POC of a Market Logistics Management Platform

• [SITUATION]:
Although the company’s e-commerce logistics area already operated with an in-house TMS, its functionalities were still limited. Delivery issues were recurrent and difficult to analyze in real time. The tracking team relied on daily Excel-based reports generated each morning, meaning performance visibility was always one day late. Additionally, the root causes of delayed deliveries were often unclear - classified broadly as “incomplete or incorrect address,” “middle-mile deviation or loss,” or “carrier inefficiency.” This lack of visibility negatively affected the customer experience, as tracking links sent to customers often displayed inaccurate or repetitive status updates such as “out for delivery,” even when that wasn’t the case. To improve visibility and delivery performance, the company decided to test a leading third-party logistics management platform. The goal was to run a Proof of Concept (POC) focused on its Control Tower module, specifically the third-party carrier tracking functionality - which promised integrations with over 1,000 carriers, standardized event mapping, and consolidated dashboards for delivery monitoring.

• [TASK]:
I was appointed to lead the POC, with the objective of validating:
➢ The standardization and accuracy of delivery events across carriers.
➢ The speed of data updates (event capture latency).
➢ The clarity and usability of the dashboards for operational monitoring.
➢ And, most importantly, whether the platform could predict potential delays before they occurred - enabling preventive action.

• [ACTION]:
I coordinated the end-to-end execution of the POC. Key actions included:
➢ Engaging the Procurement team to prepare a cost-free test agreement, ensuring legal safety and defined timelines.
➢ Involving the IT team to configure APIs, create an on/off ‘plug-unplug’ mechanism with our existing TMS, and ensure customer messages were correctly generated from live data.
➢ Limiting the scope to one major third-party carrier already integrated with the platform, within a specific geographic area, to simplify setup while maintaining operational relevance.
➢ Leading daily stand-up meetings with internal stakeholders (Tracking Team, IT, Project Management) and platform consultants to monitor integration, performance, and data consistency.

• [RESULT]:
The platform demonstrated well-organized dashboards, fast reporting, and intuitive visualization of delivery data. However, the key expectation - identifying potential delays before they occurred - was not met.
The system could only highlight deliveries already delayed or near due dates, offering limited predictive value. Moreover, tracking events appeared oversimplified, reducing visibility compared to our in-house TMS. Integration also required further customization to achieve the expected standardization across carriers.
Given the high implementation cost and modest functional gains, the steering committee decided not to move forward with a full implementation.