6 Key Transportation
and Logistics
Challenges Facing all
Companies
The future? – It’s all about information, not planes, trains and automobiles
Business disruption – driven by massive changes in
technology and information management – is
sweeping through every industry – even
transportation and logistics. Effective transportation
and logistics – whether we’re talking specifically
about stand-alone T&L companies, or with
significant internal T&L capabilities – is increasingly
important to the bottom line and to meeting
customer expectations.
Here’s PwC’s take on the changes sweeping
through the transportation and logistics industry.
“Like most other industries, transportation and
logistics (T&L) is currently confronting immense
change; and like all change, this brings both risk
and opportunity. New technology, new market
entrants, new customer expectations, and new
business models.”
If that’s not convincing enough, consider McKinsey
and Company’s perspective:
“The digital revolution has profound and specific
implications for the transportation and logistics
sector. In order to survive and thrive as they
transform into digital businesses, companies in this
sector need to consider each step of the value
chain, from acquiring and delighting customers, to
increasing operational efficiency.”
We usually think of challenges in transportation and
logistics in terms of the physical mechanics of
AIIM International
transporting an item from point A to point B. And
while that certainly remains an important part of the
T&L equation, future market leaders will need to
focus on 6 key trends – information management
trends – that are redefining the T&L landscape.
Companies need to commit to digitizing
their core back-end T&L processes.
Most companies still have a significant number of
staff assigned to manual data capture and
exchange activities such as Track & Trace,
gathering freight bill invoice information, managing
customs forms, or securing proofs of delivery
(PODs). Although essential, these activities are
resource intensive, error-prone and tend to slow
down billing and cash collection. PwC notes, “Digital
fitness is a challenge for the sector, which is
currently lagging many of its customers in this
respect. Attracting the right skills is one issue, but
developing the right strategy is even more crucial.”
McKinsey believes that “Digitization will transform
the back end of transportation and logistics
businesses. Digital solutions are capable of
reducing costs and adding more value to services in
all facets of operational processes. According to our
research, partial or full automation, e.g., driverless
trucks (already technologically possible), can
reduce transport costs by 25 to 40 percent, delivery
time by 30 percent, and the number of accidents by
more than 50 percent.
 Containerization is about to be pushed
to the next level.
“Containerization is a system of intermodal freight
transport using intermodal containers (also called
shipping containers and ISO containers) made of
weathering steel. The containers have standardized
dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded,
stacked, transported efficiently over long distances,
and transferred from one mode of transport to
another—container ships, rail transport flatcars, and
semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The
handling system is completely mechanized so that
all handling is done with cranes and special forklift
trucks. All containers are numbered and tracked
using computerized systems [source: Wikipedia].”
There are countless ways in which the Internet of
Things (IoT) will further amplify and transform the
benefits of containerization. In Delivering the
Goods: 8 Examples of IoT Transforming Supply
Chain, Freddie Roberts describes how IoT
technologies allow shipping line Maersk’s 300,000
refrigerated containers “to transmit vital stats, such
as temperature, location and power supply, via
satellite. The information is sent to the cloud and
analyzed in a central office. As well as offering real-
time information as issues develop, however, the
collaboration has also led to increased safety for
port staff, as containers now require less manual
inspection.”
The Hamburg Port Authority “is embedding sensors
and communicative capacities in the port’s ‘main
tangible assets.’ This includes smart lighting based
on motion detection to only light up necessary
areas. The main function of the sensors is to identify
recurring underused capacity so it can be used
properly. However, there are numerous other
connected elements such as cameras, heat
detection sensors and alarm systems prevent theft
and provide insight for planning security updates.”
AIIM (www.aiim.org) AIIM is the global community of information professionals. We provide the education, research and certification that information
professionals need to manage and share information assets in an era of mobile, social, cloud and big data.
© 2016
AIIM AIIM Europe
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Silver Spring, MD 20910 Worcester, WR5 2NT, UK
+1 301.587.8202 +44 (0)1905 727600
www.aiim.org www.aiim.eu
Companies are demanding greater
transparency across their supply base
– and that means information
management must be standardized and
automated.
According to KPMG, 40% of global manufacturers
lack information and material visibility across their
supply bases. Poor visibility can lead to shipment
delays, supply-chain disruptions, and revenue
losses that can severely affect a global business.
Manufacturers are information-driven
T&L processes to help them mitigate
the increased risk of longer and more
variable supply chains.
In Logistics & Transportation Executives Facing
Today’s Challenges, Juan Morales highlights the
new challenges facing extended supply chains and
the need for a well-thought out information
management strategy to help address those risks.
“A volcanic cloud descends on Europe, disrupting
flight plans. A tsunami in Thailand ripples across the
Pacific and affects port activity in California. Forest
fires in Los Angeles close highways for days.
Threats of a terrorist attack in Brussels halt all
transportation. A ‘computer glitch’ shuts down
United Airlines system-wide for several hours on the
same day that the NYSE shuts down. These are
typical scenarios for today’s logistics &
transportation executives whose jobs have become
as much about dealing with a crisis and
understanding technology than simply about loading
boxes on trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes.”
The “last mile” is in the process of
huge transformation.
Everyone has seen the videos of pizza-delivering
drones. But in many ways, these videos
oversimplify the potential impact of new players –
leveraging more consistent information
management practices on the part of the existing
players – who are entering the marketplace with
new information-fueled business models focused on
 the last mile problem. Various Uber derivatives and
Uber clones are beginning to enter the marketplace,
focused on leveraging mobile infrastructure for last
mile package delivery. PwC believes that last mile is
becoming “more fragmented, exploiting new This Tip Sheet is sponsored by ABBYY. ABBYY
technologies like cloud platforms and crowd- helps transportation companies address key
sharing. These start-ups collaborate with business challenges by bringing them into the digital
incumbents and complement their service offers.” age. ABBYY helps companies overcome
transportation challenges such as globalization and
McKinsey uses a crowd sourcing analogy to the need for more flexible supply chains, improved
describe the massive changes impacting the last security and compliance.
mile: “Dozens of platforms already exist for local
crowdsourced delivery arrangements. For example, You might also be interested in this new white
with Barnacle, drivers can post their driving routes paper, Digital Transformation in Transportation
with a mobile app and get notified of any delivery and Logistics.
requests. Friendshippr leverages a Facebook user’s
own network by helping turn Facebook friends into
couriers. These services represent both a threat
and an opportunity for traditional postal and logistics
services. DHL Parcel delivers parcels to a service
point/depot (‘Packstation’ or ‘Paketshop’) and
enables recipients to pay others for pickup and
“last-mile” delivery, thus bypassing high costs for
covering remote areas. Start-ups in crowdsourced
delivery typically offer fast local, point-to-point
deliveries (instant, scheduled), easy access via
online platforms and application.”

All of the above information-centric

transformations open up enormous
opportunities for insights driven by
analytics.

Innovative companies will use analytics to optimize

the enormous amounts of data created by the
above digital T&L initiatives. This will allow
innovative companies to not only transform their
own customer-facing and internal processes, but
also use these insights to expand their value to the
manufacturing customers.

AIIM (www.aiim.org) AIIM is the global community of information professionals. We provide the education, research and certification that information
professionals need to manage and share information assets in an era of mobile, social, cloud and big data.

© 2016
AIIM AIIM Europe
1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Broomhall Business Centre, Broomhall Lane,
Silver Spring, MD 20910 Worcester, WR5 2NT, UK
+1 301.587.8202 +44 (0)1905 727600
www.aiim.org www.aiim.eu