Technology plays an indispensable role in the logistics industry owing to its capability to automate menial and complex tasks as well as allowing optimal utilization of resources. CIOs of companies operating in this sector vest complete attention on technology to aid them in decision making. However, pricing, processing Request for Quotations (RFQs), and quoting the best shipping rates remain a challenge for ocean carriers and freight forwarders who resort to traditional pricing methods using spreadsheets. Catapult International, a Kansas-based firm specializes in thwarting the complexities around processing and management of price and tenders of logistics companies by offering advanced solutions and tools to drive efficiency and win more businesses. “Our goal is to streamline processes related to the shipping industry through rate automation,” extols David Luttrell, CIO of Catapult International. “We operate in the ever-changing landscape of logistics to empower companies to retrieve rates in a matter of seconds and remain ahead of competition.”

Named after its goal—to catapult their international offerings, the firm’s solution suite encompasses Catapult QMS, Spring Board, QMS LITE, and Contract Management. Spring Board is one of Catapult’s most recent and sought after solutions designed to eliminate clerical keying involved in tender management process. The Spring Board simply serves as a repository of customer bids that can be accessed and updated anytime. Upon importing the customer’s bids into the solution’s data mapping system, bid formats will be automated into the system in a manner that will enable users to classify the generated bids into regions, auto rate them, and assess markups. This data can be exported back into the shipper’s bid. “Spring Board is our biggest focus because there’s nothing out there in the market that can do what it does,” claims Luttrell. The Spring Board helps ocean carriers to process bids and RFQs in less than hour and reduces overall workload of tender teams by 80 percent. “This software is the real game changer for our customers and helps them develop competitive advantage in the industry,” says Luttrell.

Catapult QMS helps ocean carriers compare rates and contracts with each customer and choose the best option to provide a mark-up or add charges onto the rate and quote it out to the customer.