Trans Audit, Inc.
Taking the Post Audit Experience to the Next Level

Post Audit, which plays a pivotal role in controlling freight spend, can be a daunting task for shippers. Although freight spend is typically a sizeable percentage of the total expenditures of a company and is deemed as a strategic priority, it is not easy for companies to tackle the rising complexity of freight charges and carrier billing processes. A combination of factors, such as commodity, mode, weight, distance, service levels, tariff regulations, and contractual terms, among others, must be considered for a comprehensive audit of freight bills. Equally challenging is to uncover the inaccuracies in the carrier invoices. It is commonplace for shippers to overpay their bills, which increases freight costs. Companies fret about the known and the unknown, as they do not always have dedicated or knowledgeable resources to identify overbilling or overpayment errors, and submit and resolve resultant refund claims. This is where a post audit provider tasked to audit transportation costs and determine if the carriers have overbilled or been overpaid comes into the picture.

Although various freight and parcel post payment audit companies dot the marketplace, partnering with the right provider will make a world of difference. The classical marketing pitch of most is “there’s money in those bills and we are going to get your money back.” Against this hoarse cry and common rhetoric, Trans Audit, as the frontrunner in the global transportation post audit industry, takes a significantly different stance.

Chad W. Kennedy, IV, President & CEO of Trans Audit, explains, “We view post audit from the standpoint of delivering a top-notch Client experience, thereafter everything falls into place.” Put simply, this global transportation post payment audit specialist takes a more consultative approach to post audit as opposed to just analyzing bills for refunds. “The post audit process entails more than just producing refunds or monetary benefits. We partner with our Clients to deliver ancillary value by providing financial and process insights on refund source points and error root causes.”

As the world’s largest global transportation post audit specialist, Trans Audit has delivered over a billion dollars of benefit to hundreds of Fortune and Global 1000 companies by submitting more refund claims and recovering more overpayments than the competition. Trans Audit follows a twin-pronged approach to manage the Client experience and deliver more in-depth insights. “We use a combination of both technological, as well as human resources to do the most thorough job we can for our Clients in terms of analyzing their transportation bills after they have been paid and provide Clients with powerful reporting technology,” says Vikki L. Van Vliet, SVP of Sales & Marketing, Trans Audit.

Technology and Functional Knowledge: The Perfect Blend

To deliver greater and more in-depth insights to their Clients, Trans Audit, in its onward march of technological progress, has migrated their end-user and end-client reporting from their existing web based system, which they were first to market with, to Power BI. The analytics and data visualization tools from Microsoft offer an integrated, secure, and non-menu-driven mechanism to quickly ascertain any information in terms of claim status, refunds, error types, or carrier performance with a simple point and click. Trans Audit’s Clients can benefit from its compelling advantages in terms of intuitive and interactive dashboards and view vital metrics and KPIs in real time and in one place. According to Mike Coulter, EVP & CIO of Trans Audit, “The highlights are ease of use, increased visibility, and advanced analytics, which can be accessed in an efficient, and swift manner.”

Along with Power BI and cutting-edge data mining tools, Trans Audit is deploying more transportation savvy human resources or subject matter modal experts (SMMEs) as they are called by Trans Audit. “We believe in combining both technology and human expertise, as our work entails much more than just data processing to identify errors and anomalies on behalf of our Clients,” says Coulter. For each Client, a team of SMMEs, with expertise across multiple shipment modes, leverages technology and their modal knowledge to analyze contractual terms, accessorial charges, commodity types, and more, to identify overpayment and overbilling issues.

We view post audit from the standpoint of delivering a top-notch Client experience, thereafter everything falls into place

“Our SMMEs armed with expertise gained from prior roles with shippers, carriers, payment providers, and accountants alike provide in depth modal and payment analysis to maximize returns to our Clients,” says Mike D’Imperio, Senior Director of Operations. From data ascertainment, to claims formulation, to refund resolution, to back-end financial management, Trans Audit has a very well-structured, trusted, and streamlined process.

More Reflections on Customer Centricity

Today, Trans Audit stands as numero uno in terms of the volume of refund claims generated, the size of the impact delivered to their Clients annually, and geographic presence. Trans Audit’s innate focus on enhancing the Client experience and its Client centricity have been the prime factor in scripting numerous Client success stories. Recently, Trans Audit was the top contender in the RFP process of a leading global pharmaceutical and consumer health company. According to Van Vliet, “It was Trans Audit’s presentations, the ensuing follow-up, and the industry knowledge, proactiveness and professionalism demonstrated at every step of the bidding process, which led the prospective Client to make a unanimous decision to engage Trans Audit as its sole provider.” Here again, Trans Audit was chosen as the top provider in its space and displaced an incumbent post auditor.

“We employ a very consultative approach. We believe in team selling and managing the Client experience even before a prospect becomes a Client while continuing to ensure that the Client experience is top-notch through and after onboarding,” says Kennedy. Evidently, their focus on the Client at all times is clear from the fact that the Trans Audit prefers to use Clients with a capital ‘C’ as opposed to customers, highlighting the long-term collaborative business relationships they forge with their Clients. It stands to reason that the organization has successfully evolved as a trusted partner and advisor that strives to develop long-term relationships forged on mutual trust and timely performance.

In order to deliver maximum benefits to Clients globally, Trans Audit goes above and beyond managing the Client experience. Kennedy draws attention to an important and continuing investment in Trans Audit’s dedicated Carrier Relations team. “Carrier Relations’ primary responsibility is to submit the claims that our Analysts have generated to the carriers, manage claims with the carrier, and bring each claim to fruition. Maximizing the Client experience is not solely related to how we interact with the Client, but also how we interact with their service providers.” “We must work cooperatively and collaboratively with all parties involved not just the Client,” Van Vliet adds. Through the power of agency, the Trans Audit team works directly with their Client’s carriers to resolve claims and ascertain refunds.

Each Carrier Relations Manager is entrusted with not only managing the claims but, more importantly, protecting the relationships their Clients have with their service providers. The carrier relations team spends a tremendous amount of time developing very strong relationships and a high level of rapport with the carriers. “Carrier relationship management is very important as it leads directly to the success of what we do,” says Susan Ashley, Director of Carrier Relations. “And we ensure that the whole process is smoothly, professionally, and effectively delivered for all parties concerned.”

When it comes to future endeavors, Trans Audit continues to invest heavily in human resources and emerging technologies. They are planning to add the capabilities of AI and other technologies to increase the value they deliver to Clients. On this onward march, keeping in mind that the scope of post audit is global in nature, from a strategic perspective, Trans Audit will continue to grow its worldwide base and maintain its premier niche and position in the post audit arena.