2020 dealt the transportation industry major challenges, and 2021 has compounded the problems with severe winter weather. Echo Global Logistics CEO Doug Waggoner joined WHAT THE TRUCK?!? to talk about how technology has helped people navigate the changing landscape of freight.
Waggoner said Echo’s strategy has been to build out its own proprietary technology and it will continue to use that strategy in the future. Echo has portals like EchoShip and EchoDrive, forward-facing tech for both shippers and carriers.
“One of the exciting things about both of those platforms is that they are more and more powered by data science,” said Waggoner. He believes Echo’s future lives in empowering its data scientists to build higher-performing platforms for clients to utilize.
As far as dealing with the curveballs of 2020, Waggoner said overarching supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic led to the success Echo saw through the year. He said the surge in e-commerce allowed Echo to “ride the wave” of the public’s new purchasing habits, and he doesn’t see any letup in the increased retail spend.
“We’re pretty bullish on 2021,” said Waggoner, who strongly believes the digital market will remain supreme for the next year. He thinks market tightness is here to stay just like the past 12 months.
Check out Echo Global Logistics here.
