3PL Perspectives
YOU WILL NOTICE that this month’s issue of 3PL Perspectives magazine focuses on the ever-escalating cyber-threats to all businesses, ours included. Quoting from this issue, in 2021, ransomware attacks increased 93% year over year. (Check Point). And the total, global cost of ransomware in 2021 increased to $20 billion. (Cloudwards). This is a genuine threat to our competitiveness as a nation from both from foreign actors as well as cyber criminals. Please read these articles because they provide critical advice to better protect your business, including educating and training your personnel and use of data encryption and multifactor authentication. Purchasing cyber insurance and protecting yourself from legal liability are not nice-to-dos but have-to-dos in today’s environment.
In light of these cyber risks, we are delighted with the terrific work that our newly reconstituted Technology Committee, chaired by Ramona Hood and Tom Curee, are doing. One of their core missions is to educate our members on cyber security best practices, and what preventative measures make the most sense for your business. Cyber threats are insidious in that bad actors are becoming more and more sophisticated about their tactics. As a consequence, our Committee has to be nimble to discover and advance the latest in protections.
Another core mission of the Technology Committee is to put together the agenda for TIA’s 3PL Technovations, held this year in Phoenix at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge, October 26-28. We are really excited about their suggested content which includes the lessons learned from automation, the nuts and bolts of the technology that 3PL’s and brokers need, and how to manage cyber risks. Technovations is a true technology conference; targeted toward those 3PL team members who make decisions every day on what their technology gaps are and how to fix them. It will feature, as always, the beloved Seven Minute Showcases testing participants to explain why their product or service is critical for your business in seven minutes—or gonging them if they don’t!
The advantage to shippers and carriers in using 3PLs and transportation brokers is your relationships and your technology. You are pragmatic and innovative. We can be the difference-maker to a shipper finding capacity and a driver getting paid quickly. We have the data that provides essential visibility all along the transaction. So, we are delighted to use Technovations to showcase those members who work hard to make your job easier. And we will continue our communications efforts to broaden the knowledge of how useful our data and innovations are to a better-functioning supply chain.
Thank you as always for all you do for the industry at the TIA. Feel free to drop me a line if there are areas you think our Technology Committee or the TIA Education team should explore or include. Have a wonderful July, and Happy Birthday America!
