Insights - May/June 2018 - 30

3PLS
"The underlying goal is to create
transparency for intermodal drayage,"
he told Intermodal Insights.
Flexibility is particularly important
for drayage information, he said, for
multiple reasons.
One is the importance of
managing data to address the
growing pressure for the 3PL
industry to be able to provide more
comprehensive information to
Cuddy
customers about freight visibility.
In today's market, a 3PL's communications network
may have connections with literally thousands of drayage
companies, using a variety of methods ranging from "snail
mail" to real-time information delivery systems.
Another reason, Cuddy said, is the need for 3PLs to bridge
together their proprietary information systems, which may not
always work as well together as they should.

Maximum Flexibility
The payoff of connecting information systems with
maximum flexibility is using the data for a broader purpose.
"It all comes down to capacity utilization. That gives the

3PL the ability to model for surges in business," Cuddy said.
"Then they can go back to a customer and say, 'Yes, we can
handle that.'"
There are several additional factors to consider for 3PLs
when they make technology investments.
"The customer-facing technology is no good and has no
value if the internal systems are not adequately updated to
reflect the information the customer is looking for," Austin said.
Barnes also stressed the importance of first focusing
visibility development on the foundational elements within a
company's own information systems in order to develop useful
data that is robust and can be provided in real time. That data
should be able to be used for analytics, over and above freight
visibility, he added.
Barnes also noted the importance of evaluating how the
technology investments are directed.
"A lot of 3PLs think day-to-day and week-to-week without
understanding the bigger perspective," he said.
Austin noted the value of connecting investment with a
customer focus.
"Many times 3PLs are able to find ways to justify the
additional expense needed to improve on technology," she
said. "If the advances come at the same time as improvement
requests from their customer base, they can roll that into the
cost structure as well."

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30 Intermodal Insights | May/June 2018

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