Transportation and Logistics

Transportation solutions have evolved to the point where we have a rich market of solutions providers.

Now we can solve complex and global problems. We cover technology and advanced practices such as same-day home delivery, optimizing logistics and risk mitigation.

To learn more about how ChainLink Research can help you with your transportation and logistics strategy, please contact us via email or call us.

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• Descartes Transforming the Customer Experience--Highlights from the 2019 Descartes’ Evolution Conference  -- Descartes is elevating and broadening the scope and value of the transportation management function from the traditional behind-the-scenes efficiency and cost control to a more visible, customer-facing role, creating a superior customer experience.


• Profitable Fulfillment Series: (Parts 1-3)


• Profitable Fulfillment: Part One--The Opportunity -- Today's customers demand not just rapid fulfillment, but unique personalized fulfillment approaches with different requirements by sector, channel, and customer. The big challenge is doing it economically, efficiently, and profitably. In this series we explore four different approaches to achieving profitable fulfillment, managing the complexities of multi-tier, multi-partner fulfillment networks.
  
  
• Profitable Fulfillment: Part Two--Strategies: Segmentation, Orchestration, Postponement, Pooling -- There are proven strategies for achieving profitable fulfillment, including segmentation and orchestration of fulfillment service providers, optimizing postponement with outsourced partners, and multi-party inventory pooling.
  
  
• Profitable Fulfillment: Part Three--Enabling Capabilities -- Profitable fulfillment can be enabled through a combination of 1) precise, network-wide visibility, 2) network orchestration capabilities, and 3) networked order management. Here we describe what these capabilities mean in practice.


• 2016 -- A Year of Change -- Supply chain and technology hot spots for 2016.


• Tackling Profitable Fulfillment in 2016 -- 2016 will be the year of reckoning for many retailers and manufacturers who do 'fulfillment at any cost.' Here are some insights on key elements required to fulfill profitability in today's increasingly demanding competitive environment.


• Parceling out Parcel -- From free shipping to high-value air courier services, parcel shipping is serious business.


• Report: Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders at the Crossroads -- At the crossroads, many freight forwarders have some fundamental questions as they contemplate the road ahead. What will we provide our customers in the future? How can we continue to grow and win business--profitably?


• IoT Takes to the Road--How IoT Is Changing Transportation -- Highlights from the MIT/ChainLink panel discussion on IoT in Transportation, including applications of IoT in transportation and logistics, data ownership, privacy and liability, the impact of driverless vehicles, and more.


• Report: The World of Transportation Management Technology - Introduction -- ChainLink TMS Report Introduction.


• Transportation Management--Who Pays? -- Understanding pricing in the transportation market is difficult for buyers. But the more sobering question is: will the TM market follow other sectors with giveaways and freeware?


• Closing the Gap in Adoption -- Users buy a lot of Transportation Management technology, but do they use it?
  
  
• Transportation Management Landscape: (Parts 1-2)
  • The World of Transportation Management -- Understanding International vs. Domestic TMS.
  • Transportation Management--Points of Light...And Cash -- Specialization in the TM Market.
    
• Deals -- Descartes and IFS make major acquisitions.
• More Supply Chain Deals: Intrigo-Califta, Mercator-Catapult, Marlin-IBS -- The summer may not have been very hot, but hot tech deals are still plentiful.
• GT Nexus Bridges 2015 -- Insights and updates from the GT Nexus user conference.
• Descartes Evolution -- Insights from the Descartes User Conference.
• Omni Channel: Start Asking the Right Questions! -- So much has been written about Omni, but there hasn't been too much real guidance. ChainLink has provided actionable insights to help manufacturers, brand, and retailers think more deeply about Omni and develop strategies and methods for success.
• JDA Gets in Focus -- Updates and Insights from JDA's FOCUS 2015 Conference.
• Will International Trade Increase or Will We Reshore and Insource? -- Release of final 2014 numbers and 2015 forecasts of world economic numbers shows a changing picture of national economies. What will the impact be on supply chain strategy?

