Data First, Trucks Second: Rethinking Supply-Chain Resilience

As disruptions in global logistics become the new norm, traditional transport management models are no longer sufficient. Fragmented data, delayed information flows, and a lack of full operational visibility extend reaction times and drive up costs. Transport management platforms are emerging as a response to these challenges, integrating data from multiple sources and enabling supply-chain participants to operate faster, more coherently, and in a more predictable manner.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Data-Driven Advantage

Recurring supply-chain disruptions are increasing the importance of factors such as alternative routes, backup warehouses, supplier diversification, and having additional transport capacity on standby. However, each of these elements offers limited value on its own. What is truly needed is knowledge of when, how, and where these resources can be deployed effectively.

Information was once considered a priceless commodity; today it is increasingly becoming a shared good. Nevertheless, data dispersed across multiple systems—TMS, ERP, WMS, or telematics solutions—often fails to reach the right decision-makers in time. When properly processed, data turns into information that enables global logistics players to anticipate, monitor, and adapt processes to current challenges.

In a world where disruption has become a regular reality, competitive advantage is gained not by those that gather the most data, but by those that can quickly translate it into operational decisions. This allows them to detect supply-chain disruptions sooner, reroute cargo, optimize resources, and reduce costs.

All Data Under One Roof

In this context, transport management platforms are gaining importance. They integrate key processes and data from multiple sources into a single digital environment. Users gain rapid access to a broader pool of carriers, real-time visibility of loads being transported, and tools for optimal load allocation and management of resources such as warehouses or unloading bays.

As a result, companies obtain a coherent, real-time view of their operational situation, significantly shortening response times to disruptions.

Although these platforms operate as closed, commercial and managed ecosystems, this does not imply isolation. On the contrary, their effectiveness is built on system integrations and the ability to exchange data with external partners.

Closed logistics platforms act as secure intermediaries that integrate different systems (ERP, TMS, WMS) and standardize data exchange. This enables companies to share information with ecosystem partners while maintaining full control over their own data—from shipment statuses to waiting times at loading docks.

From Spot Freight Exchange to Logistics Control Center

An example of such a solution is CargoON, which illustrates how logistics market players are evolving—from a traditional spot freight exchange to a transport management platform. While this does not yet equal the scale or openness of fully open logistics platforms, it is clearly a step in the direction of interoperability and data sharing.

It demonstrates that the transport and logistics sector is inevitably moving toward closer cooperation and increasing automation.

A Multitude of Benefits

Transport management platforms such as CargoON deliver a wide range of benefits to supply-chain participants:

• Faster response to disruptions: Centralized data ensures that information about delays reaches relevant stakeholders almost immediately, enabling rapid rerouting or reassignment of carriers.
• Better operational decisions: Real-time visibility enables dynamic planning of routes and resources based on up-to-date data such as vehicle locations, available capacity, and loading performance.
• Optimal use of resources: In an environment of driver shortages and limited capacity, better data helps reduce empty runs and lower operating costs.
• Risk prediction: Analytics, AI, and IoT technologies enable the anticipation of congestion, delays, and bottlenecks—shifting supply chains from reactive to predictive.

Summary