Opinion: Transport Industry Needs a Data-Driven Culture

This Opinion piece appears in the May 15 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

By Scott McDevitt

President

Translogistics Inc.

Transparency is a valuable and sought-after trait for all of today’s top industry players, especially now that things such as business integrity and proactive problem-solving sometimes are baseline requirements of today’s consumer.

McDevitt

In fact, new regulations and industry demands tend to require visibility throughout various aspects of a business to be executed and met on a basic level. True business transparency provides you with a complete understanding of all operations, allowing you to move on to accurately assess where you should move forward and who can help you achieve the required results. A key way to obtain this needed transparency in the transportation industry is by looking at trends in other fields and following suit. One such trend adopted across countless industries in recent years is the use of big data and the creation of a corporate culture that recognizes its importance.

Companies Should Implement a Data-Driven Culture

A data-driven culture should be ingrained into the structure of any business that is truly looking to succeed and surpass its competitors because it instills a progressive outlook in its people and processes. For those in transportation, this outlook leads to a positive trajectory: streamlined internal procedures and external efficiencies, educated employees, long-term planning and informed business decisions. Logistics management shouldn’t be a guessing game, and with the right measurable insights, it doesn’t have to be.

More specifically, supply chain professionals must invest in collection methods to gather relevant facts and figures and invest time and effort into educating and connecting all individuals that interact with their supply chain.

Most companies will have a great influx of data that can be overwhelming to work with. This is where key performance indicators, or KPIs, come in. Setting internal business goals, assessing KPIs and checking in with customers, carriers, third-party partners and other involved personnel will encourage cooperation and better outcomes for all.

Data gathered for tracking and reporting will dictate future decisions on carriers, reveal accountability throughout the supply chain and even encourage transparency in other areas of a business. It may be challenging to implement an efficient collection method, such as a transportation management system, or TMS, if your company does not work on creating this crucial data-driven culture.

Structure Business Around Data, Measurable Insights

To make the most of constant data collection, companies need to open up the airwaves to more employees who have the potential to work closely with these insights and drive progress. Giving access to more than a few key people will provide a bigger picture for involved employees and allow them to assess and quickly address situations with customers and others.

For executives, having available data means having the capability to review current actions throughout their logistics operation and make the necessary adjustments to achieve quarterly goals. Data enable manufacturers and distributors to make the right decisions for their sup- pliers and customers.

If your company’s goal is to reach a 98% customer satisfaction rate for shipping or receiving, how else can you determine where your business stands if you don’t have access to on-time pickup dates, claims and other important figures?

By instilling an open data-driven culture, you can train your customer service team not only to observe but to act on their observations. Proactive problem-solving always will trump reactive efforts. When manning the phones and dealing with customers who need to know the status of their products, it’s hard numbers on tracked claims and seemingly isolated incidents that lie at the heart of preventing negative patterns from evolving. The solutions to everyday logistics challenges are in the data.

First Step to Data Transparency

Start on your data journey by embracing frequent data collection, granting access to important routine metrics and regularly compiling reports on the KPIs most relevant to your business objectives. These might include scorecard KPIs and other indicators such as load optimization, spend and shipment count and invoice accuracy.

It’s wise to conduct your own reports, as those from carriers often reflect inflated numbers and exception codes. For companies that already manage their supply chain with the help of an advanced TMS, reports can be gathered easily through various modules that supply quick insights on tracking, scheduling, claims and more.

Real supply chain visibility obtained through up-to-date data will help you steer clear of short-term forecasting and provide you with more accurate long-term predictions to aid in developing and tweaking efficient logistics strategies. Will you take the steps to form a data-driven culture for your business?

Keep in mind the success that this smart methodology has brought to other industries and apply it to yours. Your company’s approach to transportation management can affect all other areas of your business. But if you invest in proven procedures and data collection tools, you can position your products — and your personnel — for success.

Translogistics Inc. is a logistics solutions provider and strategic partner that works to help companies make more effective transportation management and business decisions.