Updated:
11/23/2009 8:10:00 AM
Opinion: Democratized Data Helps Carriers Compete
By Sam Liberto
Chief Executive Officer
ThoughtDrivers
This Opinion piece appears in the Nov. 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Too many motor carriers are beholden to transaction-focused computer technology platforms and business processes. These functionally disjointed systems create barriers among departments such as finance, sales, operations and safety, and fail to provide the necessary intelligence for becoming and remaining competitive in today’s business climate.
The trucking sector largely has been a technology laggard. The AS/400 — the predominant data platform used by trucking companies — was introduced in the 1980s. As a software tool, the AS/400 is sufficient for recording transactions but woefully inadequate for purposes of analysis. With trucking’s operational complexities and high transaction volumes, carriers should be using computer technologies that provide business insights they can act on.
It is the nature of carriers to be highly protective of their data and processes and be so cost conscious that, as the saying goes, they will “walk across the dock to pick up a penny.” They also tend to be highly resistant to change, advice from consultants and off-the-shelf-software because they were “not invented here.”
These attitudes keep far too many carriers stubbornly wedded to outdated practices and systems, hampering their ability to compete in an already difficult, uncertain and highly challenging economy.
Traditionally, carriers’ computer systems have been controlled by a small group of information technology or management information systems professionals, or by computer department employees. At the same time, others have had limited access to data and information, instead submitting questions to “gatekeepers” who have run reports, sending them to the individuals requesting the information, creating little opportunity for collaboration among departments.
At one time — before the Internet became the principal communications medium — that model worked well because, for a variety of reasons, only a fraction of the company’s information was available on a computer, and information could not, and did not, flow “at the speed of thought” as it does today.
With instant communication as much a part of our daily routine as brushing our teeth, it is necessary for everyone who needs information pertaining to any aspect of the business to have access to reports, statistics and other content that helps to strengthen relationships between carriers and their customers.
© 2010, Transport Topics Publishing Group. All rights reserved.