Editor’s Pick: Is Your Transportation Management System Adequate or Extraordinary?

By Talking Logistics

Note: Today’s post is part of our “Editor’s Pick” series where we highlight posts published by our sponsors that provide practical knowledge and advice on timely and important supply chain and logistics topics. This recent post by Mike Mulqueen from JBF Consulting’s blog highlights how to maximize your investment in a transportation management system (TMS).

One and Done?

“Don’t worry, Mike. Phase 2 never comes.”

That was the guidance whispered to me by a fellow consultant I was working with at a TMS kick-off meeting. The shipper, a large consumer packaged goods company, had just acquired a new TMS solution. We were in a conference room discussing project scope and the client’s long-term objectives, and I was concerned about our ability to deliver Phase 2.

The limited scope of Phase 1 was to be followed by a very significant Phase 2, which contained virtually everything NOT included in Phase 1, including the bulk of the value-added elements of the project.

I was worried about integration issues, change management challenges, the scalability of the software, and basic product gaps, all of which would need to be addressed.

How would we be successful?

How will the customer deliver the financial benefits that were promised to senior leadership?

I contemplated the meaning of my colleague’s statement – “Phase 2 never comes.” Was it overly cynical, or was it an accurate depiction of a large-scale, multi-phase enterprise software implementation?

Since then, I have come to the conclusion that, in too many cases, my colleague was correct. The ultimate vision of the TMS becoming the technological foundation from which transportation operational excellence is derived remains a distant goal for far too many shippers.