Built for freight operations

Freight-focused since 2008

Most technology consultants serve whoever calls. Strong Tower Consulting was founded in Minnesota in 2008 to serve transportation and logistics companies, and that focus has shaped everything we do. Our people came up through carrier software training, installations and go-live weeks. We've worked inside dispatch offices, billing departments and server rooms, and we speak the language: lanes, tariffs, accessorials, FSC, detention, settlements, IFTA, DVIRs, OS&D and EDI 204, 214, 210 and 990.

That matters because freight technology problems are rarely about technology alone. A billing backlog is a paperwork, imaging and process problem. A driver settlement dispute is a pay-rule configuration problem. A deadhead problem is a planning and data problem. You need an advisor who understands the operation first and the software second.

Segments we serve

Every segment of freight moves differently, and so do its systems. Choose yours to see the specific challenges we look for and how our practices apply.

What every freight operation has in common

Segments differ, but the backbone is the same. Every freight company has to take an order, assign capacity, move the freight, prove it delivered, bill the customer, pay whoever hauled it, and stay compliant along the way. When we walk into a new operation, we look at the same core areas:

• Order-to-cash. How fast a delivered load becomes a clean invoice, and how fast that invoice becomes cash.
• Rating and accessorials. Whether tariffs, fuel surcharge and accessorial charges are configured once and applied every time.
• Settlements and carrier pay. Whether drivers, owner-operators and outside carriers are paid accurately without manual adjustments.
• Integrations. How ELD, fuel cards, imaging, EDI and accounting connect, and where people are still rekeying data.
• Data and reporting. Whether leadership can see margin by lane, customer and driver from data they trust.
• Resilience. Whether backups, access controls and documentation would survive a bad day.

One method, segment-specific detail

Our method doesn't change from segment to segment: Analyze, Streamline, Deliver, Sustain (see How We Work). What changes is where we look first and which numbers we put in front of you. For an LTL carrier that might be reweigh recovery and linehaul load factor. For a broker it's margin per load and carrier pay. For a drayage operator it's moves past last free day. Most engagements begin with a fixed-scope Technology Assessment, and the work that follows draws on our consulting practices, from Business Process Optimization to SQL Data Mining & Analytics.

The segment pages that follow are written from the operator's side of the desk. Each one lays out the specific problems we look for first, how our practices apply, what a typical engagement looks like, and the questions owners and managers ask most. None of it assumes you'll buy new software. Most of the value we find is already sitting in the systems, data and people you have.

Don't see your operation described exactly? Many companies run more than one segment, such as a truckload carrier with a brokerage desk or a drayage operation that also runs over the road. Tell us how you move freight and we'll tell you honestly whether we can help.