Why the real value is in connecting them
When you work in logistics, you quickly realise that running a business is not about one system, one department or one type of information.
A customer request can become a quotation, then a booking, then a shipment.
A carrier needs to be selected.
Costs need to be controlled.
Delivery needs to be monitored.
Documents need to be collected.
An issue may turn into a claim.
And eventually, someone needs to understand whether the whole operation actually made sense financially.
Over the years, we have worked with different types of business systems and, more importantly, with the information that flows through them.
One thing has become clear to us:
The real value is not necessarily in having more systems. It is in making the information work together.
So, where do CRM, ERP and TMS fit into this?
💻 Three systems, three different purposes
The easiest way to understand them is to look at what each one is trying to solve.
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is primarily about customers and commercial relationships.
It helps answer questions such as:
Who is our customer?
What have we discussed?
What have we offered?
What should we follow up on?
An ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) looks at the wider business.
It connects processes such as sales, purchasing, finance, invoicing, operations and reporting.
It helps answer:
What is happening across the business, and what does it mean financially?
A TMS (Transportation Management System) focuses on transportation.
It deals with shipments, carriers, transport costs, planning, deliveries, documentation, exceptions and performance.
It helps answer:
What is happening with the transport, and how are we managing it?
|The definitions are relatively simple. The reality is not
The interesting part starts when they meet
The challenges are:
Can we connect the customer with the shipment?
The shipment with the carrier?
The carrier with the cost?
The cost with the revenue?
The operational performance with the customer experience?
And ultimately, all of that with profitability?
This is where connected systems become much more powerful than isolated ones.
From “What happened?” to “What should we do?”
For us, this is one of the most important changes taking place in business technology.
A system can tell you that a shipment was delayed.
Useful.
But what if the data can also show that:
- the delays are concentrated on a particular lane,
- they happen more frequently with certain carriers,
- they affect specific customers,
- they create additional costs,
- and they are gradually reducing the margin?
Now the information means something different. It is no longer a simple record of what happened,
it becomes information that can support a decision.
Do we change the carrier? Review the lane? Adjust the pricing? Change the process? Investigate the customer requirement?
This is where Business Intelligence becomes important too.
What this means in logistics
Logistics is a good example because the operation is naturally interconnected.
A shipment touches multiple parts of a business:
Customer → Sales → Booking → Carrier → Transport → Delivery → Documentation → Cost → Revenue → Quality
If every stage is managed separately, people spend a lot of time looking for information, checking spreadsheets, sending emails and trying to understand what happened.
When the information is connected, the process can be supported by
faster decisions, better control, stronger customer service and better profitability.
➡️ Why we are sharing this
We are looking at it from the perspective of a company that has to manage these processes every day.
That experience is also what has urged the development of myDS.
We want the different parts of the business to be connected customer information, shipments, carriers, costs, performance, quality and financial results so that the same data can support both daily operations and management decisions.
And this is an ongoing process.
The more data we collect and connect, the more opportunities there are to move from recording information to understanding it.
The future is not about choosing one system
A CRM can help you understand your customers.
An ERP can connect your business processes.
A TMS can help you manage transportation.
Business Intelligence can help you understand what all that information is telling you.
But the real opportunity is connecting the dots.
|Business technology becomes truly useful when information stops living in separate boxes and starts becoming part of the same picture and that is what we are working with myDS|
Not simply more information…
Not simply more software…
But better visibility, better understanding and eventually better decisions.
