Web services have a bright future in the trucking industry, as information can be exchanged among different systems – internally and among various supply chain partners – in real time. Despite these benefits, roadblocks remain, mostly related to customer preferences and ROI.

By today’s standards, the fax machine and telephone seem as ancient as smoke signals or drumbeats as business communications tools. But the Internet isn’t always a dramatic improvement. Logging on to websites or sending e-mails often is just a way to perform clunky, manual tasks faster.

The Internet truly can shine, however, as the backbone for Web services – a mechanism many businesses use to automate the exchange of data and transactions among information systems. Web services make it possible to easily abstract and access data from one system, and read and write data to another system.

Dispatchers at Caldwell Freight don’t visit websites to track trailers. Instead, the 180-truck carrier based in Lenoir, N.C., uses Web services to receive GPS and other trailer-tracking data in a readable format for its AS400-based dispatch program. So far, Caldwell Freight hasn’t seen the need to use Web services in other areas of its business, says Lisa Yow, director of information technology.

Similarly, Arcadia, Ind.-based Tradewinds uses Web services provided by several trailer-tracking vendors. Rather than visit separate websites to access location and other information on trailers, fleet managers rely on a tool developed by Ben Becker that integrates the information directly into Tradewinds’ information systems and custom reports.

“The ability to rely on this model is open to just about every application and scenario used in business today,” says Becker, chief information officer of the 150-truck carrier.

Becker believes that Web services have a bright future in trucking that will go beyond asset tracking. Information can be exchanged among different systems – internally and among various supply chain partners – in real time, and synchronized with important events surrounding the physical status of freight and assets, Becker says.