Internet of Things, Cloud and the Future of Transportation

We have collision detection, a plethora of sensors and many IoT devices that play a key role in everything from safety to decision engineering problems like route optimization. But as I mentioned above, we believe that the main differentiator in this arena will be IoT, and we are moving fast in that space already.

As with all technology, there is room for further development and improvement of IoT capabilities, and one key opportunity lies in our ability to bring various kinds of structured and unstructured data together and create useful context. We see “Big Data” vendors investing heavily and looking into non-structured data in an effort to further develop ways to accelerate these capabilities. We are already using sensors that relay information to us, like fuel levels and other vehicular data. The ability to use IoT to acquire information, combined with telematics data from the truck and driver-generated data, such as the status of work assignments and hard braking events, can help companies make much more informed decisions. While this technology offers a major competitive advantage for users today, we expect these tools to be the norm in the coming years and something that every transportation and logistics company will continue to build on.

Technology and Schneider

Technology is not only an enabler but also a foundation to build current and future business strategies. We have many leading edge projects underway that focus on disrupting the industry and driving technology forward. We have taken a platform-based approach to drive innovation across the entirety of our businesses. In addition to the SMAC capabilities and IoT mentioned above, security is also a major investment area for us. The convergence of security in the physical and digital worlds has led to the emergence of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) concept. At Schneider, this is especially important, as our physical assets are just as important as our digital ones. We have made our CISO responsible for both physical and information security and see this as one more place where we can differentiate ourselves and gain a competitive advantage in the industry.

Strategies to Stay Ahead

We like to talk about IT being the business, but in the end, you have to appreciate what your core competency is and apply it effectively. Our special sauce is knowing how to use technology to enable business results, and leveraging pragmatic excellence has enabled us to be leaders in the field. We understand that technological advancement does not happen overnight, but you, as the CIO, need to build a practical and measured approach to introducing innovations. Thoughtless releases of capabilities are just as risky as waiting too long and “polishing the cannonball.” A balancing act must be played, where you create practical, well-devised plans but also have the guts to sometimes be scrappy in order to position technology to push your business forward.

Schneider is a multimodal and logistics solutions provider that offers truckload services, supply chain management, port logistics, regional services, etc.