TMS Update: Adoption Accelerates
As the transportation management systems market continues to evolve in the wake of the pandemic, more shippers are finding new ways to use the technology to meet their customers’ continually evolving expectations—and save time and money in the process.
Logistics Management, March 8, 2021
Bridget McCrea
Focused on creating efficiencies, improving supply chain visibility, managing costs, and providing higher levels of customer service, a growing number of shippers continue to invest in transportation management systems (TMS) every year.
Bart De Muynck, vice president and analyst with Gartner, says that the global pandemic and subsequent supply chain disruptions raised shippers’ awareness of their transportation networks. As such, it pushed more companies to invest in TMS in 2020.
By the research firm’s estimates, TMS is on track to be a $2.5 billion market by 2023—up from $1.3 billion in 2017. During that seven-year span, this corner of the SCM market’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) has remained in the 10% to 11% range.
Not to be left out of the conversation, TMS vendors have stepped up to the plate to help their customers manage both immediate and long-term transportation challenges. De Muynck points to Shipwell, Kuebix (recently acquired by Trimble), and AscendTMS as three of the “newer” options that shippers are exploring and implementing. These vendors not only provide traditional TMS capabilities, but they also link shippers and carriers through their digital networks.
The TMS market is also experiencing some consolidation as software providers look to beef up their supply chain software suites. Along with Trimble’s acquisition of Kuebix, Elemica bought Eyefreight and Transporeon purchased ControlPay. “There’s definitely some acquisition activity underway,” says De Muynck, “and more partnerships forming that include TMS providers, parcel companies, and digital freight networks.”
This activity is contributing to even more software capability and the continued growth of the TMS market. “The merger and acquisition is happening at a pretty fast pace right now,” says De Muynck. “In fact, we’ve never seen all of the different pieces of the puzzle come together in this way, and this quickly.”
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