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DIGITAL DISRUPTION IN FREIGHT AND LOGISTICS READY TO ROLL?

DIGITAL DISRUPTION

New, digital entrants are transforming traditional relationships in the freight and logistics business. Their offerings, built on big data, cloud and connected platform technologies, give customers the seamless experience they already enjoy as consumers:

Ease of access

Price transparency

Swift, near real time integrated service

Still mired in largely manual and heterogeneous processes, supported by a variety of different tools, most of the industry’s incumbents simply can’t compete.

Accenture research clearly shows that if they persist with "business as usual," traditional players can expect to lose both competitiveness and value.

DIGITAL DISRUPTION IN THE LOGISTICS INDUSTRY THREATENS TRADITIONAL PLAYERS WITH IRRELEVANCE—UNLESS THEY TOO LEARN TO DISRUPT.

Digital Disruption in Freight and Logistics: Ready to Roll? This opens a new window.

VIEW THE REPORT [PDF]

RAISING THE GAME

Digitizing their operational processes will help incumbent players rise to the challenge posed by platform-based pricing models and remain competitive. But they also need to seize the value-generating opportunities that the application of new technologies delivers.

Accenture believes that eight digital technologies, at varying stages of maturity, are especially disruptive.

EACH TECHNOLOGY CHANGES THE CURRENT INDUSTRY IN ITS OWN WAY.

BLOCKCHAIN

Secure data distribution and validation technology that improves shipment visibility and brings trust into the sale and movement of international cargo.
AUGMENTED REALITY

Augmented reality will revolutionize the picking, packing and commissioning processes in warehouses and crossdocking areas. If the technology is not applied, handling costs won’t be competitive and lead to margin decrease.
SAAS CORE SOLUTIONS

Standardized and easy to deploy and parametrize applications replace monolithic bespoke core applications that were used for ages in Freight & Logistics, driving operational agility into the business.
ROBOTICS

Robotics Process Automation will increase the automation level to almost 100 percent in the transport planning and customer invoicing processes leaving almost no activities to human beings anymore.
AUTONOMOUS LOGISTICS

A driver-less way of bringing goods from A to B will revolutionize the industry by eliminating dependency on the human factor. Data collected via sensors, RfiD, barcode and remote devices along the entire value chain will be a make or break capability.
DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Digital platforms change the revenue mix by enabling both physical and virtual product offerings that not only handle products from one point to another, but also, by giving clients insights along the supply chain, enable the optimization of other parts of the business.
BIG DATA ANALYTICS

Big Data Analytics with data from the entire ecosystem will provide a whole new set of information that enable 3PLs to strongly drive operational efficiencies through a higher utilization of assets.
3D PRINTING

3D printing will significantly boost the decentralization of finished goods production, not only changing today’s transport volume, but also allowing the horizontal integration of additional value chain activities, thereby extending the product portfolio.

BUSINESS MODEL OPPORTUNITIES

These technologies offer incumbent players struggling to adjust to digital disruption the keys to a variety of new, customer-centric business models, each of which could unlock significant value-generation opportunities.

THEY ENABLE SEVEN NEW BUSINESS MODELS THAT UNLOCK OPPORTUNITIES ARISING FROM PREVAILING MARKET CHALLENGES.

Smart players will choose a mix of business models, depending on their strategic positioning in the value chain and which customer segment they wish to address.

DIGITAL SALES
Actively engage and leverage existing freight online platforms with differentiated service offerings to get access to new clients and spot market.
CUSTOMER SPECIFIC PLATFORMS
Customer specific platforms are the one-stop-shop for all customer information and interaction: quoting, shipping information, ordering, tracking & tracing, billing and reporting.
3D PRINT FARM
Set-up 3D-printing centres at critical geographic nerve centres to supply clients with finished/semi-finished components, printed through the LSP as contract manufacturer.
MATCH MAKER
Establish and grow an online freight platform through own knowledge and global expertise allowing a many-to-many buyer-seller relationship.
HOLISTIC SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Increase service offerings along complete value chain of LSP clients—up and downstream—offering proactive solutions for client’s strategic business planning, forecasting and proactive risk management.
FORWARDING EXECUTION SPECIALIST
Provision of clearly defined service offerings, focusing “physical” transport execution (consolidation, packing, labelling, pre-carriage, on-carriage, documentation, etc.) on online platforms.
SMART CAPACITY OPTIMIZATION
Make own assets smart (container, ships, trucks, aircraft, trains, etc.) to enable IoT services for the logistics ecosystems as additional service offering and optimize capacity.

ACCELERATING THE JOURNEY

Digital capabilities are critical to meeting the challenge of digital disruption successfully. We believe that incumbents need to consider and drive this “rotation to the new” as a conscious and deliberate act of renewing and transforming their core business, while growing into new businesses and services.

Our research shows that no incumbent can afford to postpone the move to digital. Over the next three to five years, a combination of new competitors, rising customer expectations, and a shift in global trade routes will force traditional intermediaries to transform—or lose relevance.