Finding LogTech's Lingua Franca
Welcome to the 57th edition of The LogTech Letter, a weekly look at the impact technology is having on the world of global and domestic logistics. Last week, I put forth a new category of LogTech centered around the idea that some solutions are built to make existing systems better. This week, I’m diving into why LogTech requires its participants to be bilingual.
As a reminder, this is the place to turn on Fridays for quick reflection on a dynamic, software category, or specific company that’s on my mind. You’ll also find a collection of links to stories, videos and podcasts from me, my colleagues at the Journal of Commerce, and other analysis I find interesting.
For those that don’t know me, I’m Eric Johnson, senior technology editor at the Journal of Commerce and JOC.com. I can be reached at eric.johnson@ihsmarkit.com or on Twitter at @LogTechEric.
We don’t often think of a computer programming language in the same way we do a spoken language, because you can’t use Python to order a latte from your local barista. But you can order that coffee through an app at some coffee places, so a coding language is indeed a way to communicate in that way, just through the cypher of multiple systems that interact with one another.
Computer programming is filled to the brim with acronyms and insider-y terms that help create a layer of mystic separation from the common person wanting to understand how technology works, but lacking the grounding in it. It’s like dropping a person fond of a particular foreign culture, but with no understanding of the local language, in the middle of a village and expecting them to pick up the nuances right away. It can happen, but it’s not instant, and it requires the village to be accepting of the person who can’t speak the lingo.
On the other side of the coin in logistics technology is the lexicon of global freight and trade. These are the inscrutable names, short forms, and acronyms that can make logistics entirely unapproachable to a newbie, but are intrinsic knowledge for vets. In some ways, both sets of jargon are meant to be tests. Do you call a ship a boat? Do you know what a TEU is? Do you know what an ASN is? Do you know what an MQC is? Do you know what OTIF is? If not, you may not be from around these parts.
The key with companies trying to drive real innovation in logistics through software is that they have to be able to walk the walk in both areas. They have to burst through the doors at a Wild West saloon and not have all the cowboys squint their eyes and unholster their pistols. They also have to walk into the club and not have the DJ do a needle scratch. They have to be proficient, if not conversational, if not fluent in both arenas. It’s the bilingual nature of LogTech.
Why is this important? Why can’t someone who is exceptional at reimagining a process come in and say, I have a solution to this problem even if I’m not from this industry? In fact, why shouldn’t it be someone who is untainted by the baggage of the past who people look to? In logistics, outsiders are often viewed skeptically, not embraced. Some of it is a matter of people seeing experience as not only preferable, but a prerequisite to make a difference in logistics. Others see outsiders as just not understanding the unique complications of the industry. But are those things actual constraints or just mental hurdles? In other words, can you redesign a process if you don’t speak the language of the people who manage the process? Or are you doomed to be the outsider, stuck in a village you love but where you can’t converse with anyone?
This is a paradox with which LogTech founders must contend. They have to know or learn the language of the industry, and then teach people to forget it. Matt Tillman, CEO of invoice audit technology provider OpenEnvoy and former founder of Haven (acquired this year by FourKites) said it better than I ever could.
The issue cuts the other way too. While software providers aim to make a solution as easy to use as it can possibly be, the reality is that most software investment still takes at least a basic understanding of technology. You have to know how its priced, deployed, how it’s integrated or implemented, how it’s configured and expanded.
You need to know how to research a market, how to choose a vendor, and how to measure the success of the investment. Heck, even knowing how to play around with a spreadsheet is a good marker between the tech haves and havenots (I know which side of the divide I reside).
Basically, logistics technology requires both developers and users of technology to be bilingual – maybe not dually fluent, but at least proficient. And the reality is, the market is moving that way anyway. Founders coming into the space today have the advantage of supply chain being a much more mainstream field, better access to informative content that can get them up to speed, and often the experience of being at a previous LogTech startup where they learned the ropes. They also have a potential user base that is a decade into the current technology boom in logistics, one that has seen consumer tech concepts start to gradually bleed into workplace systems, and where tech has become a very mainstream topic.
