"Information about the package is as important as the package itself" said Fred Smith, founder and chairman of FedEx. And it's easy to see why.

Data is generated at every stage of the logistics process. When integrated and managed properly, it tells you how your business is performing — and, more importantly, predicts what you need to do to get where you need to be.

We call this being data driven.

You don't need to invest huge amounts of time and money to start. Cost-effective business intelligence tools quickly show performance against company and department KPIs. Predictive analytics systems offer more advanced capabilities: demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, and route planning. For complex requirements, data can power decision support systems at every level of the organisation.

The imperative for companies in today's supply chains is clear: use data to integrate with players upstream and downstream. Those that can't are increasingly redundant. And less efficient and more costly than those that can.

Photo by Robert Boyer on Unsplash