Howdy,
Welcome to Edition #38 of the JBF Bulletin! Lots happening this month!
With a shifting market across both the demand and supply sides, there are fundamental questions that many transportation leaders are asking:
- Are these prices going to stabilize?
- Are we in for further volatility?
- What to know about shifting market rates and actual operating costs?
- And how does all of this affect my business strategy?
Find the answers in the updated Breakeven Costs of Operating a Commercial Truck article. And while you’re there take a look at the Trends of the Top 20 For-Hire Carriers.
Last week, the JBF team gathered together in Columbus, OH to celebrate 20 years of business supporting shippers in their pursuit of logistics technology. This was also our first in-person gathering for the entire team since before Covid.
Many stories were shared with the team about “the way things were 20 years ago,” but the functional framework of logistics technology really hasn’t changed all that much.
The market has surely changed (far more vendors competing), as well as the technology supporting the feature-function of the applications (e.g. mainframe-to-client server-to-cloud). A couple of pieces with the Bulletin touch on this thread.
Mike Mulqueen’s article highlights the changes in the TMS market from the perspective of comparing one industry analyst’s prognostication in 2003 to where the market is today. How many of these companies have you come across?
We also highlight Blue Yonder’s technology announcement about the end of integration from their 2023 ICON conference held recently.
Happenings over the next few weeks are:
Next week on June 8, Michael Wohlwend of Alpine Supply Chain Solutions and yours truly will discuss Logistics in America: WMS/TMS Buyers Guide. Register here to attend or get the replay.
And later in June, we are attending the FreightWaves Future of Supply Chain. If you’ll be there, let’s meet up!
Thank you for your continued interest in our monthly Bulletin. Happy reading!
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Read the full Edition 38 newsletter here.
Back to business after a long holiday weekend – we have several insightful articles curated in this month’s collection highlighting the importance of due-diligence ahead of vendor selection.
- One Subtle Change Will Greatly Improve Your TMS Implementation Outcome
- The Key to Effective Vendor Selection in Transportation Logistics Technology
We are ‘beating this drum’ loudly, as we believe the small investment of time and attention prior to vendor selection can serve to both mitigate significant implementation risk, and improving outcomes for the buyer.
This concept can be applied to every software investment – not just TMS.
We explored some of these synergies with the great folks over at Alpine Supply Chain – who specialize in WMS vendor selection – in this webinar recap.
Or for those of you ‘TL;DR’ (too long; didn’t read) people, Mulqueen’s quote from the Talking Logistics piece, The Key To Effective Vendor Selection In Transportation Logistics Technology, is an excellent sound byte to leave you with:
“In software development, there is an adage that if you identify and correct a bug in early-stage design, it costs you a penny, a nickel in development, a dime in test, and after release, a dollar.”
Thank you for your continued interest in our monthly Bulletin. Happy reading!
P.S. Last week our industry acknowledged ‘National Logistics Day’. The truth, I suspect, is more like “today kicks off our peak shipping season, so yeah – it’s National Logistics Day everyday”! To commemorate the occasion, we compiled a list of the top logistics focused podcasts for you to enjoy!
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