Losing the Less-than-Truckload Battle? Use Big Data to Even the Playing Field

With baseball season wrapped up and the San Francisco Giants claiming the top prize, the other organizations that went home early are already working on their short- and long-term strategies that will enable them to win.

So how do teams start building their winning strategy?

If you’re one of the other 29 clubs on the outside looking in, you start with data. And what if you’re not a professional baseball team, but a shipper looking to reduce your freight spend and still grow your business?

With the right data, anything is possible.

Today, not unlike these baseball organizations, companies around the world are working to redefine business strategies that will enable them to win in the short and long term. And, if you’re in the supply chain business, having access to data - like demand plans, forecasts, budgets, key performance indicators (KPIs) - is the difference in being a laggard or a leader.

The challenge for many organizations, though, is knowing what to do with the data once they have it. Understanding the components of the data, having the ability to clean it, knowing the characteristics that present opportunities, having the right people and tools to analyze it, and, ultimately, having the internal capabilities to implement and execute the strategies are daunting steps for many organizations.

In the world of baseball, teams are learning that just having access to data isn’t enough. To fully benefit from the large amounts of information available to them, they must find “a way that synthesizes quantitative and qualitative information about players.” [1] This is also true when organizations are searching for supply chain improvements.

The quantitative method relies on understanding the savings available to companies. Read the recent blog post, Strategically Managing Your Spend, to learn about some of the insights Chris O’Brien, our senior vice president, shared. For additional information, refer to a white paper we published, Supply Chains: Where to Find the Biggest, Fastest Transportation Savings.

The qualitative method focuses on supply chain processes and capabilities. It begs the question, “Does my organization cross-functionally have the people, processes, and technology to allow us to implement the savings targets found in the quantitative assessment?” In the transportation and logistics sector, we evaluate companies’ abilities to plan, execute, measure, and improve their current state.

Feeling overwhelmed? Still not sure how to start?
Please join us for an upcoming webinar that will focus on how to build your less than truckload (LTL) transportation plan. This is a critical first step in determining short- and long-term plans that will assist you in managing your spend, while helping drive the business strategies that will ultimately make you successful.

[1] Reiter, Ben. “Astro-Matic Baseball.” 2014.

Related: Strategically Managing Your Spend