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Peter YostSr. Director, Strategic Alliances, FourKites

Logistics has always been both a people business and a partnership business. As time goes on and supply chain technology gets more advanced, there’s no question that it’s become a data business, as well. Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed tremendous evolution in the sophistication of the supply chain technology solutions on the market today. Perhaps one of the most prominent examples of this is supply chain visibility

In the early days of visibility technology, providers relied on a few patchwork partnerships to provide shippers with a picture of their freight in transit. How much that has changed in the intervening years! The FourKites network now generates more than 1.5 trillion terabytes of new data every day. This data comes from more than 500 of the world’s largest shippers, 1 million-plus daily shipments and thousands of individual partners. 

Do You Want Better Sameness, or Meaningful Difference?

Years ago, I worked for Apple Computer, and I learned an awful lot while I was there. This was long before Apple was the cultural and technological powerhouse that it is today, but the seeds of that differentiation were always there. 

We had a mantra that really cuts to the core of how Apple got to where it is today: “Would you rather have better sameness, or meaningful difference?” Better sameness means “I’m just like them, only better.” There’s a tendency in today’s business technology landscape — overrun as it is by buzzwords, hype cycles and changes that happen in the blink of an eye — to lump oneself in with one’s competitors and fall into the trap of better sameness. 

By that same token, however, all of that rapid change and lack of actionable information means that companies also have an opportunity to truly set themselves apart from their competitors and achieve meaningful differentiation. In our industry, effective use of real-time information is a key to achieving that differentiation. 

We’re always saying that data is the new oil. The companies that envision a future where data is seamlessly integrated to enable powerful decision-making at every level of the ecosystem — these are the companies that are able to stand up and honestly say that they are giving their customers something new. For solution providers that truly take advantage of real-time data, the possibilities are limited only by the imagination.

The Ghosts of Supply Chains Past

In many areas of the logistics industry today, people are haunted by what I like to think of as the ghosts of supply chains past. Just because there are certain ways things have always been done doesn’t mean that those are the best possible ways something can be done.

We’re witnessing a turning point in this industry that is reminiscent of the early days of the internet itself. As we achieve a critical mass of real-time supply chain data, we have the opportunity to reinvent this industry, in a truly global dimension. As accurate, actionable data is injected into supply chain infrastructure and processes, the systems that run our companies’ supply chains are evolving beyond just a transportation management system or a visibility solution and into something completely new: a true digital twin of the end-to-end enterprise supply chain.

What does this mean for the future of our industry? This is about more than just shipment statuses and ETAs. It’s not even just about managing exceptions or mitigating crises. When we supplement our existing systems with accurate real-time data, we gain the ability to make better plans — plans that not only more accurately reflect reality, but that can also more accurately predict the future.

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So what does the future look like? Once-distinct supply chain technologies will be inextricably connected. In 10 years, you won’t know where one system ends and the other begins. Where today’s industry has decentralized workflows, disjointed and redundant processes, and trapped, siloed data, the supply chain of the future is a system of systems, enabling levels of trust and efficiency that significantly reduce both friction and costs.

We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting very close. And while FourKites is paving the way to that future, we can’t get there without our partners, customers, technology companies, integrators and other supply chain stakeholders who believe in this collective vision and want to be a part of a network that generates unprecedented collaborative opportunities. We are truly grateful for this world-class and growing partner network that helps to facilitate the flow of data throughout our global supply chains.

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