As I was scrolling around the landscape of supply chain blogs and comment boards recently, I came across a question that really struck me as a sign of the times, especially for those of us who are caught up in the ultra fast moving world of information technology and supply chain software. 

The question – What are the leading transportation management software applications available on the market today? – while quite straightforward, left me somewhat confused. 

How can this question be answered without more context – international/domestic, modes, host environments, lanes, stops, etc.? You get the picture. Yet, there was no shortage of definitive answers (more than 35 and growing as I write this) to this “swing for fences” type of question.

Considering the growing interest in Transportation Management System (TMS) solutions over the last few years (as I mentioned in a previous blog post), it’s not surprising to see these kinds of questions and wide-ranging responses. 

The best way (or if you ask me, the only way) to answer this question and identify your best options for the right TMS solution is to approach the question from a broad to narrow perspective in the following stages:

1. Assessment – Consider your products, markets, suppliers and customers. What are the freight flows, supporting systems and enabling technologies? How is transportation effectiveness measured today?

2. Supply Chain Strategy & Organization – What are the most effective ways to organize transportation inbound/transfers/outbound? How are transportation decisions made (i.e., centralized, decentralized)?

3. Requirements Definition – How is transportation planned to support your strategy? How will the transportation requirements be impacted by future business changes and external factors, such as global supply disruptions or fuel price increases? Where will the relevant data reside, and what level of timeliness will be required?

4. Business Case Development – Where are the gaps in the current strategy? What is the magnitude of the opportunity to close the gaps? How much investment will be required, and what will it take to maintain the new system?

5. Evaluation & Selection – Who are the most qualified TMS providers to meet your requirements? What are the critical functional requirements and key evaluation criteria?

6. Configuration and Integration – What will it take to implement this new system? What are the critical risks and who will manage them (or how will they be managed) throughout the implementation? What are the critical responsibilities of my organization, the software vendor, and my trading partners?

And due to consumer demand, they are coming into their own like a souped up Mr. Potato Head, adding and re-positioning any necessary parts. 

Functionality -TMS applications have become robust, offering additional modules that were only supported by niche players several years ago. For example, software for Global Trade Management and Financial Settlement were application markets several years ago, but can now be found in the more robust TMS offerings.

Deployment & Configuration Options – TMS providers have embraced software as a service (SaaS) deployment and service-oriented architecture (SOA) platforms, enabling much more cost-effective and functionally adaptable solutions than predecessor applications.

Upgrade Opportunities – Existing TMS customers faced with functional trade-offs or custom modifications and the resulting costly upgrades now have new options to consider. Many customers are turning traditional upgrade efforts into a competitive bid situation and evaluate the changes in the TMS market.  

By Kevin Hume 

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview a wide range of supply chain professionals engaged in the design, deployment and end use of Supply Chain Execution software (WMS/TMS/LMS).

I spoke with "in the trenches" practitioners who manage day-to-day operational challenges and execute the strategic mandates passed down from executive leadership.

I also spoke with industry analysts, third-party integrators and supply chain software executives. All this was done in an effort to compile a broad perspective of opinions relating to the emerging trends in Supply Chain Execution (SCE) software. My mission was to identify key emerging trends in the SCE software market over the next 3-5 years.

Considering the broad range of feature-function requirements in the SCE market, I received opinions across multiple perspectives (supplier, integrator and end user) and insight within different industries.

Despite the diverse group and backgrounds, a few issues consistently floated to the top of the list, irrespective of perspective or industry.

The most prevalent themes across all the discussions included:

Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings – This was easily the most common refrain from discussions with SCE software end users.

SCE practitioners’ view SaaS offerings as an emerging opportunity to provide the quickest speed to market at the lowest possible price point. Practitioners are clamoring to meet executives demand for cost effective solutions that can be quickly deployed with minimal investment in software applications and supporting hardware stacks.

Considering that a typical Best of Breed (BoB) WMS deployment runs 4-6 months at best from contract signing to go-live, there is an expectation that SaaS offerings will steadily grow feature-function capabilities and become catalysts to meet practitioners’ demands for quicker deployment timelines, flexible hosting options and lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

From the SCE supplier side, a number of emerging SaaS applications have brought some innovative products into the market. As the next few years unfold, expect to see an increasingly robust SaaS feature-function set coming into the market.

Look for more details on the existing and emerging state of SaaS feature-functions in our upcoming blog posts.

Planning & Execution Integration – The rapid changes in the global economic climate over the last 18 months have highlighted the need for end-to-end visibility and the need for adaptability within the supply chain planning and execution processes.

The ability to provide planning capabilities that reach from the point of supply to the point of distribution have been a primary driver in the growing acceptance of SCM-ERP suites over the past few years.

The BoB players have also recognized this need and have been working hard through the integration of acquired products and core feature-function improvements matching the visibility and functionality of the SCM-ERP offerings.

It’s taken the BoB suppliers significant investment-development effort over the last several years to reach this point.

In the next few years, it should be revealed if the investment in end-to-end integration will pay off and which market’s organizational complexities will generate traction within the BoB view of Planning and Execution integration.

Look for further discussions related to the SCM-ERP versus the BoB model in upcoming blog posts. In fact, if you have a particular idea or question related to this topic, drop me a note and let’s discuss it.

Model Driven Functionality – Similar to SaaS offerings, Model Driven Functionality meets the dual requirements of "speed to market" at the lowest possible TCO.

The ability for SCE software to quickly adapt to emerging fulfillment demands within a zero modification environment continues to be a key desire for both current and future customers, as well as a critical path to capture increased market share for both BoB and ERP suppliers alike.

The Model Driven Configuration capabilities of the leading BoB and SCM-ERP offerings vary widely by supplier today.

The offerings that successfully ‘close the gap’ between robust functional configuration options within an intuitive, graphical tool set will become the industry leaders in the near future.

Now, take a step back and look at the three topics we just discussed – what are some of the external factors that really enhance the value of these emerging trends? My own thought process works something like this:

a) Current-emerging economic climate is driving a need for

b) robust, quick-to-market business requirement support; and

c) the limited access to capitol dictates lowest possible investment and TCO needed to support supply chain execution.

In a nutshell, I think these external factors are driving SaaS offerings, Planning-Execution Integration and Model Driven Capability to the top of the 3-5 year wish list.

Are these the topics that resonate with you and within your industry? Drop me a line! What do you think the emerging trends will be over the next 3-5 years within the supply chain execution market?

Kevin Hume