Intelligent Audit
A Strategic Approach to Cost Savings

For any business, it goes without saying that timely payment of invoices forms the foundation of strong vendor relationships and effective financial control; however, organizations find it challenging to handle freight invoices and process payments on a day-to-day basis given the billing and contractual complexities compounded by the sheer volume of transactions. Here, accuracy in billing is a tough target to achieve amid continuous discrepancies that drive up costs for shippers. At the same time, managing exceptions and resolving disputed invoices can be cumbersome and resource-intensive too. Addressing these issues that pertain to freight management is Intelligent Audit, a logistics technology company that provides its clients with transportation invoice auditing solutions and advanced data analytics aimed at reducing costs, improving processes, and helping its clients ship smarter. “In addition to our comprehensive audit that verifies the validity and accuracy of every single charge, we also give shippers visibility to all of their global transportation activity across all modes,” says Hannah Testani, Chief Operating Officer of Intelligent Audit.

Established in 1996, Intelligent Audit has always had a consistent focus toward providing the leading audit and business intelligence platform to companies looking to eliminate wasteful spend and optimize shipping performance. Appropriate examination of data and utilizing it strategically is the company’s basis for assisting their clients in optimizing both costs and time-in-transit. The technology developed by Intelligent Audit visualizes a customer’s transportation data in customizable reports and dashboards and includes numerous KPIs across all carriers and services. It’s more advanced capabilities include analyzing the existing footprint of a business and providing detailed cost analysis and recommendations regarding the optimal footprint redistribution based on actual historical shipping activity.

Utilizing data science and machine learning techniques, Intelligent Audit’s software studies a shipper’s data for inconsistencies and searches for anomalies and potential issues. In the event of an anomaly, a dedicated account advisor examines the root cause and the platform allows customers to delve into the data at a macro and micro level in real-time to develop proactive solutions to resolve the issue. “Anomaly detection and real-time alerts have helped numerous customers identify issues faster, which dramatically minimizes the operational and financial impact on the business,” adds Hannah.

One of Intelligent Audit’s primary missions is to improve the relationship between the shipper and the carrier. With this in mind, the company has developed a dedicated carrier collaboration portal to improve transparency and visibility when service issues and billing disputes arise. The carrier collaboration portal helps keep carriers apprised of all outstanding balances and disputed amounts with supporting documentation to streamline and expedite claims resolution.

In a recent collaboration, one of Intelligent Audit’s clients who had just completed an acquisition approached IA for an analysis of the combined business in order to understand optimal network design and carrier/service mix. IA examined the footprint and distribution network for each of the shippers individually and on a combined basis and provided recommendations as to which locations should be closed and which carriers and modes would optimize cost and transit time. As part of the exercise, Intelligent Audit also supported the client in a carrier RFP and negotiation to ensure that contract terms were aligned with the new shipping profile of the combined business.

With more than 2,500 customers across various industries, Intelligent Audit has acquired expertise in transportation spend optimization and will continue to expand internationally across all industry verticals. In terms of future developments, the company sees an opportunity around blockchain technology for transportation invoicing and payments. Intelligent Audit believes this technology, applied correctly, will dramatically minimize exceptions and expedite invoice approval and carrier payments. From catering to Fortune 500 global companies to emerging e-commerce startups, Intelligent Audit has stopped at nothing to help its customers achieve maximum efficiency with best-in-class technology.