Taylor, founder and President of Eagan, Minnesota-based freight brokerage Network FOB, was reviewing his perfect record for the 18 months since Network FOB began monitoring carriers with TransCore’s CarrierWatch SM. Taylor relies on CarrierWatch, along with other TransCore products and services, to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs.

Taylor runs the operation with help from TransCore’s 3sixty™ Logistics Suite, a transportation management system (TMS) designed specifically for freight brokers. The TransCore TMS has enabled Network FOB to grow from 17 brokers in 2005 to 50 today, with only a handful of back-office employees. Network FOB also uses TransCore’s 3sixty Freight Match to find the carriers and trucks that cover their exception freight.

To save time and mitigate risk during the company’s rapid growth, Network FOB relies on CarrierWatch. The TransCore carrier monitoring service is updated daily, so Network has constant access to current data on its carriers’ authority, safety ratings and insurance coverage.

Taylor’s reliance on the TMS and CarrierWatch is indicative of his overall management philosophy. He examines every aspect of his business regularly, looking for ways to save time and money. Taylor credits this vigilant management style for Network FOB’s success: Company revenues reached $27 million in 2007, with only four employees, one full-time contractor and zero debt. According to Taylor, Network FOB is on track to achieve $8 million in revenue per employee in 2009 while remaining debt-free. He credits CarrierWatch for enabling Network to call upon the hundreds of carriers that service the company’s expanding transportation needs.

“I don’t think we could grow like we’re growing, as trouble-free as we’ve been, if we didn’t have CarrierWatch,” Taylor concluded.

Working in an all-agent environment poses special challenges, according to Taylor. “An agent is an independent businessman. He is not your employee,” Taylor noted. Agents cannot always be forced to comply with corporate directives, and not all agents are diligent about due diligence.

“You ask an independent businessman to go verify a trucker’s authority, and maybe he will do it. But maybe he won’t,” Taylor said. Network FOB’s risk mounts as the company grows, he noted. “With this number of loads, pretty soon the mathematical odds of having a catastrophe are right in front of your face.”

Network FOB maintains a carrier watch list on file with TransCore. Network FOB’s watch list is monitored daily, and TransCore automatically updates the status for every carrier on the list. TransCore obtains insurance certificates for each carrier and delivers coverage details electronically to Network FOB. TransCore also maintains an online file that contains electronic images of the actual insurance certificates. Network FOB agents or management can view an image of each certificate by logging into the CarrierWatch web site. This premium service saves time and aggravation for Network FOB and its agents. CarrierWatch data is also integrated into the 3sixty Logistics Suite, TransCore’s TMS for brokers. The combined programs prevent agents from dispatching bad carriers.

“CarrierWatch takes care of it for us,” said Taylor. “It’s a big deal. It keeps you from having a problem,” he said.

CarrierWatch also serves as a recruiting tool for new agents, according to Taylor: “They [agents] don’t have to collect the insurance certificates ever again, because CarrierWatch is going to load that up,” said Taylor. Agents can focus on moving freight, because insurance paper work is no longer a distraction, Taylor explained.

“I ask them: ‘Did you ever get stopped in the middle of a dispatch?’ This is my sales pitch,” he continued. “Those things are very frustrating to an agent.”

“The insurance certificate that the trucker sends you could be fraudulent,” Taylor added. “That’s the reality.” Getting a certificate directly from the insurance agent is a solution, but it would be time-consuming for Network FOB’s office staff or agents. Also, an insurance agent may not notify brokers when a carrier’s insurance is cancelled for non-payment. CarrierWatch provides daily updates that incorporate FMCSA and DOT-reported data with the actual insurance certificates, so Network FOB’s records of carrier insurance, authority and safety ratings are always current.

The results speak for themselves. “We did not have any claims on uninsured carriers in 2007, nor have we in 2008, so far,” Taylor said proudly. “Granted, in truckload freight brokering, you really don’t run into a lot of claims. But you do get some,” he said. “We had a $100,000 rollover,” Taylor remembered, “And it was fully covered by the carrier’s insurance company.”

“That’s the proof you want,” he concluded. “Not one uninsured loss.”