Freight brokerage IT
IT Support for Freight Brokers and Logistics Companies
Remote support for brokerages and 3PL offices where every desk runs a TMS, two load boards, a softphone and four monitors, and where one stolen login can mean a stolen load.
- No minimum users
- Month-to-month
- Mon–Fri 8am–8pm ET
Who this is for
Freight brokerages, agent offices, small 3PLs and dispatch services with roughly 2 to 50 people: brokers, carrier reps, track-and-trace, billing, and an owner or operations manager who handles IT when it breaks.
The typical desk is a Windows laptop or mini PC on a dock driving three or four monitors, a TMS in the browser or a desktop client, DAT and Truckstop open all day, a softphone with a headset, and an inbox full of rate confirmations, BOLs and PODs.
Agent offices often work inside the parent brokerage’s systems. In that case we look after your own devices, network and accounts and leave the brokerage’s platforms to its IT team.
What you get for $49 per user per month
- Unlimited remote help desk tickets, Mon–Fri 8am–8pm ET
- Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace administration
- Managed EDR antivirus and automated patching
- Cloud backup monitoring
- New-hire setup and offboarding
Software we work with
Brokerages stitch together many vendor platforms. We are not affiliated with these vendors. Each vendor supports its platform, and we support the desks, network, phones and accounts your team uses to reach it.
| Area | Common apps | What we handle | What the vendor handles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation management systems | McLeod PowerBroker, Tai TMS, Descartes Aljex, Revenova (built on Salesforce), Turvo | Workstation and browser setup, desktop client installs where used, printing of rate confirmations and BOLs, sign-in and MFA problems, and integrations that fail because of a firewall rule or expired connection on your side. | TMS bugs, workflow configuration, EDI and integration mapping on their side, user licensing and data corrections. |
| Load boards and carrier vetting | DAT One, Truckstop, Highway, Descartes MyCarrierPortal (MyCarrierPackets) | Browser profiles and extensions, saved-password cleanup, one account per person, and MFA enrollment. | Subscriptions and seats, data accuracy, carrier verification results and platform outages. |
| Phones and dispatch | RingCentral, 8×8, Nextiva, Zoom Phone, Microsoft Teams Phone | Softphone installs and audio device selection, USB and Bluetooth headsets, router settings for voice traffic, and call-quality troubleshooting from the desk and network side. | Phone numbers and porting, carrier-side outages and platform-level call routing defects. |
| Email and documents | Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, PDF and e-signature tools, document scanning apps | Mailbox security, external-sender warnings and impersonation protection where your license includes it, SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your own domain, and shared mailboxes for dispatch, carrier setup and billing. | Platform outages and licensing. |
| Accounting, factoring and banking | QuickBooks, factoring company portals, online banking | Sign-in security on finance logins, protected finance workstations, and a written process for verifying any change to carrier payment details. | Account servicing, payment disputes and their own fraud teams. |
Problems we fix every week
The fourth monitor won’t wake up after lunch
Dock firmware, display drivers or USB-C limits; we find which one and suggest one dock model for every desk.
Read the fix →Choppy calls or one-way audio on the softphone
We test the headset, the softphone’s audio settings and the network path, then adjust the router for voice traffic where it supports that.
Read the fix →Load board logins shared across the floor
We move to one login per person where your subscription allows it, with MFA turned on.
An email asks you to change a carrier’s payment details
We turn on external-sender warnings and, where your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace license includes it, impersonation protection, and help you set a call-back rule using contact details already on file, never the ones in the email.
Your mailbox sends rate cons nobody wrote
Account takeover. We disable the account, reset the password, revoke sessions, remove forwarding, inbox rules and any MFA methods or app consents the attacker added, review sign-ins and help you warn carriers and shippers.
Read the fix →The office internet drops and the floor stops
We check the router, Wi-Fi and ISP; failover to a second connection is scoped separately — ask before onboarding.
Read the fix →The broker desk: monitors, docks and headsets
A broker who loses a screen loses track of loads. Most trouble with a dispatch multi monitor setup comes from mixing laptops, docks and cables that don’t match, so the fix is usually standardizing desks, not one-off troubleshooting.
| Desk setup | Works well for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Laptop on a USB-C or Thunderbolt dock | Two or three monitors, hot-desking | The laptop’s graphics and port decide how many screens work, not just the dock |
| DisplayLink dock | Extra monitors on laptops with limited video output | Needs the DisplayLink driver and some CPU; driver updates matter |
| Desktop with a graphics card, or a mini PC rated for four displays | Four or more monitors at a fixed desk | On a desktop, plug monitors into the graphics card, not the motherboard; on a mini PC, check how many displays its ports support |
Headsets matter as much as screens. Classic Bluetooth headsets drop to a lower-quality hands-free mode while the microphone is in use; newer LE Audio headsets avoid this on Windows 11 PCs that support it. For all-day calling, a wired USB headset or one with its own USB receiver usually sounds better. Keep one model across the floor so spares just work. If a screen isn’t detected at all, our second monitor troubleshooting guide covers the checks in order.
