TransportGistics

Executive Overview

Collaboration is being discussed in almost every business publication today! Many companies are discussing the topic internally and some have had in-depth discussions amongst their preferred or necessary business partners. While there are protocols, and transaction sets, the ability to articulate a universal compelling reason that would effectively create the collaborative industrial and commercial culture is severely lacking. In order for collaboration to succeed, there must be a business culture, universal standards and willingness to make certain information reasonably available to authorized partners.

Collaboration represents one of the foremost opportunities in business today; it can drive down costs, improve operations and performance, culminating in a significant contribution to the profit line. Of equal importance is that shared information amongst the business partners positions those partners to participate in the new knowledge base created by real-time understanding of shared information. As an example, it is reasonable to conclude that consignees would have better insight regarding delivery carriers closest to their location, and with shared tracking information and performance monitoring the business partners would be empowered with the ability to make more timely and accurate decisions regarding carrier performance standards and selection. Without collaboration, this issue may never be solved or solved well after customer service deteriorated and freight costs exceeded the service negotiated.