Is supply chain visibility a product or feature?
I first raised this question in an April 2022 post. Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote at the time:
To derive business value from visibility, you have to do something with the data and insights collected. It’s the doing, the actions taken to improve your transportation and logistics operations, for example, that ultimately delivers value. This is where enterprise software applications like transportation management (TMS), warehouse management (WMS), and yard management (YMS) come in.
In short, even for this new generation of supply chain visibility providers, visibility is becoming a feature of a broader supply chain software platform. The end game, if there is one, is to create the largest network of connected trading partners with the broadest set of software applications on top. As I’ve said before, in the world of supply chain and logistics, it will no longer be just software that will be eating the world (to use Marc Andreessen’s famous quote from 2011), but software and networks.
So, yes, I was (and still am) on the “visibility is a feature” side of the debate.
I am revisiting this topic because of an announcement made by FourKites last week. The company announced that “it is withdrawing from the Gartner Real-time Transportation Visibility Platform (RTTVP) Magic Quadrant evaluation process, citing the need to prioritize breakthrough AI innovations using RTTVP that are fundamentally reshaping supply chain operations.” As Mathew Elenjickal, founder and CEO of FourKites, explains in the press release:
“The supply chain industry stands at the crossroads of transformation with AI poised to deliver unprecedented efficiencies and automation capabilities. While traditional RTTVP solutions provide a foundation for supply chain operations, our revolutionary AI capabilities are elevating RTTVP to new heights of efficiency and effectiveness. Our breakthroughs in AI-powered automation using Digital Workforce and Intelligent Control Tower solutions are already delivering extraordinary results for our customers, and we believe focusing on these innovations will better serve the industry than participating in RTTVP evaluation models that don’t yet account for our innovation and roadmap.”
It’s a bit of a word salad, but Mathew states it better and more simply in a follow-up LinkedIn post:
“Our journey with the world’s leading shippers has shown us that true transformation happens when visibility becomes the foundation for intelligent automation, not the end goal.”
In other words, real-time visibility alone is not enough to deliver sustained value for clients.
That is why over the past 5+ years, for example, real-time transportation visibility providers have been forming partnerships with a long list of transportation management systems (TMS) vendors (see August 2020 post, “TMS: Everybody’s Favorite New Partner”). As I wrote in that post:
For real-time freight visibility providers, shippers are demanding [visibility solutions to be integrated with their TMS] because they don’t only want to see and observe what is happening with their shipments, they also want to take action with the data and insights collected. Transportation management systems are like the athletic kid everybody wants to play with at the playground because they will make your team better and provide you with a better chance of winning. Or if you prefer a Hamilton analogy, these partners all want to be “in the room where it happens” — that is, they want to be in the app where transportation happens for shippers, which is their TMS.
Now, here are some perspectives from others:
In a Talking Logistics episode last November, Brad Forester, CEO and Founder of JBF Consulting, discussed how real-time visibility solutions are an area where hype overstated the value that could be achieved, causing some disillusionment among users. Here’s a clip of what he said:
And on the same day as the FourKites announcement, Jonah McIntire from Transporeon published a long post on his Substack titled, “Now You See It, Now You Don’t: The Death of Supply Chain Visibility as a Category.” He echoes many of the points I raised above, but he also expands into other areas too, like the role of VCs in this market. Here’s an excerpt of Jonah’s post:
In this article I’m explaining my contrarian perspective that supply chain visibility is going to have a chaotic reset as two realities come together: most software vendors are VC-backed companies that thought they’d build unicorns and give huge payouts to their investors, while supply chain managers are realising visibility is a commoditized feature rather than a category to be bought for a premium. My concrete prediction is that at least the three largest VC backed vendors will have to settle with this reality by being acquired and dismantled by another category leader (for example, by a major TMS vendor) or by cutting valuation and pivoting their product scope towards a category that will survive.
Granted, McIntire works at a competitor, so you might be tempted to dismiss his perspective. But based on the many comments he has received on LinkedIn about his post, it seems like many folks agree with him, including me. (Disclosure: Transporeon is a Talking Logistics sponsor).
What about you? Do you agree with Jonah and/or me? Do real-time transportation visibility solutions provide enough unique value to remain a standalone product or should they be acquired and integrated into broader supply chain platforms?
Our Indago members will be sharing their perspectives on this topic in this week’s survey. If you’re a supply chain or logistics practitioner from a manufacturing, retail, or distribution company — and you’re interested in learning from your peers and taking this week’s survey — I encourage you to learn more about Indago and join our research community. It is confidential, there is no cost to join and the time commitment is minimal (2-4 minutes per week) — plus your participation will help support charitable causes like Breakthrough T1D, American Logistics Aid Network, American Cancer Society, Feeding America, and Make-A-Wish.
One more question: What about Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for this category, which now only has six vendors listed after FourKites pulled out. Will 2025 be the final edition? Is it relevant any more, if it ever was?