Phones and network: keeping calls clear
Softphone problems are rarely the phone app. They usually come from the headset, the computer’s audio settings or the network path to your phone provider.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Check first |
|---|---|---|
| Only one person sounds bad | Headset, wrong audio device selected in the softphone, or that desk’s Wi-Fi | Swap in a known-good headset, confirm the softphone’s microphone and speaker selection, then plug the desk into a wired port |
| Everyone breaks up at the same times of day | Upload congestion on your line or at the ISP | Run a speed and call-quality test during a bad period and a quiet one, and compare |
| One-way audio, or calls that connect to silence | The router or firewall mishandling voice traffic, often SIP ALG or blocked media ports | Compare the router settings with your phone provider’s published network requirements |
| No calls work, but web apps do | Provider outage or a recent firewall change | Check the provider’s status page, then any router or firewall changes |
- Prioritize voice. Many business routers can prioritize voice traffic, and some phone providers ask you to disable SIP ALG. Follow your provider’s network requirements.
- Plan for an outage. A second internet line with automatic failover, or at least the softphone app on everyone’s mobile, keeps the floor working when the main line drops.
Fraud, double brokering and account takeover
Double brokering prevention, like stopping identity theft in freight, is a business process first: who you book, how you vet them and how you pay them. Carrier vetting platforms such as Highway and MyCarrierPortal help you check a carrier’s identity, authority and insurance before you award a load. Freight broker cybersecurity is the part that runs on your IT, and that’s our job: making it harder for criminals to use your accounts, inbox or payment process against you.
| How it happens | Control that blocks it | What we set up |
|---|---|---|
| Phishing steals a load board or TMS login | MFA and per-person accounts | MFA on every platform that offers it, no shared logins |
| A broker’s mailbox is taken over and sends fake rate cons | Strong sign-in and alerting | MFA, sign-in risk policies where your license allows, alerts on new forwarding rules |
| Someone sends email forging your exact domain | Email authentication | SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your domain, working toward a quarantine or reject policy |
| Look-alike domain impersonates you or a carrier | Impersonation warnings and verification | External-sender tags, impersonation protection where your license includes it (in Microsoft 365, Defender for Office 365), and a call-back rule for any payment or rate change |
| Payment details changed by email | Out-of-band verification | A written call-back rule using contact details already on file |
| Malware on a dispatch PC captures credentials | Endpoint protection and patching | Managed endpoint protection and scheduled updates |
Contractors face the same payment-redirect scheme on supplier invoices; our construction IT support page walks through the Microsoft 365 setting that blocks forwarding to outside addresses.
For admins and anyone who can change payments, phishing-resistant MFA such as security keys or passkeys is the stronger choice; CISA describes FIDO-based authentication as the widely available phishing-resistant option.
If someone is using your company’s identity
You usually hear about it first from a carrier or shipper asking about a load you never booked. FMCSA’s guidance for broker and carrier identity theft is to:
- Report it to local law enforcement and file a complaint in FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database; you can also use the USDOT Inspector General hotline.
- Tell your insurance company, and the load boards and factoring companies you use, that your company’s information is being misused.
- Warn customers with posts on your website and social media.
- Check your SAFER Company Snapshot to make sure the phone numbers shown are yours and visible, and check your FMCSA registration details often.
On the IT side, we review sign-ins and inbox rules on every mailbox, secure any account that looks touched, and confirm no one changed the email or phone on your Login.gov, load board or factoring logins.
When you vet a carrier, FMCSA advises calling the number posted in SAFER rather than one the caller gives you, and warns that top search results for a company’s contact details can be fake profiles.
This is general IT guidance, not legal, insurance or compliance advice, and we don’t claim any compliance certification. Take vetting, payment and contract questions to your attorney, insurer or factoring company.
MFA on FMCSA, load board and portal logins
The logins that can do the most damage are often the least watched: your federal registration account, load boards, factoring and bank portals, and the domain registrar for your email.
- FMCSA Portal and Motus. Both sign in through Login.gov, and each person needs their own Login.gov account; never share one. Login.gov requires at least one MFA method and encourages adding two, so add a second and one lost phone doesn’t lock you out. FMCSA’s Motus registration system opened in May 2026, and claiming your USDOT number there requires the person in your company’s top FMCSA Portal role to use the same Login.gov email in both. FMCSA says that role belongs with the owner or someone authorized to sign for the company, so use an email they alone control and will keep.
- Owner-controlled, not employee-held. The domain registrar and banking logins belong to the owner or a named officer, with recovery details stored securely, not to whoever set them up years ago. Anyone else who needs access gets their own login.
- Load boards and TMS. One account per person, with MFA on.
- Finance portals. MFA, alerts on payee changes where the bank offers them, and a second person approving new payees.
Our email security and 2FA setup covers phishing and spoof filtering, SPF, DKIM and DMARC, a staged two-factor rollout, and alerts on new mailbox rules and suspicious sign-ins.
