How technology is being used to influence customer choice in logistics and transport

Origin by Sandfield has released the findings of their new Executive Briefing Paper—a deep dive into how technology is shaping the present and future behaviour of logistics operators and how those behaviours are impacting success.

The research was developed by Sandfield’s Chief Growth Officer, Chris Spence, who conducted numerous 1-1 in-depth interviews with executives across the Australasian Transport and Logistics landscape.

Chris describes what led him to take on the research:

“I wanted to understand why technology uptake for some logistics companies was painfully slow and why others were clearly technology-led and brought innovation to their clients. What made them different?”

The barriers hampering technology adoption

The paper yielded some surprising results, identifying Change Management as the biggest barrier to advancing technology. One respondent commented, “There is a lot involved with taking new capabilities and ingesting them into attached systems and customers.”

The report also identifies three separate groups based on their stage of technological advancement.

“It became evident that some companies felt technology was a game changer. More importantly, some saw technology as a tool to lower the cost of serving their customers while providing a more efficient experience and outcome,” says Chris.

“However, those lagging behind in their technology journey, the ‘Reactive Group’, were still stuck with locked-in thinking and tied up in legacy systems, so embracing new technology was a daunting task for them.”

80 per cent of the respondents said they were reacting to customer demands for better technology. Many of the executives stated that their customers wanted more transparent information sharing and they wanted it in “real time”. One participant stated,

“Our customers require more information. They want to be able to get it themselves. And they want to be able to see more.”

What makes the innovators different from the rest?

The research found that approximately 20 per cent of the participating companies could be described as “technology innovators”. This group understood that investing in technology drives a price and service advantage. They recognised they would get an advantage in the market and happier customers as a result.

The respondents in this group indicated that the new technologies provided a point of difference between themselves and their competitors and ultimately set the benchmark that their customers expected within the industry. The investment wasn’t solely borne out in operational cost-savings, but also, and perhaps more importantly, in the ability to win new business.

Chris Spence recaps some of the more unexpected aspects of the research, “What I found most surprising was the majority of the companies who said they were reactive to customer technology requests already had plans underway to strengthen their tech stack and deliver a better customer experience and with better internal technology. There is a huge amount of technological change underway in Logistics and Transport. The bar is not only moving upwards, it’s moving fast.”

To learn more about this research and gain a deeper understanding of the forces shaping the future of logistics, download the full report here.