Executive Summary
When WSI, a privately held 3PL warehousing and shipping company, faced mounting invoice backlogs and an unsustainable manual proof of delivery (POD) collection process, we provided an integrated solution built on TextLocate and Triumph’s NextGen Audit. By embedding automated document capture and invoice auditing directly into its TMS, WSI eliminated end-of-month scrambles, reduced operational overhead, and built a back-office capable of supporting ten-times growth, all managed by one person.
Client Background
WSI’s a rapidly growing freight brokerage that prioritizes smart operations over headcount. Leadership has consistently embraced automation as a core strategy, believing efficient systems drive sustainable growth. With year-over-year growth trending at two times and accelerating toward four times, WSI needed a back-office infrastructure that could scale without adding cost.
The Challenge
As WSI’s load volumes climbed, a critical bottleneck emerged: POD collection. Every delivered load required a POD before WSI could invoice a customer and before it could pay a carrier. In WSI’s previous workflow, carrier sales reps were responsible for manually requesting those documents after each delivery. The results were predictable and costly.
Dave Stone, Senior Director, Freight Brokerage at WSI described the situation: “You end up with a whole bunch of loads at the end of the week,
the end of the month that can’t be invoiced out.”
Payment Management Obstacles:
- Carrier sales reps moved away from their core work of moving freight to chase paperwork.
- PODs frequently went uncollected, creating end-of-month invoice backlogs that disrupted cash flow.
- Accounting staff spent hours pursuing carriers via emails, phone calls, and payment threats.
Invoicing Process Inefficiencies:
- Invoicing was delayed by days, weeks, or even months after delivery.
- Inconsistent POD collection led to a two-tiered billing process, where some customers were invoiced without PODs while others with strict requirements created additional complexity.
- Delayed invoicing strained customer relationships and created friction on both sides of the business.
The Solution
- TextLocate automatically requests PODs via SMS from drivers and feeds them directly to Triumph Audit who then feeds them into the TMS, so no manual requests or touchpoints are required.
- The only carrier interaction required is the standard coverage conversation, gathering phone numbers, and driver information.
- Triumph’s NextGen Audit receives captured documents and audits carrier invoices with high auto-approval rates and minimal exceptions.
- The integration works entirely in the background and requires no changes to existing staff workflows.
- Every customer now receives a POD attached to every invoice as standard practice, eliminating inconsistency and inbound document requests.
Results & Impact
Quantitative Results:
- One team member now manages the entire audit box and processes all carrier invoices and PODs.
- WSI captures PODs continuously throughout the month, bringing invoicing into the correct billing window and accelerating cash flow.
- High auto-approval rates with minimal exceptions occur across all carrier invoices.
- WSI reinvested operational savings into revenue-generating activities, finding carriers, and onboarding new customers.
Qualitative Benefits:
- Improved carrier and factor confidence in payment processes
- Enhanced transparency across complex agency operations
- Automated what was previously a complex third-party invoicing workflow
- Reduced friction stemming from a complex and growing enterprise tech stack