360data
Business Intelligence Driving Logistics

U.S. has the lowest logistics costs compared to other developed markets;however, there is always a continued pressure to better the best. The need of the hour is to provide pocketbook friendly solutions that can be quickly scaled so as to build up a ‘pay as you go’ environment. The ‘want it now’ mentality has penetrated the logistics space creating the need for companies to know what technology is available, what the status of the inventory is and where exactly the package is. 360data addresses these challenges by providing reliable and integrated logistics as well as supply chain optimization to increase efficiency and reduce costs.“360data is more than just a service, it is a community, a movement in the logistics domain,” affirms Dan Sellers, CIO, 360data.

An analogy can be drawn between the 360data Warehouse Management System (WMS) and the Transport Management System (TMS) as well as the Amazon model. Whenever a person searches a product on the Amazon website they see thousands of results. “Some of this product is available in Amazon’s own warehouses and is owned and sold by Amazon, other products may be sold by third-parties and stored in Amazon’s or their own warehouses,” says Sellers. The search result gives visibility to the entire inventory and same is the case with 360data. “We provide visibility to available inventory regardless of where it physically resides or who owns it, additionally we give our clients the ability to decide who sees their inventory,” affirms Sellers. The system integration tools for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) collaboration have a tremendous value for clients as a standalone service. A company can link their systems to those of their suppliers and customers allowing the seamless visibility and sharing of data.

360data is more than just a service; it is a community, a movement in the logistics domain

“We have found that some clients purchase our product to integrate the back office systems of other companies they have acquired including not only warehouse and inventory systems but also accounting, HR and much more,” states Sellers.

With 360data the customers can not only take advantage of the WMS, TMS functionality, they can integrate other non-360data systems as well, which allows end users to have visibility to their data across multiple platforms. A client can link their systems to those of their suppliers and customers allowing the seamless visibility and sharing of data.“The ability to scale our product up on demand and the cloud based nature of the product suite, implying a constrained upfront investment in infrastructure is one of our core differentiating factors,” affirms Sellers.

For instance, 360data is working with a major client to develop a solution for a virtual tool room. The client has over 45,000 tools they track across several 1000 employees and 100’s of job sites. “Many of these tools are of high value so knowing where they are and who has them checked out is essential,” states Sellers.

“Our offering was developed with modularization in mind, a client can purchase one, several or all of our modules and integrate them into the system,” affirms Sellers. TMS and WMS technology has traditionally been accessed from a desktop. Gradually the desktops are being replaced by mobile phones and tablets which is just a natural evolution of technology in compliance with the TMS and WMS functionalities. The real-time information transfer and the ability of people to work from anywhere, anytime in regards to the WMS technology gives rise to an era of growth in the logistics landscape.