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CTSI Observes 50 Years of Freight Transactions and IT Services to Global Shippers

CTSI, formerly known as Continental Traffic Service, Inc., begins celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a shorter name, but a longer company history than any other logistics IT developer. The name is one of many recent changes, including a revamped brand identity and new Web site, but the updates are more than cosmetic, according to CEO J. Kenneth Hazen, “Our name is shorter but our list of services is much longer.”

The Memphis-based firm is a leading provider of supply-chain execution technology and freight invoice services. CTSI’s main IT product, the Web-hosted e-CTMS transportation management system (TMS), was built on the company’s deep experience processing more than 200 million transportation-related financial transactions annually. Founded in 1955 as a freight bill audit and payment service, the company adapted to market and regulatory changes that have since sidelined nearly all of its competitors by expanding into consulting and information technology.

“The traditional freight bill audit and payment industry has passed the same crossroads that the typewriter industry faced 25 years ago,” explains Hazen, who has led CTSI since 1982. “We could follow the example of the old Remington Typewriter Company, which thrives today as the Unisys Corporation. Or, we could emulate Smith-Corona, who avoided tweaking their business model because their short-term revenue picture was still bright. CTSI obviously took the Remington route, and we haven’t looked back.”

CTSI recently introduced data-mining modules to the e-CTMS platform and opened its first European office (Birmingham, UK), literally enhancing both its depth and breadth.

The newer Information Management Module mines both detailed and summarized data for reporting, analysis and visual depiction of transportation data. The Modeling & Benchmarking Module calculates cost increases or savings by adjusting variables to re-rate previous shipments, generating “what if” scenarios. Like the other e-CTMS modules, they can be economically purchased separately.

e-CTMS has many of the same features as other transportation management systems (TMS), but the hosted, on-demand suite’s analytical tools are supported with a 15-terabyte warehouse of freight transactional data, equivalent in size to the printed collection of the Library of Congress.

When asked why a traditional freight-invoice audit and payment service is drifting into the swift and deep waters of the TMS vendor marketplace, Chief Marketing Officer Ken Pehanick has a simple answer: “We were doing it already. We have been producing custom applications for our freight billing customers for years, so this is a purely organic shift into the TMS field.”

Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, with operations in Birmingham, UK, CTSI processes more than 200 million financial freight transactions annually, representing more than $5 billion in payments for its 350 clients, including 25 FORTUNE 500 companies. In addition to its freight bill audit/payment and consulting services, the company’s e-CTMS transportation management system suite features 10 Web-based modules that can be deployed separately: Information Management, Modeling and Benchmarking, Rate Management, Data Base Maintenance/Management, Order Management/Bill of Lading , Load Planning/Optimization, Carrier/Mode Selection , Posting and Tendering, Freight Bill Auditing and Payment, Loss & Damage Claims. CTSI is online at www.ctsi-global.com.