{"id":1877,"date":"2021-09-15T18:06:13","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T22:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog2wrkdev.wpenginepowered.com\/transportation-and-logistics-businesses-investing-in-automation\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T08:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:02:25","slug":"transportation-and-logistics-businesses-investing-in-automation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/transportation-and-logistics-businesses-investing-in-automation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why transportation and logistics businesses are investing aggressively in automation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The pandemic exposed the flaws of various supply chain operations; where for a given supply chain, the organizations\u2019 systems are often disconnected and inflexible\u2014leaving customers with poor experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HFS Research, a global business research consultancy, has found that many transport and logistics organizations have a response; after surveying hundreds of Global 2,000 businesses in the industry, the research consultancy found that the sector is projected to see a significant rise in automation-related investments<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why are firms in the space set to invest 82% more in process automation? We believe the reasons are two-fold: Organizations need to engage in automation to manage their part of a supply chain effectively, and the tool they need to achieve this end is becoming increasingly clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s explore each of these points further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: How EDI, or electronic data interchange, works<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need to embrace automation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Organizations in the industry rely on an ecosystem of 3rd-party partners, from ocean carriers to government authorities to ports and terminals. To identify these 3rd-parties and work with them effectively, they\u2019ll likely need to join a supply chain platform that houses this ecosystem of vendors\u2014like TradeLens<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, each organization faces additional requirements that are less obvious: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The organization needs to be able to connect their systems internally, with clients\u2019, and with those used by the supply chain platform\u2019s vendors via application programming interfaces (APIs). Only then can an organization\u2019s systems receive and share data in a way that\u2019s agile and scalable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Beyond data sharing, an organization needs to implement workflow automations that work across connected apps, teams, and data. Moreover, the workflow automations should work off of real-time triggers that take place based on predetermined events in the apps\u2014with the goal of preventing any delays along the supply chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How an integration-led automation platform empowers organizations to solve this need<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An integration-led automation platform fulfills both of these requirements, as it allows you to implement integrations AND automations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the platform provides a low-code UX. This enables lines of business to use the platform themselves, and in doing so, it prevents your organization from experiencing integration and automation bottlenecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help paint the picture of how this works in practice, let\u2019s use a real-world example: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TFG\u2014a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, a German railway company\u2014needed to be able to connect with their clients\u2019 and partners\u2019 systems in order to serve each group’s respective needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This led them to use an integration-led automation platform\u2019s SDK to connect the necessary apps; then, using the platform, they built automations that account for every aspect of their supply chain (which amounts to dozens of core automations). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result? <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a bit more on how the platform helps organizations in the transportation and logistics sector automate at scale successfully:<\/p>\n\n\n\n