Last week I attended ALK’s annual Technology Summit in Princeton, NJ. Cadec was one of many industry leading sponsors the event. The standing room only crowd (120+) of technology vendors, fleet managers, press and industry experts gathered for what ALK calls its Thought Leadership Summit to share various trends and observations in the areas of transportation safety and efficiency in the trucking industry. While there was an obvious focus on navigation systems, the sessions also covered a wide variety of industry trends and other technologies.
An interesting, yet sobering keynote address by US Express’ President John White showed the concerning state of the for-hire trucking industry, particularly the large TL carriers, as a result of the economic slowdown. White also shared insights on a number of hot industry topics, including Card Check, HOS Regulations and EOBR Mandates.
Mr. White also shared his success using routing software in a presentation with TMW Systems, highlighting how they can compare planned to actual trip data to gain efficiencies.
The use of handheld computers was also a common topic, both to run turn-by-turn navigation software and proof of delivery applications.
Another observation was that most of the fleet attendees were in the for hire markets. While we are seeing significant growth in interest for turn-by-turn navigation among private fleets, and more stability in their financial situations, there were very few of these companies represented at the Summit.
In all, this was an interesting event that will likely increase in size next year as the use of navigation systems in trucking increases, particularly when integrated with on-board computers and fleet management software. I would recommend marking your calendar for this next year.
Author: Frank Moreno
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
The ROI from Transportation Business Intelligence
It’s amazing how business expenditures are allocated in a down economy. Value and ROI are no longer the driving forces behind capital expenditures. Price is now the primary influence in many purchases, particularly in transportation technology. Additionally, unbudgeted expenditures are basically non-existent – regardless of the price or the payback.
However, those companies that are confident that conditions will soon change and are visionary in their business objectives are now seeing tremendous success. One area where supply chain executives and transportation decision makers are now investing in is Business Intelligence for their transportation operations.
While traditional fleet management systems have focused on the performance of mobile assets (the truck and driver), today’s advanced applications are now interpreting that data into actionable business information across the supply chain. At-a glance-views of business trends, customer impact and business unit performance provide users with the ability to manage by exception and greatly improve visibility across the entire mobile supply chain. But how does the value of providing better service to customers and the value of people making better decisions faster translate into ROI? Can optimizing business processes within transportation and delivery operations yield a tangible ROI?
Transportation Business Intelligence offers a dramatic ROI. Businesses can make better, quicker decisions through facts-based analysis. It's not just about getting the right information to the right people at the right time, he said, but determining that the information is in fact being used to make better decisions. An informed transportation executive can leverage a business intelligence dashboard to identify an event or trend, drill down into detail, determine the root cause for that event, and quickly implement a change that can drive new sales, avoid costs, etc. Essentially, executives can now get the information they need to manage their business, and the ROI is seen across the supply chain in drastically reduced costs (labor, fuel, maintenance, etc.), increased revenues and improved cash flow. Additionally, BI users are defining new performance metrics for their transportation operations that can provide new levels of operational efficiency (route optimization, on-site invoicing, inventory management, etc.)
The most significant ROI of implementing Supply Chain visibility and transportation business intelligence tools, is the competitive advantage for businesses that are optimized to thrive immediately when the economy begins to improve. While competitors will be buried in useless data and reports, dashboard users get faster access to real-time data so they can get straight to the problem right away, manage their business better, and respond to changes in the market better.
Author: Frank Moreno
However, those companies that are confident that conditions will soon change and are visionary in their business objectives are now seeing tremendous success. One area where supply chain executives and transportation decision makers are now investing in is Business Intelligence for their transportation operations.
While traditional fleet management systems have focused on the performance of mobile assets (the truck and driver), today’s advanced applications are now interpreting that data into actionable business information across the supply chain. At-a glance-views of business trends, customer impact and business unit performance provide users with the ability to manage by exception and greatly improve visibility across the entire mobile supply chain. But how does the value of providing better service to customers and the value of people making better decisions faster translate into ROI? Can optimizing business processes within transportation and delivery operations yield a tangible ROI?
Transportation Business Intelligence offers a dramatic ROI. Businesses can make better, quicker decisions through facts-based analysis. It's not just about getting the right information to the right people at the right time, he said, but determining that the information is in fact being used to make better decisions. An informed transportation executive can leverage a business intelligence dashboard to identify an event or trend, drill down into detail, determine the root cause for that event, and quickly implement a change that can drive new sales, avoid costs, etc. Essentially, executives can now get the information they need to manage their business, and the ROI is seen across the supply chain in drastically reduced costs (labor, fuel, maintenance, etc.), increased revenues and improved cash flow. Additionally, BI users are defining new performance metrics for their transportation operations that can provide new levels of operational efficiency (route optimization, on-site invoicing, inventory management, etc.)
The most significant ROI of implementing Supply Chain visibility and transportation business intelligence tools, is the competitive advantage for businesses that are optimized to thrive immediately when the economy begins to improve. While competitors will be buried in useless data and reports, dashboard users get faster access to real-time data so they can get straight to the problem right away, manage their business better, and respond to changes in the market better.
Author: Frank Moreno
Monday, April 6, 2009
Cadec Highlights Momentum at Annual User's Conference
After a bit of a hiatus, the Cadec blog is alive and well. Last week Cadec sponsored its annual User’s Conference in Boston, MA. With over 100 attendees present, customers invested two full days in training classes, conference presentations, PowerVue product demonstrations and breakouts including keynote presentations from Aberdeen Group’s Brad Wyland and Blue Sky Technologies President Steve Hensley. The partner pavilion included many conference sponsors – Syntelic Solutions, Motorola, Honeywell, MultiTech, ALK, Telapoint and Velociti.
Customer presentations were the highlight of the event, with Poland Springs sharing how their idle reduction initiatives have saved them thousands of dollars in fuel expenses; Greyhound Lines, Inc. discussing their fleet management and safety investments and BRT, Inc. reviewing how they have customized and integrated Cadec with other fleet-related systems.
Despite the economic conditions, many customers expressed their intent to continue to invest in technologies that can optimize their visibility across their supply chain, to make better business decisions.
Immediately following the conference, Cadec publicly announced their additional funding from Thule Investments. As the fiscal Q1 came to a close, Cadec is riding tremendous momentum into Q2 2009 with new customers, new partnerships and new product offerings.
Author: Frank Moreno
Customer presentations were the highlight of the event, with Poland Springs sharing how their idle reduction initiatives have saved them thousands of dollars in fuel expenses; Greyhound Lines, Inc. discussing their fleet management and safety investments and BRT, Inc. reviewing how they have customized and integrated Cadec with other fleet-related systems.
Despite the economic conditions, many customers expressed their intent to continue to invest in technologies that can optimize their visibility across their supply chain, to make better business decisions.
Immediately following the conference, Cadec publicly announced their additional funding from Thule Investments. As the fiscal Q1 came to a close, Cadec is riding tremendous momentum into Q2 2009 with new customers, new partnerships and new product offerings.
Author: Frank Moreno
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
