The document discusses how transportation and logistics companies can reinvent customer relationships through cloud-based CRM. It notes that traditional CRM systems from vendors like Oracle and SAP often fail for these industries due to lack of industry-specific functionality. However, companies like Lanetix are now providing cloud-based CRM solutions built specifically for transportation and logistics needs, allowing companies to access industry-focused tools through a reliable cloud platform. These "pacesetters" that adopt innovative cloud solutions are growing faster and more profitable than competitors still relying on outdated models.

1. Cloud Pacesetters: How Transportation and Logistics Companies can
Reinvent Customer Relationships with Cloud-based CRM for Their Industry

2. “Never before has an industry been
forced to do so much more with so
much less,” explained Jim Blaeser of
American Shipper. The Great
Recession forced many
transportation and logistics
companies to reduce staff, but as the
cargo volumes returned, the staff did
not. Meanwhile, customers’ demands
only increased while financial
managers continued to focus on cost
reduction.
“When times are tough, many
companies turn to start-ups for
innovative ways to lower costs,
redefine customer relationships
and unlock new market
opportunities,” observed Aaron
Sasson, founder of GT Nexus.
“Unfortunately, there have only
been a handful of truly innovative
solutions for this industry in the
last ten years.”
Doing So Much More with
So Much Less
The most successful innovators
improved operating efficiency by
moving on-premise services, such as
email, to the cloud, lowering software
license and server costs. But for
companies that sought to reinvent
their customer relationships, innovate
quickly and improve business models,
there were few options. Regretfully,
forward-leaning transportation and
logistics companies had little help
from Silicon Valley. “When times are
tough, many companies turn to
start-ups for innovative ways to lower
costs, redefine customer
relationships and unlock new market
opportunities,” observed Aaron
Sasson, founder of GT Nexus.
“Unfortunately, there have only been
a handful of truly innovative solutions
for this industry in the last ten years.”
2

3. “2014 will be a turning point for
the transportation and logistics
industry and the adoption of the
cloud,” mused Peter Knapp,
formerly President of
International Logistics
Services, Jacobson
Companies, a leading
logistics provider based in Des
Moines, Iowa.
Indeed, adoption of software-as-
service has risen from 18% to 29%
in the last four years, according to a
poll by American Shipper. Most agree
with Knapp, software-as-service will
bypass licensed software which has
flat-lined at 31% for the last four years.
Embracing the Cloud…
Finally
Why? For starters, the mainstream
transportation and logistics industry is
only now embracing the Cloud. “2014
will be a turning point for the
transportation and logistics industry
and the adoption of the cloud,” mused
Peter Knapp, President of
International Logistics Services,
Jacobson Companies, a leading global
logistics provider based in Des Moines,
Iowa. “For the first time, more
companies will use software-as-
service than licensed software
purchased from outside vendors,”
he said, referring to software which is
bought as a subscription and run on
servers in the cloud, hence the name
‘software-as-service’ or SaaS.
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4. Pacesetters see the Cloud as a way of
growing their top-line, far more than
reducing costs. They look for new
business opportunities in software-
as-service innovation. Most
importantly, their financial
performance reflects their appetite
for aggressive, but measured
investment. “Pacesetters are growing
almost twice as fast as their
competitors and their profits are
almost 50% higher than their rivals,”
the study observed.
The Rise of the Cloud
‘Pacesetter’
For the companies that embrace the
Cloud and software-as-service, the
rewards are plentiful. Those on the
front-line of cloud adoption are
often referred to as Pacesetters,
about a fifth of corporations
according to a recent survey by IBM
and Oxford Economics. Pacesetters
are defined as companies that are
“differentiating themselves through
strategic reinvention, better
decisions and deeper collaboration in
the Cloud,” based on the poll of 802
cloud decision-makers and users,
40% of whom are C-Level executives.
Pacesetters are defined as
companies that are
“differentiating themselves
through strategic reinvention,
better decisions and deeper
collaboration in the Cloud,” and
they are growing almost twice
as fast as their competitors and
their profits are almost 50%
higher than their rivals.
4

5. In fact, most mainstream CRM
evaluations in the transportation
and logistics industry resulted in one
of three outcomes: successful, but
requiring significant customization
Traditional CRM “Doesn’t
Speak our Language”
Not surprisingly, many pacesetters
listed redefining their customer
relationships in the Cloud as a key
priority; they evaluated traditional
customer relationship management
(CRM) solutions from vendors such as
Oracle and SAP. Still, most CRM
projects in the transportation and
logistics industry failed to deliver
business value.
“We found that the CRM applications
offered by the industry leaders, just
don’t speak our language,” explained
an operations executive as a mid-tier
logistics company. “We would have
to spend so much in customizing the
out-of-the-box product for our
requirements that the numbers didn’t
add up.”
What Logistics and
Transportation Needs
from CRM
What do logistics and transportation
companies need, that isn’t addressed
by mainstream CRM solutions from
companies like Oracle and SAP? Ask
anyone who has participated in a CRM
evaluation and they’ll share the
following observations:
First, most CRM systems are hard-
wired for an inside sales rep at a
technology company, selling a
product from a static price list. The
rep calls leads, follows a prescriptive
sale, checks a price list that’s updated
once a year and pushes hard to close
through IT resources or third-party
systems integration firms; incomplete,
due to partial success in addressing
end-user requirements; or ineffective,
due to inability to deliver projected
value.
an order, usually during the last hour of the
last day of the quarter.
In transportation, on the other hand, reps
need to quickly quote port-to-port rates,
often referencing the rates of dozens of
providers. Others require rules-based
workflow so the pricing department can
approve each request, with notifications
so
managers are aware of what’s happening in
the field. In downstream
logistics, business development teams
manage a book of business; they need a
portfolio manager that helps them under-
stand where their projects stand in each
stage of their life-cycle. They need to work
across an entire team, often with upwards
of dozens of collaborators, from
contracts to accounting.
5

6. Most CRM solutions offer forecasts
based in quantities and dollar amount
of products sold. In transportation
and logistics, volume, capacity, TEU
and EBITDA are as important as
quantities and dollars sold.
Finally, many CRM solutions are
architected for desktop browsers, not
smartphones or tablets. As a result,
mobile account teams are
disconnected from the revenue
operations, whether they’re calling
on an account miles from their home
office in Chicago or from a garment
manufacturer in Bangladesh.
This allows transportation and
logistics companies to get the
industry-specific functionality they
need with the reliability, security and
scalability of the world’ most trusted
cloud-based platform. No longer do
these companies need to make a
choice.
Best of Both Worlds
Up until recently, forward-leaning
pace-setters had little choice other
than customize CRM applications
from SAP and Oracle. Fortunately,
companies such as Lanetix are leading
the charge, bringing industry-specific
capabilities to the transportation and
logistics market, all while leveraging
the strength of an underlying cloud-
based architecture such as
Salesforce.com’s Force.com platform.
6

7. Lanetix provides cloud-based
customer relationship management
(CRM) for logistics and transportation.
With Lanetix, revenue leaders gain
end-to-end visibility of global revenue
operations, forecasting by
industry-specific metrics, and the
security of the world’s most trusted
cloud platform. Lanetix is privately
held and headquartered in
San Francisco, California. For more
information, please visit
www.lanetix.com.
If you’re considering CRM, want to
arrange a demo, or have specific
questions about what Lanetix can do
for you, please reach out to us at
marketing@lanetix.com.
About Lanetix