thoughtleaders
QWho do you consider to be the leading TMS providers?
AOracle continues to be among the leaders, and I’d say i2—
now part of JDA—is also in a leader-
ship position. Leadership is not just
product functionality; it’s depth,
market success, and support for
multiple modes and multiple carri-
ers. Manhattan Associates is starting
to gain some traction, particularly in
areas where fleets are really impor-
tant. As for the SaaS providers,
LeanLogistics, Sterling Commerce,
and MercuryGate are some of the up
and comers.
QWhat advice would you give some- one who’s looking to implement a
TMS?
AI would do a self-assessment. With TMS, the success of an implementation depends more on the user’s ability to fully exploit the app than on the
particular system it chooses—these are
fairly mature, well-proven, high-quality
systems. If I’m a shipper that’s moving
from an undisciplined ad hoc process to
one that’s more methodical and disciplined, I need to worry about change
management. The change management
aspects are more critical than just the
application.
You need to look at your organization,
the state of your users, and your goals. You
need to set reasonable expectations. Don’t
go in saying “I’m going to reduce my
freight spending 20 percent in the first
year” if the implementation is going to
require a complete overhaul of your operating process.
QGartner has gone on record pre- dicting that best-of-breed applications are going to make a comeback. Can
you talk about how that will happen in
the supply chain execution area?
AWe do an annual supply chain man- agement study, and we found last
year that over 50 percent of the companies we define as leaders favor a hybrid
application environment [using both
enterprise resource planning (ERP) and
best-of-breed applications]. They’ll push
commoditized processes—the things they
don’t see as a source of differentiation—
onto an ERP platform. But they’ll favor
best-of-breed applications for processes
they see as high value-add, differentiating
activities.
Why? The best-of-breed [apps] have
functionality. Best-of-breed vendors have
domain expertise and an ability to innovate, and an ability to help their clients
exploit their technologies.
We’ve seen a decline in the expectation
that companies will someday be on a single ERP platform. Most companies recognize that ERP plays an important role. But
if there are applications that are more
cost-effective, they’ll figure out how to
make a best-of-breed solution fit.
