The logistics market is absolutely massive, comprising approximately 10 percent of the global GDP according to some estimates. Adopting the latest communications and collaboration technologies is essential to staying competitive in the sector, yet many small and medium-sized companies lack the resources and know-how to quickly deploy advanced platforms and solutions.
The European Commission has addressed these challenges head-on by funding a project designed specifically to help SMEs adopt low cost logistics technologies and solutions. The Commission funded the LogiCon project, which was completed in August, in an effort to provide smaller businesses with a competitive advantage in the logistics realm. The initiative gives organizations access to a variety of tools including a communication platform for intermodal transport collaboration, as well as apps and smart devices in support of service information exchange. LogiCon also provides an online marketplace that lets SMEs offer transport services to customers and prospects.
“The simplification of communication between different transport modes is essential in order to make intermodality more attractive,” said the Commission in a statement describing the project. “The LogiCon project is aimed at facilitating the development of efficient ICT solutions for logistics SMEs that will be capable of meeting current and future communication needs. Besides proposing a very basic ICT that can be affordable and easily adopted by SMEs, LogiCon proposes the new business models to make cooperation in co-modal supply chains commonplace in practice.”
The long-term goal of LogiCon is to integrate intermodal transport with supply chain planning and increase adoption among businesses of all sizes. To accomplish this, logistics businesses need to improve their communications and collaboration technologies by deploying advanced platforms and applications as well as forging partnerships with existing logistics platforms. The project included four successful “Living Labs” in Poland, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, designed to facilitate connectivity and improve communications.
According to data aggregated from FreightXtension, a provider of expertise and consulting on a variety of shipping and logistics issues, the value of the global logistics market is more than $4 trillion. Clearly the space represents a massive opportunity for companies of all sizes, and the U.S. alone is expected to have 1.1 million logistics job openings from 2013 through 2016. SMEs absolutely need the latest communications technology platforms to gain competitive advantages, and LogiCon offers a great model for getting them up to speed.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson