In an era where our supply chains are so firmly rooted in ML/AI and TMSs, we must remember that “the human mind is our fundamental resource.”
Leveraging the latest technology to provide better customer service, increase efficiency and reduce costs is a valuable strategy, but we don’t have to choose between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. In the FourKites ecosystem, it is important to put both to work. Getting companies to that magical quadrant where machine learning meets better business decisions, FourKites wants to educate and certify those who are eager to keep learning.
Yesterday, FourKites released its continuous Learning Platform for shippers – the first of its kind in the visibility space. As a part of that continuing education platform, we are giving our shipper community the ability to pursue courses at their own pace, with the ultimate goal of attaining FourKites Shipper Certification. At Visibility 2019, we hosted a live FourKites Shipper Certification course, where we certified 78 FourKites users. Now, for the first time, our certification courses will be available online at the fingertips of our users. Similar platforms dedicated to our carrier, 3PL and broker communities, will be available in the coming months.
We here at FourKites are so excited to extend our culture of learning to our partner ecosystem. While preparing for the release of the learning platform, I asked our global teams what the term “continuous learning” meant to them. I received an unexpected response: tons and tons of graduation pictures.
But what are graduation moments, really? Everyone has one or two such moments that spring to mind. For me, graduation moments are those life paradigms where I moved from one way of thinking to another – finishing high school, then college, then business school. In each picture I have of those moments, I’m surrounded by loved ones, holding flowers, with a nervous smile on my face. Other types of graduation (though admittedly, I’m less familiar with these) are getting blackbelts in Taekwondo and Six Sigma, or graduating from basic training to the active military. Each of these significant moments are part of a learning continuum that comes to determine the course of our lives.
Whatever continuous learning meant to the individual FourKiters, one thing was certain: We value learning. It’s who we are and what we do. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised by the number of pictures that flooded my inbox when I put out my simple request. When you’re proud of something, you want to share it with others. That’s why our teams sent me their graduation moments, and it’s why I’m now sharing them with you. It’s also one of the reasons that anyone who earns FourKites Certification will also receive a recognizable LinkedIn badge, which is searchable for those organizations looking to staff qualified “Visibility Manager” candidates. This is something we’re seeing more and more of; a qualification that will hold more weight as real-time visibility continues to gain momentum in the logistics community.
We’ve invested in this continuous education opportunity to encourage a culture of learning and agility. We built FourKites’ learning platform using MIT’s method of modulated, active learning. This lets users cherry-pick classes that fit their tailored personas. If a person is invested in visibility, they can opt to take the first four modules and, after successfully completing a quiz, achieve FourKites Certification. Whichever path FourKites users choose to follow on our learning platform, they’ll benefit in a highly personalized manner.
Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
– Stephen Hawking
Supply chain is an industry ripe for change, and companies that have been most successful with their visibility journey have done so by adapting to the many changes that our industry faces. The best way to adapt, of course, is to be continuously open to learning new skills, new ways of doing things, and new ways of optimizing their operations. Our most successful users recognize the importance of lifelong learning, and we’re thrilled to be able to support them with our robust and flexible continuing education program.
We’re proud to finally unveil our Learning Platform for shippers, which will help our users maximize the value of real-time visibility throughout their organization.
