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Archive for Software-as-a-Service

This Week in Logistics News (Mar 8-12, 2010)

Posted on Mar 12 2010 | By Adrian Gonzalez · Comments (0)

It was another busy week in the world of supply chain and logistics. Here’s our short list of what caught our attention this week:

The data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Retail Federation is encouraging. As the chart below shows, although the Transportation Services Index is still well below 2007 levels, it seems to have bottomed out last spring and is slowly recovering. Regarding the rosy forecast for import container traffic, NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said, “These numbers show that retailers continue to anticipate improvements in the U.S. economy. This is very different from the past two years when merchants were continually cutting their imports in an effort to manage inventory.” Data released by the U.S. Commerce Department this week showing a drop in inventory-to-sales ratio from 1.12 months in December to a record low of 1.10 months in January seems to validate this outlook.

BTS Transportation Services Index (Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics; click to enlarge)

Schneider’s news caught our attention because it aligns with ARC’s vision for “next generation” fleet management. As my colleague Steve Banker outlined in the Fleet Maintenance Systems market study that we published last year, next-generation fleet management brings together routing and scheduling, telematics, and fleet maintenance, and it leverages GPS, cellular networks, and mobile devices. Steve posed the following question in the study: How can ‘connected vehicles’—i.e., vehicles connected to navigation satellites, communication networks, and other vehicles—transform fleet maintenance, routing, and safety? He commented on this topic in “Fleet Management and ‘Connected Vehicles’.”

In a nutshell, Schneider is currently installing Qualcomm’s Mobile Computing Platform 200 Series (MCP 200) units in all company-owned and owner-operator tractors. According to the press release, features of the new system include text-to-voice functionality (allowing drivers to hear messages and directions while driving, eliminating the need to stop and read messages and new work assignments); navigation (turn-by-turn directions that can be previewed pre-trip and via audio en-route, comparable to an automobile GPS system); Internet and personal e-mail account access; electronic logging and on-demand in-cab training (for specialized hauling requirements like bulk and chemical loads and ongoing, semi-annual training — eliminating the need for drivers to be routed to an operating center for training). You can watch videos of Schneider drivers commenting on the technology here.

It’s been hard to keep up with all of the press releases that Descartes (an ARC client) has been issuing the past few weeks. I’ll quickly comment on two from this week. First, Descartes posted very positive financial results for Fiscal Year 2010 (which ended January 31, 2010). Revenues increased 12 percent to $73.8 million, gross margins increased to 69 percent from 66 percent in FY09, and Adjusted Net Income rose 19 percent to $20.3 million. Descartes ended the fiscal year with almost $95 million in cash and cash equivalents, some of which will undoubtedly be used to fund more acquisitions this year. Descartes is a very different company today than it was five years ago. The company’s decision to focus where most of the competition was not—i.e., global trade management from a freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and carrier perspective—and executing several key acquisitions in this market has been a key contributor to its success. Descartes announcement this week that it has successfully filed its first Import Control System (ICS) test messages with European Commission’s Taxation and Customs Union underscores the company’s focus on global trade management.

Finally, Google’s announcement this week of its Google Apps Marketplace is just another example of how alternative software deployment and payment models continue to evolve.

As we’ve written about many times before, “an apps store for logistics software” is coming and it will address the white space that traditional software implementations, and even current software-as-a-service offerings, are not addressing (see “An App Store for Logistics Software” and “TMS for iPhone: There’s an App for That!” and “Software for the Masses: The iPhone, Crowdsourcing, and Logistics”).

Have a great weekend!

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This Week in Logistics News (Jan 25-29)

Posted on Jan 29 2010 | By Adrian Gonzalez · Comments (1)

In many ways, the biggest news of the week was Apple’s introduction of the iPad. Expectations were set so high for this gadget that many people were a bit underwhelmed when the wrapper finally came off on Wednesday. Is there a role for the iPad in logistics? Maybe down the road, but based on what I saw, the iPhone is much more promising and cost effective at the moment… Continue reading

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Revisiting Supply Chain Operating Networks

Posted on Dec 10 2009 | By Adrian Gonzalez · Comments (1)

Back in August 2003, I wrote a report titled “The Emergence of Supply Chain Operating Networks (SC-ON).” I recently reread the report and I was struck by how relevant the content remains today. Here is an excerpt of the executive summary:
Companies are no longer masters of their own destiny. They’re dependent on suppliers, service providers, customers, and many other external parties to succeed.

Whereas in the past business… Continue reading

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Software as a Capital Expense

Posted on Dec 04 2009 | By Steve Banker · Comments (0)

Earlier this year, some of my colleagues here at ARC wrote a Strategic Report titled “Capital Expenditure Survey 2009” (available to ARC clients only). The report got me thinking about the differences between how hardware and software are expensed, and how those differences affect a logistics executive’s annual budget. 

I talked to executives at some of our logistics software vendor clients, including i2 Technologies, RedPrairie

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TMS for iPhone: There’s an App for That!

Posted on Nov 23 2009 | By Adrian Gonzalez · Comments (1)

Last week, I participated in a conference call MercuryGate organized for clients interested in learning more about its TMS Mobile (aka iPhone Portal) solution. If you’re a longtime reader of Logistics Viewpoints, you know I’m a big fan of the iPhone, and that I view iPhone-like apps as the next frontier for software-as-a-service TMS solutions (see “An App Store for Logistics Software”). So, needless to say, I was… Continue reading

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Earlier this year, I wrote a piece highlighting the expanding footprint of transportation management systems (TMS)—i.e., how software vendors are transforming TMS from a fragmented collection of applications to a unified platform where users across the enterprise and value chain can execute role-specific processes via configurable user interfaces, workflows, and web services. Yesterday, I participated in a webcast sponsored by RedPrairie (an ARC client) on this very topic… Continue reading

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“Oracle and SAP seem to be nearing a point of having to make some hard choices about whether to consider modifying their one-size-fits-all 22% annual fees for upgrades and support. Wall Street will boil them in oil if they do because the 90% margins on those fees sure make overall earnings look good, but an even bigger risk could be that customers will begin putting the big guys on ice… Continue reading

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“Everything counts in large amounts.”

These Depeche Mode lyrics popped into my head when I read the news from Apple that “more than two billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store [and] there are now more than 85,000 apps available to the more than 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide and over 125,000 developers in Apple’s iPhone Developer Program.”

Count me… Continue reading

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