According to a post " One sector that has been truly transformed by the cloud is logistics and supply chain management. In many ways the cloud is a natural fit for this industry because of its global scope and involvement of many participants. The cloud allows data from many sources to be centrally collected, transformed, and presented in dynamic dashboards. With the cloud, supply chain and logistic analysts are able to track in real time every step of the supply chain, enabling them to make informed decisions and forecasts for capacity management and contingency planning. Cloud platforms for logistics are more flexible and responsive compared to the previous generation of supply chain and logistics tracking tools.
- Dwight Klappich, research vice president for Gartner, said in a Logistics Management article, that “two to three years ago when we talked to shippers about software, the cloud was just one option. In many cases, the cloud has now become a preference for companies.” In 2012 there was a 40 percent increase over 2011 in the use of the cloud by supply chains, and now already half of transportation supply chains are using the cloud.
- Benefits of the cloud to the supply chain and logistics space include automatic software updates, faster implementations, fewer IT resources and ‘always-on’ global access to data from a variety of devices.
- Kurt Cavano, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of TradeCard, and Esther Lutz, Vice President of Tradecard, write that “Keeping all parties synchronized at all times has always been a hassle. A typical sourcing transaction involves 5 to 15 different parties – in different countries, languages and time zones. Traditional methods of communicating are slow and inefficient – and cannot keep up with the changes occurring in-store. Cloud technology enables a collaborative model for the supply chain to enable all parties to communicate and transact in real time.”