• Transportation Solutions: (Parts 1-2)
  • Transportation Solutions Highlights Pt 1 -- Supply chain executives have been craving for multi-platform, cross-functional views to bring transportation into the mainstream business processes. Now it's here.
  • Transportation Solutions Highlights Pt 2 - Defining the Center of Gravity -- Deciding what is the next stage in the journey for transportation solution providers takes some calculus...

• Report: Always On -- Peak Performance for Nonstop Businesses.

• Making Dollars and Sense Out of Ocean Container Data -- New SYSPRO U.S. Solution Rides Ocean Wave into Global Container Tracking.
• The Year of the Last Mile -- Demand-driven supply chains, new customer service models, and Omni-channel/free delivery are all driving up the cost of transportation. So what does last mile really cost?
• Congestion? Headache? The Flu? No. It's the Port of LA. -- Although retailers cry foul about labor, the real issue is business process change. What can and is being done about port congestion?
• Signing Bonuses.... for Truck Drivers!!! -- The transportation market growth will continue to outpace the economy at large. Where will that growth occur? What can we do about it?
• It's 58 Shopping Days till Christmas -- Impact of Omni-Channel, Home Delivery, and the Biggest Christmas Ever on Logistics.
• GT Nexus User Conference -- Bridges 2014 -- Having attended my first Bridges in 2004 in San Francisco and seeing it again ten years later, it is impressive to see the growth. Ten years -- ten times the growth.
• Speed Bumps in Global Transportation TMS 2014 -- A tug of war exists between the market requirements for speed and what the logistics network can deliver.
• 2014? Where Could the Transportation Market Go? -- Is the Transportation and Logistics software market capable of producing a company that has $500m in revenue? In the long run, it may be possible. Growth potential in this market exists, but achieving that benchmark may also require some mergers.

• Supply Chain Market: (Parts 1-2)
• The Value of Supply Chain Solutions -- The supply chain market continues to grow...
• Supply Chain Market - Continued -- We take a look at the role of purpose-driven supply chain platforms in attaining Omni-channel.
• Home Delivery Heats Up -- Amazon's entry into the home delivery arena will, no doubt, have many businesses examining their own delivery options. A closer look reveals that home delivery is not a new phenomenon, yet doing it profitably is not a given. We spoke with some of the home delivery pros...
• Highlights from Descartes Evolution 2013 -- This year at Descartes' annual conference, they launched their new Descartes Community, highlighted myriad new solution capabilities, and showcased a number of interesting customers and use cases.
• The Single-Platform Option in Transportation Systems -- TMS solutions can be created through assembling modules or a single platform. What is a TMS single platform?
• Continuous Real-Time Situational Awareness for Time-Critical Operational Decision Making -- Time-critical decisions in transportation, risk management, security, disaster response, manufacturing, and other operational domains require continuous real-time situational awareness and intelligence. Most enterprise systems do not provide this today.
• Transportation Systems Redefined -- The transportation technology market has an array of offerings, but they are not the same.
• Cloud Strategies Coming from the Supply Chain Market -- Now that the end-user market seems to be accepting the cloud option, the major players are stepping up their game.
• From Washout to Whiteout -- The Next Generation of Transportation Applications.
• Journey to Achieving the Supply Chain Vision: Introduction -- Supply Chain Platform Series: Part 1 -- The web has become the dominant force in supply chain operation and technology. In this series we will discuss how it's evolving.
• Transportation Management Technology 2012 -- Transportation Management Platforms: the high growth segment of the Supply Chain Market.
• Report: Unifying the Private Fleet with Purchased Transportation -- Achieving Lower Costs and Higher Service via Dynamic, Omni-Mode Integration of Private Fleet with For Hire Operations.
• Report: Winning at Home Delivery -- Home delivery is the new battlefront in retail. In this report we uncover the myths and the best practices across the globe.