We’re reaching a point where the demand to be bilingual is nearly equal to the supply of bilingual speakers.
Here’s a roundup of pieces on JOC.com the past week from my colleagues and myself (note: there is a paywall):
Blume Global is now valued at $500 million, the company said this week as it announced an unspecified amount of private equity from a third investor. Interesting chat with Blume CEO Pervinder Johar here about the company being a platform, not application, provider.
Vector.ai, one of a cohort of logistics documentation and process automation specialists to emerge in recent years, landed a big funding round this week. I’ve written a bunch on this subject, including predicting that this would be the big topic of 2021, and it’s unlikely to subside anytime soon.
It will be interesting to watch how the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) builds out its network in the years ahead, especially in light of how it might act as a counterweight to TradeLens. This week, the GSBN announced it is working with a trio of big banks that will act as a trade finance advisory council, following recent development of a cargo release tool that’s available in ports in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand.
More visibility news from project44, this time a partnership with Google Cloud to infuse its cargo visibility data into Google’s news supply chain solutions, including a digital twin offering. Let the cloud giant supply chain battle commence.
Visibility is a hot market but it’s also such a broad and diversified category that there is room for providers to focus on niche segments within it, such as Clockwork Logistics Systems, which focuses on visibility into proof of delivery for drayage, less-than-truckload (LTL), expedited air, and final-mile moves. Clockwork got a $5.5 million funding round this week.
I spoke to John Fay, former CEO of INTTRA before it was acquired in 2018 by E2open, about his new company, TrueCommerce, acquiring competitor DiCentral. The move consolidates an ever-more-important supply chain messaging market.
My colleague Bill Cassidy writes about how CRST is using ELDs to unlock capacity.
The fundraising environment is going crazy, to the point where a 12-year-old, bootstrapped, profitable cross-border technology solutions provider is getting $69 million in growth equity. What happened to blitzscaling?
And here are some recent discussions, reports, and analysis I found interesting:
Blue Yonder CEO Girish Rishi is as forward-facing as any tech CEO in supply chain. Interesting to get his learnings on being the CEO of a private equity-backed software vendor as Blue Yonder transitions to new owners (Panasonic).
If trucking interests you, you’re gonna wanna watch a conversation between Mike Regan and Dave Ross, simple as that.
Worthwhile to catch this panel on port cyber security and resilience, led by the great Pascal Olivier.
Shameless promotion segment. I work with some amazing colleagues in different fields in and adjacent to global logistics and trade, so wanted to highlight some upcoming events and white papers they’ve produced. First, catch this Sept. 30 webinar with Turloch Mooney that provides a look into IHS Markit’s latest port productivity metrics. My colleague Byron McKinney details here a new product that adds container tracking and bill of lading information into IHS Markit’s trade compliance suite. And finally, a white paper co-authored by my colleagues looking at imports and exports against the strength of the US dollar.
If you’re in the ports industry, take some time to fill out this benchmark survey on smart ports being conducted by the Antwerp Management School.
Is there too much money going to startups?
Some upcoming events I’ll be involved in:
I’m leading a session (in-person!) at CSCMP Edge at 2 pm EST Monday in Atlanta. The panel, How Leading Retailers use Technology to Effect Supply Chain Transformation, includes logistics experts at The Home Depot and Carter’s. Please stop by if you’re at the event – I have 18 months of in-person catching up to do! Details on the session can be found on the agenda page.
This will be very cool. Along with Lisa Morales-Hellebo, I’ll be moderating the REFASHIOND Ventures Quarterly Executive Salon Series session Sept. 21 with a seriously heavy-hitting panel, including the WSJ’s Christopher Mims, Transport Intelligence founder John Manners-Bell, and my colleague Peter Tirschwell. More details here.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is in no way affiliated with The Journal of Commerce or IHS Markit, and any opinions are mine only.