It’s already old news to talk about how innovative SaaS logistics technology solutions are.
The cloud is the norm today. This is what has allowed, and what is so exciting, about the new way companies are adding more focused applications into their logistics technology stack.
This is a trend that’s certain to continue – here’s a recent article from Gartner on the topic.
Gartner Says By 2020, a Corporate “No-Cloud” Policy Will Be as Rare as a “No-Internet” Policy Is Today
Operating in the cloud is liberating for companies in several ways. First, it lightens the IT load by requiring less hardware and on-site support resources to maintain a system.
Second, it makes data interoperability between applications easier – which frees up companies from relying on singe sourced solutions like many of the large ERP and TMS applications (many of which have lagged in their own move to the cloud).
But in the end, what it means to the logistics industry is that more companies are able to buy and connect applications based on need and not the ability to “talk” with their existing technology. Today, the capability to connect different systems in this way is assumed.
There can be challenges for users with this approach however. Learning and working with different applications and interfaces makes training more difficult and can be frustrating to users. Taking steps to maintain a consistent UI and process remains important. In other words, don’t ignore the user experience when considering new technology.
