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Less than one-fifth of shippers and 3PLs currently use visibility technology , according to one estimate . Angel DiBilio / Shutterstock . com
“ Vendors tend to coexist ,” he said . “ Typically , many of our customers , like Michelin , use Wakeo for all their intercontinental flows , and then locally they can be using p44 for road in North America . In the end , several companies can prosper .”
Cote compared the current landscape to that of transportation management system ( TMS ) market , where “ many people thought a large player like SAP would consolidate the end-to-end supply chain . In reality , we ’ re far from this , and the best-of-breed approach took over the one-stop-shop play .”
“ Each mode of transportation has deep specificities , so today there is no ‘ one size fits all .’”
Melding data from more than one visibility provider means shippers , or their 3PL partners , need to be adept at integrating and normalizing tracking data across modes , or use a platform that specializes in logistics data integrations .
That ’ s not as difficult a task as it was in previous generations of logistics software . Most visibility providers already integrate with widely used TMSs , and some even
www . joc . com plug directly into enterprise resource planning ( ERP ) systems so shippers can use visibility data in functional areas outside of logistics .
“ It ’ s really not a big issue for clients ,” Cote said . “ Via APIs , they can still connect everything back to the ERP , but you need good IT architects and integration teams .”
A problem of profitability
Beyond the technical lift of combining data from multiple visibility providers , there is a sense that more vendors are good for the market . Logistics has a natural predilection for fragmentation , evidenced by the tens of thousands of 3PLs , trucking companies and software providers that serve shippers .
“ Lack of consolidation means there ’ s more competition ,” said Akshay Dodeja , CEO of Terminal49 . “ There ’ s more appetite to continue to innovate , to improve the quality of the data and the user experience .
“ It ’ s an old industry that we ’ re trying to evolve and change , and it ’ s going to take some time ,” he added . “ There ’ s a linear increase in technology improvement instead of an exponential increase .”
But competition — at least in theory — creates winners and losers , leaving the question of whether all these vendors can survive in their current forms very much unanswered .
FourKites told the Journal of Commerce it is currently profitable , but none of the other vendors have yet to reach
December 2 , 2024 | Journal of Commerce 13