One of the biggest opportunities to dramatically improve supply chain performance occurs when traditional supply chain functions are decomposed and reinvented as integrated business processes. Few supply chain practitioners would dispute that notion. However, when it comes to their technology strategy, too many practitioners end up deploying their transportation management system (TMS) or multiple systems in silos: outbound TL/LTL, parcel, inbound, international, etc.  The challenge facing supply chain practitioners who want to achieve breakthrough performance improvement is to understand the value and difference of converging TMS and connecting to their trading partners.

Breaking down the silos is not as simple as integrating the various existing applications. Instead, we are talking about how the business process would be fundamentally different or have completely new capabilities if the technology silos didn’t exist and multiple functions had been designed together in the first place. Part of the problem supply chain practitioners face is stepping out of the business process paradigms that have been dictated by technological limitations of the past. Applications on the same technology stack do not necessarily address the issue. Sometimes it takes new technologies or disruptive business practices to cause us to rethink what we have done in the past. Currently, the market pressures of the Amazon effect, coupled with the capacity crunch are perfect drivers to force this change.

Technology continues to gain traction throughout the commercial trucking industry, as companies realize the efficiency it brings to operations.  At the same time, regulatory agencies recognize that technology provides accurate data that can inform or change transportation safety regulations.

In fact, data gathered from electronic logging devices (ELD) mandated in the U.S. prompted a new focus on hours-of-service (HOS) regulations that may be adversely impacting certain sectors of the economy.  As a result, U.S. regulators are taking another look at HOS rules.

Descartes is committed to providing the best support possible to our worldwide customer base, and is constantly seeking to improve the support experience for customers.Technology is an important part of the support process and, driven by our ongoing goal to provide the best service possible, we chose to implement FreshService, a new Incident Management System from Freshworks. 

New Jersey-based BASF Corporation is the second largest producer and marketer of chemicals and related products in North America. As its business has grown over the years, maintaining excellence in customer service has been a top priority for BASF. Driven by customer demand, the company wanted an automated tracking solution that would provide real-time updates for its bulk truck shipments—and determined the Descartes MacroPoint™ solution was the best fit for its operations.