Compare NetSuite Container Tracking vs. TIO

NetSuite's container tracking feature, facilitated by Inbound Shipment Management, allows businesses to define and monitor the journey of goods containers from their suppliers to their final destination. This system records vital details such as anticipated delivery dates, the items included in the shipment, the quantities expected, and links to relevant documentation and transactions. Users can allocate items from various purchase orders to a single shipment, then process billing and transfer items from this newly generated record. Additionally, businesses can incorporate landed costs into any inbound shipment, distributing these expenses across the complete shipment for fees like brokerage or assigning them to specific line items, such as customs duties. By consolidating shipment data into a singular record, companies enhance data accessibility and streamline their bulk transaction workflows, ultimately reducing administrative workload. Furthermore, the ability to group items by the container in which they are packed facilitates a more efficient tracking process for incoming shipments, ensuring better organization and oversight. This comprehensive approach significantly improves operational efficiency and enhances communication across supply chain stakeholders.

TIO serves as an intelligent operating system specifically designed for freight forwarders, seamlessly linking your email inbox with your Transportation Management System (TMS) to manage the coordination process: it interprets incoming shipment emails, associates messages with active jobs, and populates TMS records for your team's approval. TIO efficiently manages each phase of the shipping process, which includes activities such as requesting quotes before booking, authorizing bookings, extracting pre-alerts, staging ISF 10+2, monitoring risks for late freight and detention, dispatching trucks, drafting arrival notices, routing customs documents, matching invoices to rates, and closing lots. Every record created in the TMS receives a thorough review and must be approved by a designated team member prior to TIO making any entries, ensuring that there are no automatic submissions. The system is compatible with platforms such as CargoWise, Magaya, Descartes, GoFreight, and any TMS that supports REST or SOAP APIs, and typically, installation can be completed in less than a week for most freight forwarders. Freight forwarders generally process between 80 to 200 shipments each month, and the manual tasks involved in coordinating between the inbox and TMS—such as reading emails, routing information, re-entering data, and following up—typically take around 8 to 12 minutes for each shipment. By automating these repetitive tasks, TIO significantly reduces the time spent on manual coordination, allowing teams to focus on more strategic activities.