3PL Perspectives
SINCE THE START of the COVID-19 pandemic, the crucial role and importance of technology to the success of any business has only been reinforced. Being able to successfully adapt and change with technology has not only become a priority for companies, but a necessity. To this end, TIA wants to ensure its members—regardless of size—are able to thrive in this environment and plans to help them do just that. TIA is launching a technology committee for all members to provide information and insights needed to be more technologically efficient and better positioned to serve their customers.
To provide TIA Members with a better sense of the purpose and goals of the Technology Committee, TIA Communications Specialist Dalton Cool conducted an interview with committee co-chairs Ramona Hood, CEO of FedEx Custom Critical, and Tom Curee, Vice President of Strategic Development at Kingsgate Logistics.
Dalton Cool: How do you see the technology committee helping TIA Members?
Ramona Hood: Let me first start by saying I’m excited that TIA is starting-up the technology committee for its members.
Technology is rapidly advancing and changing the role of the 3PL in the marketplace. The technology committee’s goal is to provide TIA Members with technology insights that will allow them to be technology adopters and better serve their customers.
We have an engaged membership and look forward to hearing from them through a new survey. We plan to use the survey results to create a roadmap that will support their technology objectives. By leveraging the TIA Membership, the technology committee represents various sizes of TIA Members with an incredible wealth of experience in the industry and enabling technology, including the co-chair, Tom Curee.
Tom Curee: I’m going to echo what Ramona has stated here a bit, but I feel this technology committee will be a new extension of support for our members. Being able to not only connect with other members going through their own technology evaluations, but to truly learn and glean from some of the experts who will be a part of this committee is a great benefit. I know that I have learned a great deal by being fortunate enough to be surrounded by some great leaders in the space, and I know the members of this committee are going to help us in that area. There’s much to learn and we’re fortunate to have some great minds as a part of this initiative.
Dalton Cool: Why do you feel this is the right time to launch this committee?
Tom Curee: Over the past 12-18 months it’s been stressed how important technology is to surviving as a 3PL in this environment. We have a great opportunity to make an impact on the supply chain and we want to help our members experience success on their journey to deploying technology. We’re finding new partners and new technologies come rapidly into our industry, and I believe we can help our members weed through a lot of noise. We can all understand and appreciate the challenge of identifying and implementing new technologies and if we can help our members adopt quicker, I believe we’ll continue to see innovation pour into our industry.
Ramona Hood: The kick-off for the technology committee is timely. The global supply chain challenges at the onset of the pandemic continue to impact our industry. It has also presented an opportunity to be agile and innovative to not only mitigate risk but create value quicker than before. The technology committee provides an opportunity for all TIA members to gain knowledge on system capabilities that may benefit their technology roadmap.
Dalton Cool: What has you most excited about getting this moving?
Ramona Hood: Technology is a broad topic and touches every part of the business. The expansive topic can make it daunting and challenging with where to start. Our approach is to gather feedback from the TIA Membership which will shape the committee’s focus. The committee will be able to get laser focused on short- and long-term objectives that are meaningful to our industry and our membership. The committee is planning to kick-off it’s meetings at the April conference and celebrate my (Ramona’s) birthday month!
Tom Curee: I feel like Ramona keeps reminding me of her birthday month with some sort of motive! I’m excited about the potential to really help our members get a better view of the opportunities out there for their team. I believe as we get better collectively, we continue to improve the impact the 3PL community is making to the supply chain. And in that story, we all win.
Though technology is always advancing and changing, TIA’s Technology Committee will be a resource to keep members up to date and educated. It will get people connected with those who are experts with certain technology and others who are trying to learn the same things. Through the use of the TIA network, all members have the ability to better their business and give their customers a more complete experience. The cooperation of members to participate in this committee and use it to both learn and teach will help continue to improve the 3PL industry.
