The FreightTech Dilemma with Brad Wheeler

Brad Wheeler and Joe Lynch discuss the FreightTech dilemma. Brad serves as the Senior Director of Customer Strategy at Emerge, the leading freight procurement platform.

About Brad Wheeler

Brad Wheeler, one of the company's "starting lineup," has been with Emerge since its inception in 2017. In his current role as the Senior Director of Customer Strategy, Brad leads a team focusing on Solutions Architecture and Implementation Strategy whose mission is to work directly with shippers to bring efficiency to the capacity procurement process through technology. Through thousands of shipper and carrier interactions revolving around successful freight tech implementation, Brad brings an incredibly valuable perspective to any shipper looking to introduce technology into their supply chain. With additional experience as the Manager of Sales and later the Director of Business Operations, Brad has been a key contributor to successfully scaling Emerge from a workforce of 30 to over 300 employees. Brad brings it all to the table from characterizing Emerge's brand and culture, presenting Emerge's value proposition to the industry, and determining pivotal insights to enhance customer experience. Brad's higher education includes a B.S. in Exercise & Wellness from Arizona State University and M.S. in Sports & Business Leadership from the University of Kentucky

About Emerge

Transforming the $800 billion freight industry, Emerge empowers meaningful logistics relationships through its award-winning Freight Procurement Platform. Built by freight professionals for freight professionals, Emerge is reinventing the procurement process by offering solutions that enable shippers and carriers to make more empowered, strategic decisions. In addition to the platform, shippers can connect to the Emerge Marketplace which opens access to 35,000 asset based carriers in order to create meaningful freight connections. The world’s largest shippers and capacity providers use the Emerge Freight Procurement Platform daily, showing immediate ROI for procurement and saving valuable time in the process. Founded in 2017, and located in Scottsdale, Arizona, Emerge is one of the fastest-growing technology startups in the U.S.

Key Takeaways: The FreightTech Dilemma

• Brad Wheeler is the Senior Director of Customer Strategy at Emerge, the leading freight procurement technology platform.
• In the podcast interview, Joe and Brad discussed the FreightTech dilemma that many shippers face when considering new technology.
• Most shippers recognize that FreightTech is one of the best ways to streamline their shipping function and potentially save money – however, the dilemma arises because FreightTech has traditionally come with some challenges.
• Some of the challenges that cause shippers to hesitate when it comes to freight technology are:
  • Freight technology is daunting, difficult to understand, and there are so many choices – big project to take on
  • Freight technology has often required a sizeable investment and the ROI is not guaranteed
  • An organization is going to need specialized knowledge, which may include new hiring or paying for additional resources
  • Freight technology implementations are time consuming and may disrupt and distract the team from their jobs
• During the interview, Brad explains that the newest generation of freight technologies are much easier on the budget, and implementations are much less time consuming.
• Emerge’s RFP technology platform is part of the new generation of freight technologies and Brad points out that shippers can use the system for free – and creating an RFP event takes hours, not weeks or months.
•  Shippers using Emerge’s Freight Procurement Platform can spend less time on carrier RFPs and more time developing relationships with current and prospective carriers. The goal is to let the technology automate the process, while humans are building relationships with their fellow humans.
• Emerge is reinventing freight procurement by providing access to benchmarked rates and thousands of trusted partners to maximize cost-savings.
• Emerge is custom built for freight RFP events and as a result the process is streamlined, easy, and saves shippers time and money.
• The Emerge platform provides carriers access to more shippers and more opportunities.
• Carriers gain access and bid directly on exclusive contract and spot lanes that they may have never had access to before. Emerge’s network connects carriers with shippers of all sizes, providing them more opportunities in the lanes that work for your company.
• Emerge uses a network model, which becomes increasingly valuable to users (carriers and shippers) as it scales.

Learn More About The FreightTech Dilemma

• Brad on LinkedIn
• Emerge on LinkedIn LinkedIn
• Emerge
• Awarded Podcast
• Awarded Podcast on Apple
• Awarded Podcast on Spotify
• Awarded Podcast on YouTube
• Modern RFP Processes Offer Multitude of Shipper Benefits
• Emerge launches Benchmarking

Related The LoL episodes: 

• The Emerge Story with Andrew Leto
• Building a Freight Juggernaut Again with Michael Leto
• The Freight RFP Process is Broken – Let’s Fix It with Maggie Petrovic
• Emerge Levels Up with Michael Leto
• It’s Not the Market, It’s Your Procurement with Andrew Haverkampf
• The Freight Marketplace with Dave Maddox
• Is Your TMS Enough with Derek Doddridge
• The Secret Sauce with Mark McEntire
• Smart Freight Sourcing with Andy Semisch

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