughout your journey with them. This can begin from the support you receive during the enquiry process, through onboarding and as an active customer.
We advise to ask during your research stage about the support you’ll receive and the SLA’s the provider offers, during onboarding – for example, the level of training and support for setting your system up, as well as ongoing support you’ll receive, should you have an issue with the software.
5. Reputation
It’s crucial to hear what others just like you, think of the 3PL software options you’re considering – take a look at each options success stories on their websites and their third-party review scores on sites such as Trustpilot, G2 and Capterra to hear from real users and get a feel for how people like you are able to utilise the software and the benefits they’re seeing.
Making your final decision
With all the information you have gathered, including your requirements, information about the 3PL software solutions like their features, customer service levels, reviews and scalability, and have compared them against your budget, you’ll be ready to make an informed decision about which 3PL software will work best for your business.
Why choose Mintsoft as your 3PL software?
Mintsoft offers 3PL management software that can help you to automate and streamline your warehouse operations, take control of your fulfilment processes and ultimately improve productivity and client relationships. With intuitive features such as real-time stock updates, batch picking and mobile barcode scanning, you can truly optimise how you run your business and offer great customer service to your 3PL clients via their own logins to your 3PL client portal. We can show you more about our system in a personalised demo, with one of our product experts.
You can also check out our article exploring the 4 Best 3PL Software solutions.