Transportation Management Report 2011 - Capgemini

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model and its ability to effectively
reduce logistics costs and improve
customer service in the current
global economic climate.
• Many companies are using home
grown software to support their
transport function, especially
for areas like rating, operational
planning, and operational
accounting that are difficult to
support using standard off-theshelf
software. A lot of these
legacy transport systems were first
installed in the early eighties and
have been extended since then.
From a technological point of view,
legacy systems are fast approaching
the end of their lifecycle. In “The
TMS Legacy Dilemma” Annemarie
van Meesche goes into different
strategies for making changes in
these environments.
• The constraints that apply when
introducing a modern TMS
solution have tightened. Now,
in addition to an extremely
complex and inflexible application
landscape comes the added
burden of investment budgets
being cut significantly. Logistics
specialists are therefore looking
for a migration strategy that not
only reduces the business and
technology risks, but also takes
into account the current constraints
in respect to investment budget
and cash flow/ROI. An incremental/
phased approach seems like the
obvious solution to dealing with
these constraints. Today’s methods,
tools, applications, and integration
technology provide us with a new
dimension of flexibility that is
crucial for a phased transition. But
often when a company chooses
an “off-the-shelf” (i.e., packagebased)
TMS solution, they lack
the expertise and resources to
ensure the necessary flexibility. In
the article “Response to the Crisis:
Phased Introduction of a TMS”, Jan
Lindhaus and Olaf-Rüdiger Hasse
illustrate how Capgemini’s Service
Oriented Package-Based Solutions
(SOPS) methodology can help you
bridge this gap.
Transportation Management
Systems
Part II of the report provides an
overview of the available applications
that support Transportation
Management. Twenty eight vendors
were surveyed and provided
input to the inventory of products
presented. Capgemini editors have
added clarifications and views to
the text accompanying the vendor
information tables. Some highlights:
•It is important to recognize that
there are different groups of TMS
users: carrier, logistics service
provider, and shipper. Although
they have some requirements
in common, their differences
are important when selecting a
solution.
•Advanced Planning & Scheduling,
Route Optimization, Parcel
Shipping, and Global Trade
Management functionality are areas
that can be part of a comprehensive
TMS. These parts are also available
as stand-alone solutions, while
some vendors offer these thirdparty
components as options to
their own solution.