As more companies focus on supply chain collaboration, pressure to standardize information systems between shippers, their customers and suppliers, and third-party logistics (3PL) service providers is growing, says Dr. C. John Langley, Jr., professor of supply chain management at the Georgia Institute of Technology (www.gatech.edu). Shippers often rely on a 3PL or a systems integrator to make internal and "customer-facing" software work in concert. But some shippers insist that all parties use the shippers' IT system, a decision that can backfire. Langley cites one such situation, where two 3PLs had to drop their proprietary warehouse management systems in favor of the shipper's software. That put all three of them at a disadvantage, he says, since the providers' systems were more efficient than that of the customer.