Poor software integration is costing some companies $250,000 or more, according to preliminary findings of a new survey conducted by Dimensional Research and sponsored by Cleo.
The survey, full results of which will be published in Q1 of 2021, found that 34% of logistics companies are losing over $250,000, and 9% said technology integration problems are costing them over $1 million annually.
“All along we’ve told our customers and prospects, ‘You’ll need real-time end-to-end visibility. You’ll need a way to connect …. to the cloud. API isn’t replacing EDI, they’re complementary and you’ll need a single platform that can do both. You need the agility to turn on a dime. And you’ll want the choice to either do it yourself, get it as a managed service or figure out some combination of the two,’” Frank Kenney, director of market strategy for Cleo, explained. “It’s all about you being in control of the customer experience. It’s all about optimizing your business ecosystem and creating value through integration.”
Cleo is an ecosystem integration software company that offers the Cleo Integration Cloud (CIC), a cloud-based integration platform that provides end-to-end visibility across API, EDI and non-EDI integrations.
Kenney will be appearing with Dooner and The Dude to discuss the report during WHAT THE TRUCK?!? on Tuesday as part of FreightWaves’ North American Supply Chain Summit virtual conference. Kenney will be joined on the show by Shannon Currier of the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund and Drew McElroy of Transfix. The segment is scheduled to begin around 1:40 p.m. EST.
The one-day event, presented by headline sponsor Ryder System (NYSE: R) and regional sponsor ArcBest, kicks off at 9 a.m. ET Tuesday and will be packed with information and insight into emerging supply chain trends with a focus on what stakeholders can expect in 2021 and beyond.
The FreightWaves North American Supply Chain Summit will be streamed live and free of charge at live.freightwaves.com. More information on the event, including the agenda and complete list of speakers, can be found here.
The Dimensional Research survey of 200 logistics experts found that 97% of logistics businesses are actively trying to mitigate supply chain disruptions, which have been greater in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid growth of e-commerce as a result.
The cultural shift of employees working from home topped the list of concerns identified by survey takers, with 51% of respondents citing this as the top supply chain disruption impacting their businesses in 2020, followed by manufacturing slowdowns (45%) and restrictions in international trade (33%).
According to the study, 34% say they rely too much on manual integration processes and also suffer from slow decision-making (32%) and difficulty integrating back-office applications (27%).
Cleo said that 69% of companies using multiple integration approaches and tools face problems. That number grows to 98% when three integration tools are used and 100% when four or more tools are implemented.
The good news, according to the survey, is that a slight majority (51%) of companies increased their technology budgets during 2020, although only 13% are fully utilizing cloud-based integration tools.
During the North American Supply Chain Summit, Cleo will have a virtual booth where attendees can learn about its Cleo Integration Cloud for Logistics solution. The solution will be presented during a special Demo Day session at the Supply Chain Summit. Cleo’s Jacob Olson, principal solutions architect, will showcase the technology at approximately 9:55 a.m. ET.
Click for more FreightWaves articles by Brian Straight.
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