TLDR - Here's what you need to know:

• When purchasing a trucking software like a TMS you want to ensure it has these three features
• 1. Visibility features that let you easily track and trace your freight
• 2. A driver mobile app that lets you and your drivers communicate easily and automates manual tasks
• 3. A driver calendar where you can easily plan and schedule drivers for specific loads, as well as a driver settlement feature that helps you manage driver payroll
• To see more features that can help your small fleet, check out our trucking software

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While it might be tempting to avoid investing in software as a small fleet owner, trucking software like a transportation management system or TMS is important to implement in your trucking business. A TMS software will enable you to automate many manual tasks that are involved in running a trucking company, saving you and your team time.

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‍As a small fleet owner, there are a few things you want to ensure that your TMS has, so that it will help you automate your day to day tasks, as well as help you provide a great customer experience.

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Here are our top three features you should look for in trucking software for small fleets:

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1. Visibility features

In a world where you can track practically everything you order online, like that new fishing rod from Amazon or some burgers and fries from your favorite burger shop, you expect to be able to track your purchases.

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This expectation is also in the trucking industry now and your customers expect the ability to easily track their freight. When purchasing a trucking software like the Rose Rocket TMS you want to ensure that the TMS is able to integrate and connect with your ELD. Rose Rocket has an integrations marketplace that lets you easily connect your ELD to your TMS software.

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Once connected the TMS pulls information, like freight location and drivers’ hours of service, from your ELD into Rose Rocket. To help share freight location easily with customers, Rose Rocket has a Customer Portal that you can share with your customers.

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From the Customer Portal, your customers can sign-in to see where their freight is, and also do things like self-serve order entry. Besides the Customer Portal, Rose Rocket is also able to generate an e-Tracking link that you can share with your customers. From the e-Tracking link, your customers will be able to see where their freight is and the status of the order.

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Providing visibility to customers is a must to running a successful trucking business. Make sure your trucking software for small fleets is able to provide you with features that enable you to provide visibility to your customers without having to call/email them multiple times a day.

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2.Driver mobile app

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Drivers are the lifeblood of your business. They ensure that the freight gets to where it needs to be. You want to ensure that the technology your business implements makes your drivers’ lives easier, not more difficult. 

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One key feature your trucking software for small fleets should have is a driver mobile app. What is this? It’s an app for drivers that enables them to see all their stops and lets them mark when they’ve picked up or delivered the freight. The driver mobile app should connect back to the TMS software, so that everything that happens for an order in the driver mobile app is reflected in the TMS. 

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The driver mobile app should automate many of the manual tasks a driver needs to do. For example, when your driver arrives to pick up the freight instead of dealing with printed out pieces of paper, the driver can access important documents like the bill of lading, right from the app and get an e-signature. From the app, they’re also able to take photos of the freight or scan a document, if needed. 

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Ensuring whatever trucking software for small fleets you choose has a driver mobile app will help keep your drivers happy and make it easier for you to know what’s going on each order, as all information will be consolidated in the TMS, making it the single-source of truth for your business. 

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3.Driver scheduling and settlement

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No matter the trucking software for small fleets that you choose for your business, you want it to help you plan more profitable moves. A trucking software like the Rose Rocket TMS is the single-source of truth for your business. This means that the TMS can provide you with wealth of data about your business that you can use to make better business decisions. 

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One feature that your TMS should have is a driver calendar that helps you schedule drivers for specific loads. From the driver calendar you should be able to see when a driver is currently assigned to a load, if the driver is currently on the road, and if they have time off, to name a few things. If you have an ELD connected to the TMS, Rose Rocket will also pull in ELD information to the driver calendar, so you can see what’s going on. 

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Besides easily scheduling drivers, you also want to ensure your TMS makes paying your drivers easy too. With Rose Rocket, our driver settlement feature helps you manage driver payroll efficiently by having recurring payments and deductions like stipends, insurance, or loans automatically calculated on your driver pay statements. Besides integrating with ELDs, Rose Rocket also integrates with accounting softwares QuickBooks and Xero, enabling you to export all of your driver settlements directly into your accounting software, saving you time. 

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Trucking software for small fleets feature wrap-up 

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Investing in trucking software like a TMS will help you keep your business organized, so you can focus on things that matter, like running and growing your business. 

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Purchasing software that has features that will help save you and your team time and make collaborating with each other and your customers easy, will have a positive impact on your business. From enabling your customers to see where their freight is anytime they want, to having a driver mobile app that makes the driver experience seamless when on the road, to back office features like driver calendar and settlement, you’ll be equipping your team for success if your technology offers all of this. 

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