🎣 Automating Freight Invoicing

Good morning. A few weeks ago, many of you asked for more deep dives on companies in our industry.

Today, we’re featuring one of our main sponsors, Epay Manager, which was recently acquired by OTR Solutions. Epay Manager is a tool that helps brokers automate invoicing and prevent fraud. We also looked at how AI and automation are shaping the platform’s future.

As always, we appreciate your feedback. If you would like to share your opinion with us, you can take this quick 1-minute survey.

How Epay Manager Started

Thomas Whaley created Epay Manager over 20 years ago. He was a freight broker and trucking company owner, so he saw the problems in back-office operations firsthand. That’s why he built Epay—to make back-office easier.

Key Milestones

1999: Thomas Whaley founded Epay Manager.
2003: Launched the first fully electronic invoicing and payment system for freight.
2012: Added document imaging, automated invoice creation and delivery.
2016: Introduced early payments to carriers.
2024: Acquired by OTR Solutions, with new AI-driven tools for invoicing automation and working capital solutions.

Brokers Are Stuck Using Email For Invoicing

Results from our recent LinkedIn Poll. Click **here** to vote.

Insights from our recent poll indicate that most brokers handle invoice disputes through email, a process that is both inefficient and risky.

Epay Manager wasn’t designed to merely resolve disputes after they arise; instead, it prevents disputes from occurring in the first place.

Through Audit Proof Invoicing, Epay uses TMS data to automatically generate accurate invoices and match documents, ensuring that the correct amounts are accepted by carriers or factoring companies before invoices even reach the broker.

Clayton Griffin told me: "If you're still working from an email inbox for invoicing, you're leaving a lot on the table," he said. "With Epay, everything starts with your TMS data. It’s a proactive system that cuts out the inefficiencies and risks that come with emails."

A freight broker commented on our poll, highlighting all the manual labor she undertakes to resolve an invoice dispute—all of which would be eliminated with Epay Manager.

Using email for invoicing carriers is time-consuming, costly, and prone to human error. That's why utilizing a tool like Epay can make your company more efficient, increase profitability, and save you money.

Brokers using Epay cut their invoice processing costs by up to 75%. Billing costs to customers? Reduced by up to 95%.

Whaley, who operated a freight brokerage before founding Epay Manager, emphasized that his ability to stay operational during a period of stagflation was largely due to his efforts in lowering fixed costs. He urged other freight brokers to adopt similar strategies.

Whaley, wrote in a blog on FreightWaves:

The only way to reduce these costs is for brokers to reduce the number of people in their back offices. But before those cuts, they must decide how to replace the work performed...One mid-sized Epay broker, who processed more than 98,000 carrier invoices in the system, earned discounts in excess of $320,000.

Fraud Prevention and Automation

In addition to cutting costs, Epay Manager is also a powerful tool for fraud prevention. Epay’s system starts invoicing directly from the broker’s TMS, eliminating many of the risks associated with email-based invoicing.

Clayton Griffin emphasized: "By restricting access to the right players, Epay dramatically reduces fraud risks."

Clayton also shared how OTR Solutions is incorporating AI and automation tools into Epay Manager to further streamline operations.

We’re layering in natural language processing and AI capabilities to automate everything from document submission to payments.

The goal is to allow brokers to focus on their business while leaving repetitive tasks to automation.

Join Us for FreightCaviar x Epay Manager LinkedIn Live

Reed Loustalot and I will continue our discussion with Clayton Griffin this Thursday, Oct. 3rd at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET for the second-ever FreightCaviar LinkedIn Live.

We will focus on the rising fraud targeting freight brokers inboxes and how Epay Manager eliminates it.

Click here to RSVP.

After our 30-minute discussion, we will have a meme contest (with a chance to win the Freight Broker Starter Pack - image below) and a live Q&A session.

Meme Contest: Win the Freight Broker Stater Pack

Email your best freight broker memes to pbj@freightcaviar.com.

Winner will be chosen live on the show and will receive the Epay Manager Freight Broker Starter Pack & a FreightCaviar T-Shirt.

You can watch our interview with Clayton Griffin from a few months ago, by clicking below or click here to listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.