Transportation Management Systems Integration & Consulting Services

The Transportation Management Systems Integration & Consulting Services market research delivers current market analysis plus a five year market and technology forecast. 

Transportation Management Systems Integration Market Forecast to Grow Despite Looming Recession

The transportation management system integration market is comprised of the revenues generated by system integration and consulting companies that implement transportation management systems. This is a global report. Transportation management is broadly defined in this report: it includes transportation management systems that are multi-modal and include optimization, routing solutions for companies that own transportation assets, solutions that help companies execute shipments in a single mode, and global trade compliance systems. Despite the breadth of the definition, the vast majority of revenues in this market comes from implementations of functionally rich transportation management systems from Blue Yonder, Oracle, and SAP.

TMS Systems Integration & Consulting Services Strategic Issues

In addition to providing a five-year market forecast, the TMS Systems Integration & Consulting Services market research provides detailed quantitative current market data and addresses key strategic issues as follows.

Culture Matters

A cultural fit between a client and the SI is, of course, important. It is one of the things a company should be evaluating when they are evaluating consultants. It is one reason that it is very beneficial if an SI brings the actual team that will do the implementation when they discuss possible solutions with the client. From a cultural perspective, a team that contains some members with a deep IT background and others with an operational background can better communicate to the different constituencies a company has.

Understand the Goals of the TMS Implementation

A transportation management solution can be implemented by a department, business unit, region, or it can be a global implementation. The TMS can be implemented to drive cost savings, trade compliance, emissions reductions, to improve service levels, to improve a shipper’s ability to be selected as a shipper of choice, or for other reasons. In order to find the right solution in each case, the consultant must understand the client's goals. Furthermore, a TMS implementation may be a part of a larger goal. For example, a retailer may want to improve their omnichannel capabilities and TMS is needed to support that initiative.

Understand the Strengths and Weaknesses of Offshore Resources

Offshore resources can drive down the cost of a project. But lower cost human resources are not cost effective if the result is a longer implementation or a shoddy implementation. Different regions of the world communicate in different ways–the cultural norm of deference can lead to a consultant agreeing to do something when they should not agree to it at all. This can lead to missed milestones and frustration. But if a project can be divided into well-defined tasks with realistic timelines, and if there is sufficient oversight, offshore resources can be a boon.

Understand the Different Types of SIs and their Strengths and Weaknesses

There are different types of system integrators. They have different strengths and weaknesses. 

The TMS vendor themselves have a service arm. Their system integration fees are the most expensive. They have the most expertise in their solution. Furthermore, Oracle and SAP only want to do a small percentage of the implementations. Blue Yonder has recently committed itself to the same strategy but cutting over to the new model will be gradual. Vendors may not be anxious to do too much service work because he margins on software are higher and their business is more appealing to financial analysts if they have higher margins. They often do want to be involved in the initial implementations of a new release or new functionality. But in many cases, a desire to work with the TMS vendor will lead to delays and higher fees. 

There are global consulting firms that have thousands of employees and billions in revenues. They consult in many areas and implement many different types of applications. These global firms often have a large contingent of workers based in India. The big global firms are good at large projects, where TMS is just part of a larger digital transformation. These firms may have experience in newer technologies like AI, robotic process automation, or blockchain. They are looking to work with companies where they can partner with for many years. For example, before implementing a TMS, they may do a study to develop a five-year plan that identifies goals, data gaps, and system gaps. Or they may view TMS as part of a larger digital transformation and seek to implement the TMS in a way that best supports the end-to-end transformation. A control tower might be part of the digital transformation. Control tower implementations are big, long, and expensive projects that combine TMS or transportation visibility solutions, a data lake, and other applications. 

In general, large global SIs will not be interested in an implementation that will generate less than a million dollars. In general, they do not work with companies that have less than $5 billion in revenues. They will often be more expensive than smaller SI firms despite the use of offshore resources who are paid lower salaries than their counterparts in Western Europe and North America. 

There are also boutique firms. Boutiques are smaller and more focused. Some boutiques may only implement supply chain solutions, some only WMS and TMS, and some only TMS. Boutiques are more likely to have a practice focused on just one TMS supplier–there are boutiques focused on SAP TM, OTM, and Blue Yonder. Boutiques are often regional. They understand how to implement a TMS configured to meet the special transportation constraints of Latin America for example. Boutiques may also employ offshore resources but tend to have a higher percentage of resources in the region where the implementation is occurring. The fees boutiques charge tends to be lower.