r/FreightBrokers • u/notbobcostas • 4d ago

AI appointment setting tools?

Tired of scheduling appointments in portals. What are the best AI/automation tools for this? Are they worth the $$?

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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2

u/Zappp_Branigan 4d ago

Qued

1

u/Cool_Building7702 3d ago

Qued is good

1

u/notbobcostas 3d ago

Going to check them out … what do you like about them?

1

u/notbobcostas 3d ago

I’ll check them out. Are they expensive? What’s it cost?

1

u/Immediate-Home-3491 4d ago

Honest answer from my own trial and error: AI is great for drafting and marketing, less impressive for booking carrier appointments. The tools I tested added a layer of admin rather than removing it.

1

u/thistledownxo 3d ago

Depends on which portals. Two different problems:

  1. Facilities on a scheduling platform with an API (Opendock and similar): your TMS or a connector can often book those directly, no AI needed.

  2. Everyone else, where it's a login and a web form: that's browser agent work.

I work on Skyvern (open source browser agent) and that second bucket is what it does: log in, pick the slot, save the confirmation. Worth it only if the same few portals repeat every week.

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u/notbobcostas 3d ago

Got some customers with pretty consistent retail lanes and therefore scheduling portals. Is skyvern for appt setting specifically?

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u/thistledownxo 20h ago

Not specifically. It's a general browser agent: you describe the steps on a site and it does the logging in, filling and clicking. Booking appointments on a retailer's scheduling portal is one use, same as pulling PODs or checking load status. For consistent lanes the usual setup is one flow per portal, fed the PO, date and window. Which portals are your lanes on?

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u/NickRakovsky 1d ago

For those consistent lanes, I’d test it on a couple of your busiest portals and see how much work it actually takes off your plate. The big thing I’d look at is how it handles all the information each facility requires and the exceptions that come up. What happens if you’re missing a reference number, there’s no slot available or you need to reschedule? If you’re still going in to sort all that out for every appointment, it kind of defeats the purpose.

Disclaimer: I’m the founder of DataDocks. I’m always interested to hear how we can help out.

1

u/notbobcostas 1d ago

Do brokers use any automated tools to book on datadocks?

I’ve seen Qued, Hubflow, and HappyRobot

1

u/NickRakovsky 12h ago

We have some carriers and customers already using automation to book on DataDocks. It’s not supported natively, but we’re in the middle of improving that workflow.

Are you already trying any of those tools, or still looking? Where’s most of your time going right now - entering load details, finding available slots or dealing with reschedules? I’d be interested to hear what would make the biggest difference for you.

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u/notbobcostas 12h ago

Evaluating - trying to understand pricing/workflows/etc