When a broker or carrier rep leaves
- Same day: block their email sign-in, end their sessions, and remove their TMS user and load board seat so no one can post or book under their name.
- Keep the phone number: reassign their direct line or extension to whoever takes over their accounts, so shippers and carriers who call it still reach you.
- Keep the mail: convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox or route it to a teammate, so rate cons, PODs and invoices sent to them are still answered.
- Rotate what they knew: Wi-Fi keys, door codes and any shared passwords.
What the plan covers for a brokerage
Our managed IT services for freight brokers run on the Business Support Plan: $49 per user per month, month-to-month, with no minimum users and no setup fee. It includes unlimited remote help desk tickets, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace administration (adding and removing users, password resets, security setup), managed EDR antivirus, automated Windows patching and tune-ups, cloud backup monitoring, and new-hire setup and offboarding. A password manager rollout and router failover setup are scoped separately — ask before onboarding.
Worked example: a floor of 12 brokers and carrier reps plus 3 in billing and management is 15 users × $49 = $735 a month.
Outside the plan: on-site work such as cabling, new desks or a network closet, arranged separately as a paid add-on through a vetted local partner technician (see on-site IT support); hardware and parts such as monitors, docks, headsets, routers and security keys; a second internet line from your ISP; software licenses for your TMS, load boards, phone system, password manager and any Microsoft or Google security add-ons; and bugs inside a vendor’s own application.
Who does the work, and what hours to expect
Brokerage tickets are handled by a US-managed support team with engineers in the United States and overseas, Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm Eastern. Night and weekend dispatch is outside those hours, so we set those desks up to run on their own where possible.
Every remote session needs your approval, and you can end it at any time. Our engineers use MFA on our own tools, and remote sessions are logged.
Some shipper contracts, such as government or defense freight, restrict who can access systems. If a contract or your compliance policy limits where support staff can be located, raise it before onboarding so we can tell you plainly whether we’re a fit.
Your first 30 days
- Week 1, map the floor. Every desk’s computer, dock, monitors and headset; the internet line and router; every platform login, including who holds your FMCSA Portal, registrar and bank accounts.
- Week 2, lock the accounts. Shared logins replaced, MFA on email, TMS, load boards and finance portals, inbox-rule alerts on, and a password manager rollout if it’s in scope.
- Week 3, harden the desks. Endpoint protection and patching on every PC, standard dock and headset models chosen, router checked for voice traffic.
- Week 4, write the process. A one-page payment-change verification rule, an offboarding checklist for brokers who leave, and a short incident sheet for a suspected account takeover or identity theft.
Frequently asked questions
What is double brokering, and can IT support stop it?
Double brokering is when a load is re-brokered to another carrier without the shipper’s or original broker’s authorization, often by someone using a stolen identity, and the carrier who hauls it may never get paid. IT controls can’t vet carriers for you, but MFA, email protection and payment verification make it much harder for criminals to use your accounts and inbox in the scheme.
How do fraudsters take over a broker’s identity?
Usually through stolen logins and email. A phishing page captures a load board, TMS or email password, or a look-alike domain is registered to impersonate your company. From there they post loads, send rate confirmations or redirect payments. Per-person accounts with MFA and alerts on mailbox rules close the stolen-login path. DMARC stops criminals sending as your exact domain, but a look-alike domain can pass its own checks, so external-sender tags and impersonation warnings matter too.
Do you support McLeod, Tai or Aljex?
We support the computers, browsers, network, printing and sign-ins those systems depend on, plus desktop client installs where your TMS uses one. McLeod and Descartes (which now owns both Aljex and Tai) support their own platforms, including configuration, EDI and data issues. We are not affiliated with any TMS vendor, and we tell you when a problem belongs to them.
How many monitors can a laptop and dock run?
It depends on the laptop as much as the dock. The laptop’s graphics and its USB-C or Thunderbolt port set the limit for native video; DisplayLink docks can add more screens through a driver. For four or more monitors at a fixed desk, a desktop with a graphics card, or a mini PC rated for that many displays, is usually more reliable.
Can you support brokers and freight agents who work from home?
Yes. We configure the laptop, dock and monitors remotely, install the softphone, set up the headset, and turn on MFA, endpoint protection and updates, the same as at an office desk. Home desks need two extra checks: a wired connection to the home router where possible, and a fallback such as the softphone app on a mobile for when the home internet drops. Agents working inside a parent brokerage’s systems still get help from that brokerage for its platforms.
Do you cover night and weekend dispatch?
No. Our desk runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm Eastern, with a same-business-day response in those hours. For night and weekend desks we reduce the chance of being stuck: spare headsets and cables, a documented restart order for docks and routers, mobile softphone apps as a fallback and a failover internet line, which is scoped separately — ask before onboarding. Issues raised outside hours are handled when support resumes.
See whether we’re a fit in 20 minutes
Tell us how many people you have and what you use. We’ll tell you plainly what the $49/user plan covers for you and what it doesn’t.