Introduction

“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.”

That quote by the English mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead encapsulates nicely the difficult balance freight forwarders and other logistics service providers (LSPs) must achieve to remain relevant and successful in today’s dynamic and unpredictable business environment.

On the one hand, they have to maintain operational excellence in executing the fundamentals of their business regardless of the change happening around them, but on the other hand, they also have to keep innovating and transforming their ways of working. If they focus too much on one and not the other, they either risk getting left behind by the competition or they risk going out of business by investing too much time, money, and resources on things that don’t deliver meaningful business benefits.

“Digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to fundamentally change how a business operates, delivers value to its customers, and competes in the market. It goes beyond just adopting new tools—it involves rethinking processes, culture, and customer experiences to drive innovation and efficiency.”

Unfortunately, many freight forwarders and LSPs remain laggards when it comes to digital transformation. “Characterized by low-margin business models, Freight & Logistics (F&L) companies have had very limited scope to invest in the digital initiatives advancing other industries,” states a 2023 report published by Accenture based on a survey of more than 600 C-suite executives, vice presidents and directors from leading F&L companies in 10 countries. The report highlights that 72% of the survey respondents agreed with the following statement: “Overall, at an industry level, there is not only an ignorance of digitalization, but also a lack of a roadmap in terms of what needs to be done.”