Network optimization has become all-important in helping transportation and logistics companies manage what Trimble President and CEO Rob Painter called “the spicy market that we find ourselves in.”
The industry needs technology now more than ever, Painter recently told media at the company’s annual Insight conference. He said Trimble has one of the largest transportation software businesses in the world with a network that supports optimization.
“It's an asset scarce set of capabilities,” he added. “In that context, it's not surprising to me that we've had inbound interest.”
Trimble confirmed in August that it is evaluating a possible sale of its Transportation and Logistics (T&L) business after receiving unsolicited acquisition interest. Painter confirmed at the conference that there is still interest from multiple parties but said there is no update as to whether the company will sell that unit.
He said Trimble is still in the process of a strategic review.
“Most strategic reviews end up with continuing to do what we do, and so that's our mindset is business as usual,” Painter said. “We hope to wrap up the review. I'm super comfortable if I'm back in front of you again in weeks, months or a year from now at our next conference, and we're executing the playbook because that's how we're operating right now. We run the business … This is a Trimble business until it’s not.”
Is it time to make a change?
Trimble’s T&L unit consists of transportation management systems (TMS), commercial navigation and route optimization, a freight marketplace and more, and the potential sale has urged some transportation companies to consider changing their TMS provider.
Hans Galland, CEO of the multi-tenant SaaS transportation management system BeyondTrucks, said companies should consider switching no matter who their vendor is, and whether it is contemplating a sale or not because AI is changing the way business is done.
“You need to be very introspective and ask, ‘Is this platform a fit for me today based on what I know I need to achieve in 10 year, 15 years, maybe five years even?’” Galland said. “If it's not, you should change anyway.”
He said the biggest mistake he sees customers make when changing their TMS is they treat it as a technology decision, but it’s a much bigger fundamental business decision. Fleets need to consider what it will take for their company to not only survive but thrive in the future freight environment, he said, adding that they should choose a system that will enable them to stand out from the pack based on their value proposition to their customers.
“Now that you have that, it actually allows you to shift the core value proposition of the TMS from back-office filing cabinet data retention to a real-time operating system in which you can improve the way you make decisions about where your money is to the fleet,” Galland said. “The money in the fleet is not in the back office … The money in the fleet is where the drivers are and where the equipment is.”
But he said the majority of platforms have been geared toward making the back office more productive rather than focusing on making the people in the field more productive, which is where the greater opportunity for a TMS lies.
Now that the field has become digital with ELDs, telematics and trucks that have basically become driving computers, Galland noted that “the deep underlying fuel for any company going forward is digital data and making that digital data available holistically and really fast in the future.”
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Fleets, most of which he said have maybe 10% to 20% of their data in digital format currently, need to first seek a TMS that helps them become increasingly digital. Secondly, they need to vet vendors that offer platforms that are architected in a way that makes their data available and digestible for modern tools like AI, he added.
Galland said the typical approach he has seen fleets take in the TMS purchasing process is identifying vendors that offer a certain list of features. It’s not about features, he said, advising them instead to start with a core objective in mind and present that to prospective vendors.
Have the vendor do a process assessment in which they provide their understanding of the business as it is currently, describe the future state of the business that the company needs to get to, and explain the solutions they can offer to get the fleet between the two.
“That's the right process in a day and age where what is true today is not going to be true tomorrow,” Galland said.
Tips for making a change
Ben Wiesen, President of Carrier Logistics Inc., which provides a customizable, cloud-based SaaS or on-premise TMS for LTL carriers, said in the event of a TMS ownership change, they should ask these questions:
- Why did the ownership change occur?
- Will there be staffing or executive leadership changes?
- How will the acquisition affect the product roadmap, service and support?
- If possible, speak with the new owners to assess their commitment to the product and customers.
Galland noted it may be difficult to get honest answers from the vendor because their interest is to keep your business. His advice is to look at the buyer or potential buyer’s track record following previous acquisitions.
[RELATED: A bulk carrier's journey from a legacy operating system to a customized cloud platform]
Wiesen offered these practical steps for vendor vetting:
- Start the process of changing vendors by documenting the fleet’s operational and administrative workflows. “Without a clear understanding of your current processes, you cannot define requirements or evaluate vendors effectively,” he said.
- Begin with a clear list of operational and technical requirements. Decide whether you need customization or can adapt your workflows to the system.
- Look at each vendor’s specialization, industry experience, customer support and fit with your operation.
- Evaluate support hours, uptime service-level agreements, cybersecurity practices, integration capabilities and implementation resources, not just features and price.
- Speak with and, if possible, visit comparable carriers using the system.
He offered these tips for making the process easier:
- A weighted spreadsheet can help organize the evaluation, but it should support — not replace — firsthand research and judgment.
- AI may help summarize information, but TMS platforms are highly specialized, and public data may not capture meaningful differences between vendors.
He offered these tips for the ultimate transition:
- Inventory existing integrations and determine which must be maintained and which the new TMS could replace.
- Clean up customer, equipment and other master data before migration. Carrying outdated or duplicate data into a new system will complicate implementation.
“Changing a TMS is a major undertaking because operations must continue throughout the transition,” Wiesen said. “… A poorly managed implementation can cause service failures, incorrect driver pay and delayed customer invoicing.”
