Читать книгу The Digital Transformation of Logistics - Группа авторов - Страница 33

Logistics companies must adapt and proactively look for ways to use technology to reinvent themselves (Tipping and Kauschke 2016). Consistently, logistics companies have been looking outward to new investments in assets or new client acquisition instead of building technological prowess in‐house that would help to best prepare for a digital transformation. Unlike finance or manufacturing companies, commercially focused individuals who spend a large part of their time selling and catering toward their tier‐one customer lead most logistics companies.

In addition to the financial and time constraints, companies are faced with an overload of exciting new technologies that they should or are being encouraged to evaluate. Logistics companies could invest in capturing data through IoT devices; developing sophisticated self‐learning algorithms based on multilayer regressions to create some form of machine learning AI; eliminating emails, faxes, and spreadsheets by capturing data via new forms of ecosystems using blockchain or optical character recognition (OCR) technology; rolling out digital handshakes in the form of electronic data interchange (EDI); or allowing systems to communicate better with each other through application programming interfaces (APIs). They could even outsource their data management, integration, and software development. These are the conversations that have happened in board rooms of leading logistics companies around the world as they scramble to come up with a technology investment plan.