How to stop talking and get started
How to stop talking and get started
Ralph Marston, author and publisher of The Daily Motivator, famously said, “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.”
Here is a list of clear actions that you can take today to improve all your tomorrows in transportation management.
Ralph Marston, author and publisher of The Daily Motivator, famously said, 'What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.'
Here is a list of clear actions that you can take today
Improve all your tomorrows in transportation management
Clearly define your desired outcomes
Collaborate for continuous improvement and innovation
Become more data-driven in your decision making
Identify manual and paper-based logistics processes
Don’t wait for the “perfect” solution to get started
© 2024 Trimble Inc.
© 2024 Trimble Inc.
Clearly define your desired outcomes
What Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to cost, service, sustainability and other factors do you want to improve in 2025? By how much? And why? The answers to these questions will serve as guiding stars in helping you to identify and prioritize the actions to take (and the investments to make) in the coming year. To quote Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.”
Collaborate for continuous improvement and innovation
Who are the power users in your organisation that have great ideas, communicate effectively, and work well in teams? Which of your carriers and other external trading partners have a similar culture and commitment to continuous improvement and innovation as you do? Create a team of those employees and partners, and empower them to create and execute a plan to achieve your desired outcomes.
Become more data-driven in your decision making
Real-time data on spot and contract rates, capacity availability and other market data (from sources such as Transporeon Market Insights and Network Insights) helps you respond effectively to changing market conditions. When you layer BI, analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and visualisation tools on top of this data, you open the door to insights that inform decisions on how to reduce costs, improve service, mitigate risks and achieve sustainability objectives.
Identify manual and paper-based logistics processes
Review all your transportation management processes and see where paper documents are still being used, where people are still manually entering data into one or more systems, or where they are emailing spreadsheets to each other. Each instance is where you are wasting a lot of time, money and effort; and that is where you should first focus your investments in people and technology to achieve your desired objectives.
Don’t wait for the “perfect” solution to get started
The perfect solution doesn’t exist, and won’t ever exist. Stop waiting for it. Generative AI and autonomous processing are still relatively new, so the only way to truly know what you need and want is to start the journey and see where it takes you. Start small with trusted partners in a low-risk and quick-to-deploy application. Then learn from the experience and build from there.
Clearly define your desired outcomes
What Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to cost, service, sustainability and other factors do you want to improve in 2025? By how much? And why? The answers to these questions will serve as guiding stars in helping you to identify and prioritize the actions to take (and the investments to make) in the coming year. To quote Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.”
Don’t wait for the “perfect” solution to get started
The perfect solution doesn’t exist, and won’t ever exist. Stop waiting for it. Generative AI and autonomous processing are still relatively new, so the only way to truly know what you need and want is to start the journey and see where it takes you. Start small with trusted partners in a low-risk and quick-to-deploy application. Then learn from the experience and build from there.
Collaborate for continuous improvement and innovation
Who are the power users in your organisation that have great ideas, communicate effectively, and work well in teams? Which of your carriers and other external trading partners have a similar culture and commitment to continuous improvement and innovation as you do? Create a team of those employees and partners, and empower them to create and execute a plan to achieve your desired outcomes.
Identify manual and paper-based logistics processes
Review all your transportation management processes -- from procurement, planning and execution, all the way through freight audit and payment -- and see where paper documents are still being used; where people are still manually entering data into one or more systems, or where they are emailing spreadsheets back and forth to each other. Plant a red flag wherever this is happening because that is where you are wasting a lot of time, money and effort; and that is where you should first focus your investments in people and technology to achieve your desired objectives.
Become more data-driven in your decision making
Having real-time data on spot and contract rates, capacity availability and other market data (from sources such as Transporeon Market Insights and Network Insights) helps you respond effectively to changing market conditions. When you layer business intelligence, analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and visualisation tools on top of this data, you open the door to new insights about the transportation market and your operations. These insights help you to make more informed decisions on what actions to take to reduce costs, improve service, mitigate risks and achieve sustainability objectives.