Business, Freight News, Logistics

Study: 40% of Shippers, 3PLs Invest in IT

[ July 12, 2024   //   Gary G Burrows ]

Descartes Systems Group, a provider of-demand, software-as-a-service solutions, said a study found that 40 percent of shippers and logistics service providers plan to invest in transportation technology to prepare for industry and regulatory changes.
Decartes’ study, its eight-annual Global Transportation Management Benchmark Survey, surveyed more than 630 shippers and LSPs based in the U.S., Canada and western Europe.
For top financially performing companies where senior leadership view transportation as a competitive weapon, this number rose to 44 percent, compared to 32 percent for poorer financial performers.
Real-time transportation visibility held the top spot for greatest transportation IT investment for the seventh consecutive year. Visibility was cited as the priority technology investment by 36 percent of respondents, closely followed by order management at 35 percent. Jumping into the third spot, fleet routing was noted by 29 percent of respondents, compared to being eighth in 2023.
Carrier sourcing continued to decline as an IT investment area for the third year in a row, cited by only 20 percent of respondents and landing in the 10th spot in the capabilities’ rankings.
“This year’s study once again shows a correlation between business performance and management’s perception of the importance of transportation, as companies that place a higher strategic value on transportation realize stronger financial performance and growth,” said Mike Hane, director, product marketing, transportation management, at Descartes. “Top performers continue to take more aggressive actions to grow and expand delivery options for customers, which requires increasing technology investments such as visibility and order management.”
Poorer performers are more focused on cost cutting and are 10 times less likely to expect growth greater than 15 percent annually than top performers, according to study findings, Hane said
Descartes and SAPIO Research surveyed 630 brokers, forwarders and 3PLs and shippers from a wide variety of industries. The goal was to understand how companies view the role of transportation management; uncover which capabilities, technologies and competitive strategies/tactics are having the greatest impact on transportation operations; and provide an outlook on future transportation IT investment.
The full report is available here (https://tinyurl.com/43n4bjjk).
Descartes, based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, said its customers use its modular, software-as-a-service solutions to route, track and help improve the safety, performance and compliance of delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute shipments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; access global trade data; file customs and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in the world’s largest, collaborative multimodal logistics community.

Tags: Descartes Systems Group