McLeod, Augment partner to integrate AI into broker workflows

McLeod's headquarters in Birmingham, Ala. (McLeod via YouTube)

McLeod Software and startup firm Augment have partnered to apply artificial intelligence to carrier selection and shipment tracking, two of the most labor-intensive tasks in freight brokerage.

The companies have introduced a software integration connecting Augment’s AI assistant, named Augie, with McLeod’s PowerBroker transportation management system to help freight brokers cover loads faster and free workers from repetitive communications tasks.

The integration is designed to reduce the administrative work associated with carrier sourcing and track-and-trace functions by streamlining tasks such as responding to carrier inquiries, negotiating rates, verifying compliance and continually updating shipment status information.

Augie can process inbound calls and emails from carriers, respond to rate requests, validate carriers, provide shipment updates and automatically update information directly in PowerBroker, the companies said.

The AI tool draws on operational data, carrier histories, company policies and other internal information to help guide its responses.

“Carrier selection is one of the highest-volume, most repetitive coordination jobs in freight brokerage — and it’s exactly the kind of work where AI can have an immediate, measurable impact,” Harish Abbott, Augment’s co-founder and CEO, said in the Aug. 5 announcement. “Every time a broker has to stop what they’re doing to field a carrier call or chase down a rate, that’s time not spent on the customer or the next load.”

Helping brokers manage carrier communications is an area where AI can have an immediate impact, said Ahmed Ebrahim, McLeod’s senior vice president of strategic alliances.

“Our integration with Augment gives brokers a practical way to apply AI inside McLeod Software’s operational workflows they already rely on — without adding complexity or changing how their teams operate,” he said.

CRST The Transportation Solution is among the first customers actively utilizing the integration.

Lakshmikanth Gomathinathan, CRST’s vice president of transportation technology, described the McLeod TMS as the company’s system of record, while Augie operates as its system of action.

CRST has prioritized its AI implementation on high-volume, repetitive tasks that still demand quality and timeliness.

“For us, that pointed to load building for the operations team,” Gomathinathan said.

Rather than replacing back-office personnel, AI agents are changing the type of work they do, he said.

“Instead of keying every order, they work the exceptions. Instead of fielding every carrier call, our reps get only qualified loads and spend their time on the relationship and the negotiation,” Gomathinathan said. “Of course, for those calls, a person still makes the decision. The AI agent tees things up, but our team stays in the driver’s seat.”

CRST, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ranks No. 36 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers and No. 83 among third-party logistics providers in North America.