Trucking Technology Report - July 25
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Both the online report and e-mail are sponsored by @Track Communications, a top supplier of wireless communications and dispatch services. American Trucking Associations, Inc., provides the Technology Report and Alerts "as is" as a source of additional information for readers interested in technology news.
Today's Technology Headlines:
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Space-Age Trucking Needs Affect Truck Stops
As the trucking industry enters the world of technology, roadside truck stops struggle to keep up. Cell phones, e-mail, and video-conferencing are luxuries commonly used by truckers, causing truck stop owners who want to make a profit to abandon the once-popular pay phone.
Internet Makes for More Agile Supply Chain
With the arrival of the Internet Age, the traditional linear view of supply chain relationships has been replaced by one that emphasizes the use of supply chain relationships to become more agile, increase efficiencies, and open up new markets. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications are integral to this effort, as they can provide the necessary visibility and control of an enterprise's many supply chain transactions and processes. Simply building or joining an online exchange is not sufficient to fully leverage the supply chain."You really have to have a solid and sophisticated IT infrastructure that connects suppliers with buyers and is transparent and automated throughout its length," says Richard Sommer, CEO of medical supply e-marketplace MedChannel. "There are many B2B exchanges, but some are little more than online catalogs. We are setting out to do this right."
One company that serves as a model for MedChannel and many other businesses is Dell Computer. By fully integrating its ERP solution with its other key IT applications, Dell has been able to develop a highly efficient, just-in-time manufacturing process that virtually eliminates costly warehouses. Financial Times--ERP and Beyond (07/19/00) P. 5; Foremski, Tom
Emerging Wireless Offerings Include Locators, Audio Ads
With the anticipated surge in the popularity of wireless services and devices, marketers are planning to employ new strategies designed to make full use of the sales opportunity, such as text and audio ads, and promotions using mobile location technology that can trace a users whereabouts. Many advertisers believe the success of such an advertising campaign will depend on allowing customers to control the topic distribution and number of ads sent to their cell phones.With the development of wireless devices and standards, such as WAP, many telecom analysts expect subscribership to wireless services to soar. According to studies conducted by the Yankee Group, up to 60.9 million North Americans will be using WAP phones, PDAs, and two-way messaging devices by 2005.
The marketing industry is expected to benefit greatly from the popularity of wireless services. According to technology consultant firm Ovum, world-wide wireless advertising spending is expected to increase to $16 billion by 2005, and account for 20% of overall spending in Internet advertising.
Most current wireless ads are text-based, according to Jeff Kohler, CEO of Internet-based wireless products retailer Aurora. But in upcoming years, the technology will be conducive to allowing advertisers to create more advanced audio and media ads, says Tim DePriest, a director of strategic marketing at the Internet advertising service provider AdForce. More vivid visual and audio ads will coincide with the implementation of broadband, he adds.
DePriest says that the success of wireless advertising may depend on allowing the customer to anonymously sign-up for receiving ads for particular products or services that will be limited to a maximum of three per day. Such a sparse distribution of ads could avoid alienating the customer through over saturation. Sponsors of Web services are expected to be among the chief beneficiaries in wireless marketing. Marketing News (07/17/00) Vol. 34, No. 5, P. 25; James, Dana
User Experience, Not More Applications, Key to Handhelds
Handspring's founder and chief product developer, Jeff Hawkins, says he is not interested in putting a great number of applications in the company's handhelds. At the PC Expo, Hawkins was given the opportunity to expound upon his beliefs concerning manufacturers producing wireless devices with a surplus of features. He said that better technology does not always mean quicker access, pointing out that user experience is the chief contributor to the speed of various applications.He added that many of the services desired by customers do not require more processing power. Rather than continuing to add more features, Hawkins suggests that manufacturers fine tune the most commonly used features to provide the customer with the simplest use. InfoWorld (07/17/00) Vol. 22, No. 29, P. 62A
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