What is an electronic bill of lading

Traditionally, a Bill of lading is a contract that establishes an agreement between a shipper and a transportation company for the transportation of goods. Transportation companies are used to the paper bill of lading, however, dealing with handwritten documentation is a nightmare: illegible handwriting, misunderstanding, or getting back to the driver to clarify what was written. These cause delays in invoicing the customers and getting paid for the job. Luckily, these processes can be easily replaced with the electronic bill of lading. So what is an eBOL? In essence, it is a digital bill of lading that nests in a mobile device.

Why is it important to use an eBOL

With an electronic bill of lading form, trucking companies win all the way around. Here's how it works. The manager creates a job filling in the information about the load. The driver receives the job and fills in the data on vehicle, job starting time, ending time. The mileage and fuel are calculated automatically. So does the driver’s work time. Upon delivery, the driver gives the mobile device or a tablet to the customer who signs the digital bill of lading, and - swoosh - it is emailed to the office right away. The office can process this bill of lading instantaneously and create the invoice for the customer. With an electronic bill of lading transportation companies can get paid faster. Needless to say that they also speed up the entire workflow. No more paper forms, no more clipboards, no more illegible handwriting and driving forms to the office.

  • STEP 1
    Work order created
  • STEP 2
    Customer Signs the BOL
  • STEP 3
    BOL PDF sent to the office
  • STEP 4
    Invoice customers right away.
    Get paid faster

What are the benefits of eBOL

The paperless bill of lading process is currently being adopted by many transportation companies.

The negative side of paper BOL is understandable:

  • time to process which in turn causes delays invoicing the customer and getting paid for the job done
  • drivers are gone for many days taking the paper documents with them, and when they go back to the office, they do not remember some details that are required to invoice the customer
  • paper can get lost
  • it’s hard to understand handwriting and mistakes are inevitable.

Electronic bill of lading offers a wide variety of benefits:

  • eBL saves time. Managers fill in the information about the work order and drivers instantly see it on their mobile devices. Drivers don't deal with a paper bill of lading. Instead of dropping off the paper forms in the office, drivers email a digital bill of lading to the office. Which saves time.
  • eBL speeds up the billing cycle. Since the driver doesn't have to drive for days to deliver the paper documents to the office for the managers to create an invoice for the customer, the billing cycle is accelerated.
  • eBL saves money. Without the necessity to print, store, and process paper forms, digital bill of lading saves money.

Watch this podcast episode that explains how a Heavy haul company from TX saves $150,000 annually with an eBL. " The App allows the driver to submit their BOL’s with proof of delivery signatures immediately after delivery, which allows us to get invoices out immediately and decreases the time it takes our clients to pay us. There is less paperwork that needs to be handled therefore decreasing cost by $150,000.00 annually. The driver has everything he needs at his fingertips, his BOL and Inspection forms that need to be completed. Everything is emailed back to the office as well as saved in the cloud. We never have to worry about misplacing an important piece of paper. We love it!” - Edwin Smutt – Operations Manager. Elevation Transport.

How to switch from paper to eBL

Snappii had created a customizable mobile app for the digital bill of lading process. Customizable means that all the eBOL forms can be adapted to your specific business needs. The transformation from a traditional process to a paperless bill of lading only takes a few days. Here's how it works.

You can download a free Snappii's Bill of Lading manager app from both stores and try it at no cost. If you like it, you can use it as-is. After the free trial, you can select the best option to fit your business operations. Additionally, Snappii can convert your existing paper bill of lading and teach your staff how to use it. The app is very intuitive and easy to use. Your team will forget about the tiresome paper-based bill of lading. A mobile app is always at hand, and it literally takes less time to find a mobile phone than it takes to find pen and paper.

Adopt the bring-your-own-device model into your heavy haul business. It will only take a couple of days for your team to adjust to the new paperless bill of lading process. In the end, your entire workflow will improve and your business will greatly benefit from switching to eBL.

Why Snappii

Snappii, a leading Mobile Business Apps company, offering Business Process Automation and Field Reporting Apps used predominantly in Construction, Inspection, Heavy haul delivery, and Work Order management has made the digital transformation affordable especially for small and medium-sized companies. Snappii helps to design, build, and deliver feature-rich business apps and form apps in days versus months without any coding skills.

Any business app and form app can be created quickly, easily, and affordably. The platform also makes it easy to manage Apps and make ongoing changes. Snappii has 200+ live apps in the Apple and Google Stores available for free download and use.

Snappii will create an electronic bill of lading app fast and at a fraction of the cost of hiring a mobile app developer. The eBOL app is easy to navigate and use. It will streamline documentation flow as well as improve team collaboration and shorten the billing cycle. Rely on a paperless bill of lading to save money and time on daily operations.

Talk to us about your needs, let's accelerate your business flow at +1888-707-6633, or email us at sales@snappii.com.