COVID-19 drives major spending push into supply chain management technologies
Complexity in supply chains revealed by pandemic will nearly double global TMS revenues to $31 billion by 2025
According to a forecast by ABI Research, worldwide Transport Management System (TMS) revenues are expected to double, from US $16 billion in 2020 to US $31 billion in 2025, showing staggering growth for leading providers such as Blue Yonder, SAP and Oracle.
As the expanding complexity of the supply chain has called into question the effectiveness of traditional solutions, leaders in the industry are forced to adopt a more advanced and inclusive approach to both forecasting and adapting to the changing environment. TMS adoption has been at the front of the agenda for many supply chain executives, with prove ROI the primary motive. TMS solutions enable greater visibility, plus improved efficiency, reliability, and flexibility of freight movement.
Synergistic technologies look set to continue to evolve, leading to greater flexibility, improved customer support, and enhanced forecasting capabilities. A growing list of cloud-based software vendors is offering Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics capabilities. These solutions can reliably interpret data from many complex indicators and execute more insightful and connected strategies.
"There is growing usage of open APIs and Software Development Kits (SDKs) to create customized solutions for different sized companies, verticals, and geographies as well as partners and co-opetition," explains Susan Beardslee, Principal Analyst, Freight Transportation & Logistics. "Adoption triggers include capacity constraints, which are growing ever tighter (including driver shortages back to 2018 levels) and pushing up costs toward the double-digits. Beyond that, consumers and businesses continue to push for more granularity in answering, "where's my stuff?" with an ETE, real-time response."