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FAP analytics in action
Explore four real-world examples of how FAP analytics red...
3 ways FAP data drives lower freight costs
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Summary: Shippers can reduce freight costs by 7-10% using a Freight Audit and Payment (FAP) program that transforms data into strategic carrier sourcing, benchmarking and network optimization. Modern FAP goes beyond invoice validation to identify opportunities to reduce freight costs through better carrier agreements, competitive rate analysis and logistics network modeling. Get the next steps toward realizing transportation spend savings in your business.
What are you doing with the information collected from your Freight Audit and Payment process? Future-ready shippers rely on supply chain solutions that convert this data into strategies for reducing freight costs and improving transportation service.
Beyond completing back-office functions that help control transportation spend, modern Freight Audit and Payment (FAP) programs combine analytics and expert transportation consulting to identify actions that drive measurable savings.
This blog explores three ways that FAP data helps reduce freight costs:
- Sourcing
- Benchmarking
- Modeling and optimization
Our customer success story quantifies the potential for annual freight cost savings: 10% on Less-than-Truckload (LTL) and 9% on Truckload (TL) spend for an omni-channel retailer.
Download “Beyond the invoice: unlocking the strategic value of Freight Audit and Payment (FAP) programs” to learn how Infios FAP Analytics and Consulting helps shippers improve margins, strengthen networks and make smarter decisions.
How analytics and consulting elevate Freight Audit and Payment
In Freight Audit and Payment, baseline capabilities validate invoices, catch billing errors, manage exceptions and ensure timely payment.
These spend-control functions become data building blocks for a FAP analytics platform to identify improvement opportunities through:
- Transportation-specific, tailored dashboards with drill-down capabilities and easy view changes that help catch early warning signals.
- Dynamic analysis to monitor transportation spend patterns, isolate cost changes over time, test what-if scenarios and adjust plans proactively.
Transportation Solutions Consulting (TSC) builds on FAP data to help shippers identify where to make adjustments that reduce freight costs and improve overall network performance.
Partnering with Infios TSC to help create the supply chain they need, our customers usually save 7-10% through transportation network optimization.
3 ways FAP data helps reduce freight costs
Focusing on these three primary areas helps shippers reduce freight costs:
- Sourcing
Better carrier agreements are the most direct path to savings. By sourcing carriers across all modes and using shipment-level data, benchmarking and market analysis, shippers are better positioned to secure agreements that support both current and future requirements. - Benchmarking
Many shippers don’t know whether their rates are competitive. Benchmarking compares rates against the broader market, while strategic assessments identify gaps between current practices and best-in-class operations. Roadmaps then define future opportunities, required investments and expected ROI. - Modeling and optimization
Network modeling helps shippers plan for new facilities, evolving service requirements and shifts in customer demand. Testing scenarios and assessing costs support informed decisions on network design, service levels and carrier strategies.
Functioning as an extension of a shipper’s team, Transportation Solutions Consulting applies expert insight and operational bandwidth on FAP data to support both tactical savings and long-term network design.
Success story: Reducing freight costs with FAP data
A premium outdoor brand experienced rapid omnichannel growth that outpaced carrier capacity. At the same time, rising invoice volumes strained internal teams. Poor carrier assignments executed by a legacy solution fueled rising transportation costs.
By effectively sourcing Truckload (TL) and Less-than-Truckload (LTL) carriers and restructuring freight classes, Infios Transportation Solutions Consulting expanded the carrier pool to lower costs and improve service.
The results:
- 10% annual savings on LTL spend
- 9% annual savings on TL spend
- Better carrier service options
- Improved delivery accuracy across channels and regions
From data to decisions: Your next steps
Your Freight Audit and Payment process is already collecting the data you need to reduce freight costs. The question is whether you’re using it to its full potential.
Chances are, you’re sitting on a valuable source of shipment-level data, carrier performance metrics and spend patterns that, when analyzed, could unlock 7-10% in freight transportation savings.
Consider the math: If you spend $50 million annually on freight, a conservative 7% savings through network optimization equals $3.5 million.
Here’s what you can do now. Review your current Freight Audit and Payment approach by asking:
- Are we processing invoices, or analyzing data to identify savings opportunities?
- Do we benchmark our rates against the market, or are we assuming our carrier agreements are competitive?
- When did we last model our transportation network to test alternative scenarios?
If you’re relying on baseline freight audit capabilities and last year’s transportation strategy, you may be leaving significant savings on the table.
Additional resources that help shippers reduce freight costs
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