Web 2.0 Puts Supply Chains in the Fast Lane

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part opinion piece by Bryn Heimbeck, Trade Tech’s CEO. Trade Tech is a global supplier of Cloud-based solutions for the logistics industry.

Web 2.0 turbo charges the Internet environment and brings into fruition the long sought goal of putting in place global logistics on a single, collaborative platform.  These platforms, in turn, are revolutionizing supply chains, through visibility, control, value added content, and greatly enhanced access to data far sooner in the supply chain process. Case studies and story boards are rapidly appearing of logistics companies realizing the opportunities originally promised with the advent of the internet.

We used to say “the cargo can only move as fast as the documents.”  While often employed to explain shipment delays, this statement was exactly right.  Cargo documents contained essential information required by destination logistics teams. Until those papers were in hand, goods could not be received, cleared through Customs, or moved further along in the supply chain.  Consequently, working at destination often meant waiting around for crucial documents to arrive, then sprinting to handle the cargo that quickly followed, and nothing was materially capable of speeding up the supply chain while this was the case.

The internet promised to revolutionize this process by providing a global platform that would give all parties real-time visibility to shipment data, thereby enabling better preparation and faster handling at destination and transit points and thus, speeding up the supply chain.  However, early Web environments had severe limitations because they were based on central computers that, more often than not, were located on the other side of an ocean and transmission speeds were relatively slow.  Moreover, HTML was in its early stages and necessary business functions were difficult, if not impossible, to implement.  Basic capabilities, such as validating information for location codes, cursor paths and pop-up menus, which we take for granted in server-based systems, were not generally available.  As a result, the Web mostly remained the domain of on-line purchasing, where requirements for raw data capture are significantly less. 

Today’s Web environment is a different story. With the new generation of functionality loosely know as Web 2.0, the promise of real-time visibility has been realized, allowing development of the complex applications required to facilitate international supply chains.